Reportandome

Nos la estamos pasando bien chido!!! Este es el dia 17 de 24 dias de viaje. Hasta ahorita hemos visitado Londres, Paris, Zurich y Venecia, nos falta Roma (ahi estaremos para el cumpleanos de Robe). Como se podran imaginar he comprado estambre en algunos lados y hasta ahorita este es el botin.

Lo bueno es que tengo espacio en la maleta por todas las cosas que le traje a Jazy.
Nos la estamos pasando muy bien, pero ya estoy pensando en todoas las cosas que tengo que hacer cuando regrese...como planear otra mudanza! Por cierto ya tenemos apartamento en Minneapolis, luego les paso la direccion por si quieren ir a visitarnos. Bye!
----------and now in english--------------------
We're having a great time!! So far we've visited London, Paris, Zurich and Venice. We'll be traveling to Rome for Robe's Birthday. As you can imagine, I got some souvenir yarn/magazines, and my lovely sister had a yarn swift for me when I got to Zurich!!! I think I have enough space in my suitcase for all these.
We've had a lot of fun, but I can't stop thinking about all the things I have to do when we go back...like planning another move. BTW, we got the apartment we applied for in Minneapolis, I'll give you the address later on in case you want to visit. Mi casa es su casa!

Not what I was expecting...

For Christmas my husband gave me a WEBS gift certificate. I had been saving it for their big annual sale and once that started I could not resist using it. Among other things I got this yarn (3182), which was a very good deal, right?
Well...once it got here I was a little disappoited with the color. I know tweed means specs, but I thought it meant light spects or darker specs not multicolored specs.



















I bought the yarn with the intention of re-dying it, but now with the multicolored specs, I'm not sure how it will turn out.
You know, I have to say the more I look at it, the more it grows on me. I'll have to knit a swatch to see how it looks.
Any Suggestions?

Sin mucho que reportar...

*scroll down for english

No hay mucho que decir. No he tejido tanto como me gustaria, en parte porque se me acabo el estambre de un proyecto y estoy esperando que me manden mas (como si fuera el unico estambre qeu tengo, jejejeje). La costura ahi va, mas lento de lo esperado.

Acabo de ordenar en Amazon estos libros:


































Gracias a Elizabeth que me dio la tarjeta de regalo con la que compre los libros. Luego les platico como estan.

Tambien estamos planeando nuetro viaje a el viejo mundo. Vamos a visitar a Jazy y Gera, y a aprovechar para ir a otros lugares. Ya tambien les platicare de eso. Hasta pronto!

* Not much to say. I haven't been knitting as much as I would like to, in part because I ran out of yarn for the project I was working on, no need to panic, yarn is on its way!
I recently ordered some books on Amazon (Gift card courtesy of a Elizabeth, a very sweet lady).
We're getting ready to go visit Jazy and Gera. We'll be there for almost a month! Lots of things to see and do. Of course, I'll be posting our adventures, maybe a little bit late, but better late than never!

Salsa Verde

My sister makes a really tasty homemade SalsaVerde. I've never attempetd to make it because that was her thing, but now that she lives in a different continent and I'm moving, I think I'll try to make it myself. I hope she doesn't kill me for posting this!

Jazibe's Salsa Verde

2 cans of tomatillos

4 or more jalapeños, boiled until soft, reserve the liquid

1 tbs of knorr's chicken boullion

1/2 tsp of sugar

garlic salt to taste

Put all of the ingridients plus about 1/4 cup of the jalapeño's liquid in the blender, blend well or not, depending if you want a more chunkier salsa (you can add more liquid if you want to). Taste and adjust seasoning, if it's too acidic for your taste add a little bit more sugar, if it's too bland add more boullion and/or garlic salt.

This salsa is great with chips, but you can also add it to guacamole (or just plain mashed avocados with salt, maybe a litte sour cream to make it creamier, yum!).

If you don't have the time or inclination to make your own salsa try this brand, it's not bad at all.

Congratulations, you have matched!

Eso era todo lo que decia el email que recibio Robe. Despues de tanto estudiar, tanto esfuerzo y angustias pasadas, gracias a Dios, quedamos (dijo la mosca) en Minneapolis, ahi Robe entrara a hacer su residencia medica (los que lo conocen ya saben en que, los que no, preeeeguuuntameee). Todavia no sabemos cuando nos vamos, en donde vamos a vivir o que voy a hacer yo, pero la cosa es que estamos muy emocionados! La ciudad al parecer es muy bonita y cultural, esperemos que sea lo suficientemente bonita, cultural y entretenida como para olvidarnos de que hace un frio de la chi... bueno, al menos voy a poder tejer muchas prendas de lana y las voy a poder usar...voy a tener que terminar el par de calcetines de lana que empece. Hojala y puedan ir a visitarnos, los estaremos esperando!

Se ve bien,no?

We matched! Yey!! We're going to Minneapolis. We're sooo excited, but scared at the same time, it will definetley be a new adventure, a great adventure! Hope you have a chance to go visit us, we'll be waiting for you.

Calorimetry

I finally gave in to the calorimetry trend and me likey! I made 2, one for a friend (green) and the other for my mom (beige). I liked the pattern, it's easy to adapt and really fast to knit, I'm sure I'll be making more. Here are some pictures:

Top: Knit in Jo Sharp wool yarn (lost the label), I used size 6 US needles. It's not as tight as I would like it, lets hope it's just right for Rebe. She likes ladybugs, hence the buttons.

Bottom: I used Lana Grossa's Silana (wool/silk) on size 4 US needles. This version is smaller and lighter.

I don't think my friend will wear it any time soon, it's too warm here!

Next week we will finally take our sewing machines to class, this might be a little problematic since space is limited, they said something about moving us to a bigger classroom, I can only hope. Just in case I'll be very early to class.

This puppy is adorable!!! As you can see, she's only 27 days old and she's already the size of her mom. I've kept an eye open to see if I can spot the dad, no luck yet.

Feliz Dia de San Valentin!

Espero se pasen un muy feliz dia, independientemente si piensan que este dia solo se creo con fines comerciales. Gracias a todos por su amistad y gracias a mi "corazon de melon" por hacerme tan feliz.

* La foto es de Martha Stewart si quieres la receta para hacer los corazones de merengue rellenos de nieve ve a esta pagina.

News, well sort of...

I'm really excited! I've enrolled in sewing lessons, so far we haven't sewn anything yet, we're learning how to make our own patterns, which is going to be really helpful even if I end up using the comercial patterns. For this reason I bought my first sewing machine, it's a Singer "facilita" , it's very basic, looks and feels sturdy, but I wonder why I couldn't find reviews on it...















What else have I been doing? Oh! Knitting! lots of knitting. I made my little brother a ganomy hat (from EZ Knitter's Almanac) but it didn't fit right, so I made him a simple 1x1 rib cap.

















I made a small clutch for a friend's birthday. The yarn is Paton's SW (soy/wool) really soft and a very fast knit!















I'm frogging a thriftstore sweater. Mucho yarn!




















And last, but not least, I give you...well, we haven't named her yet, but isn't she cute? and huge! I guess she's only half chihuahua (my mom claims she kept a really close watch on her, but look at the size of her head!)

Tarde pero sin sueño!

A ver, que ha pasado en todo este tiempo? Pues me mude de ciudad, empece un nuevo año con los mismos propositos de siempre, ya me inscribi en clases de corte y confeccion y todavia seguimos esperando los resultados del residency match. Ya hace un mes que llegue a Juarez y todavia no agarro una rutina, eso si, he estado tejiendo, he aqui las cosas que he termindao en lo que va del año:


Anthropology-inspired caplet, tejido con estambre Lion Brand's Landscapes.
Super rapida de tejer! No tengo un broche para cerrarlo, asi que tuve que usar uno de elefante que me encontre en el cajon de mi mama. Este es el mismo estambre que estaba en mi "basket of shame" .


Bufanda para mi amigo Ali, esta tejida horizontalmente en 3 colores diferentes.

Mmm..yo pense que habia tejido mas cosas...bueno, tambien teji unas botitas para la bebe de mi amiga Monse, le adelante a los calcetines y termine (y entregue) el boobholder para mi comadre.

Dentro de mis propositos para este año esta tejer mas cosas para mi, la mayoria de las cosas que tejo las regalo, a ver si lo cumplo.

Espero actualizar el blog mas seguido, a veces en ingles y a veces en español. Bye!

For those of you that don't read spanish, here's a brief recap: We finally made it to Juarez, I enrolled in sewing lessons, we're still waiting to hear from the residency match up, I knitted some things and one of my new year's resolution is knitting more things for myself. I'll keep this blog updated, posting sometimes in english, sometimes in spanish. That's all for now. Bye!

Feliz Navidad!

Que Dios los llene de bendiciones y salud.

Casi acabamos de empacar y ya estamos listos para mudarnos. Nos vemos en Juarez!

May God filled you with blessings and health.

Almost done packing and all ready to move. See you in Juarez!

How much is too much?

I don't know if you know, but I'm moving, and not just a small move, I'm moving all the way from Indiana to El Paso, Tx. Most of my stuff I'm leaving here in storage, but not the yarn, oh no, the yarn is moving with me. So, as it happens with all the people that need to pack, I've been spending a lot of time online (no connection there, but it's the truth) and came across this contest, I said "what the hell, I'm already packing I might as well count how much I have" and guess how much I had...






172, mostly thriftstore impulse buys, some gifts, some regrets. As you can see mine is not even close to this.

While packing I also found this:

THE BASKET OF SHAME or the UFO's graveyard (for my non-knitting family members UFO=unfinished objects), wanna see what's in it?

Top: It was going to be a scarf and then a purse, but I didn't like it, I like the yarn though, Lion Brand's Landscapes.

Bottom: A shawl out of the 25 cent yarn that I bought at Target, should've seen that coming.

Disco Monkey: Made out of 2 Bernat's Disco yarn that I got in the mail for FREE. I actually like the body, but I think the head needs a do-over.

A shrug, my own pattern. I ran out of yarn Moda Dea's Ricochet in Rock. If you have some that you don't want I'll take it! Still, I think the sleeves are too long.

My almost finished Knitting World Cup project (scroll down a bit). I'll probably have to frogg it beacuse it's too small.

My first pair of socks. I thought I was being clever by doing two at the same time, you know, to beat the "second sock syndrome", I guess I got bored with the color. I'll try to finish them on my way to Tx.

Beautiful sunburst sling bag in recycled silk. I only need to weave in the ends and sew the lining. It's a little bit on the heavy side.

This one I just started it about 2 weeks ago. It's the IK's heart sachet. I'm using a thriftstore silk yarn that makes my throat itch (bottom left corner, behind the green yarn on stash picture).

This is a hat for me. The yarn is Manos del Uruguay (Thanks! C-L and Ed). I finished it but didn't like it, so I'm doing it again.

A fingerless (and mateless) mitten. My own pattern, knitted on 2 straight needles. The thumb turned too tight, so guess what? I'm frogging it.

My first boobholder attempt, the yarn was too bulky.

The start of a Log Cabin blanket. I had a color combination planned out, but now I'm rethinking it.

Boobholder 2nd attempt, almost finished (keyword in all these UFO's is almost), all I need to do is weave in the ends and put a button. It's a present for a friend.

A scarf for my little brother, simple in a color that matches his school uniform.

So, what do you think? Do you have more UFO's? Let's see if I can dig up some FO's for the next post.

Magda

I finally finished my sister's birthday present! It was a little late (her birthday was in October), but it was knitted with lots of love and good intentions, you see, this is supposed to be a "good love" charm, something that will help her navigate the complex road of singlehood and help her get to her "destination" safe and sound. I didn't tell her all of this, I guess she'll find out when she reads this post. Sis: I love you.

Here's Jack modeling the scarf

Here's a close-up

I don't have the finished measurments, I was in a big hurry to get it in the mail before 3pm, I think it ended up being 5 1/2" by 70" (?). I used almost 2 skeins of Classic Elite Yarns "Miracle" (50% Alpaca, 50% Tencel) in color Ladyslipper. This yarn is sooo soft! It also has a nice sheen to it, you can't really tell from the pictures (note to self: take better pictures). The stitch pattern is from Vogue's stitchionary Vol. 1, I just added 2 stitches on each side to make a garter stitch border. I knitted each half separately and used 3-needle bind off to seam it. I didn't know this similar pattern existed, great minds think alike!

Some FO's

It's been awhile since I posted something related to knitting, but that doesn't mean that I have not been knitting, here's the proof:

- Felted Slippers for DH










Before and after felting (with camera case for reference)









I used the KP yarn that I got for a messenger bag. DH loves them. I will definitely make a pair for me. I used this pattern.

- Beret for a friend













I used Plymouth's Suri Merino yarn and this pattern. My friend has some rough times ahead of her, hopefully this hat will maker her feel a tiny-bit better. This yarn is sooooo soft!

- Heart headband for another friend











I don't know if you can tell, but it has a heart pattern. I used some Kool-aid dyed yarn that I had and made up the pattern.

Un poco de musica

Como muchos sabran a Robe le gusta ir a conciertos, y despues de un tiempo de "inactividad" hemos (dijo la mosca) agarrado vuelo. El problema es que vivimos en un pueblo chico, asi que para ir a los conciertos hay que manejar al menos una hora a Indianapolis, o tres a Colombus OH o a St. Louis MO, y esto nomas es de ida. Bueno pues aqui los dejo con la lista de los mas recientes:

En el verano fuimos al OZZFEST en Indianapolis, System of a Down cerro. Aqui esta un poquito de eso (No es el mejor video, pero peor es nada)



En Septiembre fuimos a Indy a ver a Roger Waters y su show "Dark Side of the Moon", ahi no permitian camaras, el sonido era EXCELENTE. Para aquellos que no sabian (como yo), el era parte de PINK FLOYD y se avento el disco de DARK SIDE OF THE MOON com-ple-tito, para no ser fan de Pink Floyd me la pase muy bien.

En Octubre fuimos a ver a los RED HOT CHILLI PEPPERS, THE MARS VOLTA les abrio. El sonido no era tan bueno, pero estuvo bien. Esto fue en Colombus, Ohio.

En Noviembre fuimos a ver LEZ ZEPPELIN, una banda de puras chavas que tocan covers de LED ZEPPELIN, he aqui una probadita (chequen el solo de la bateria)


El domingo pasado fuimos a St. Louis, MO a ver a WOLFMOTHER, valio la pena las 3 horas de ida y 3 de regreso solo para estar ahi 1.5 hrs. Al vocalista le aventaron un bra, al parecer es el segundo del tour...hojala lo hubiera filmado


Y la empacada? Bien gracias.

Adios Bloomington

(Scroll down for the English version)

Ya se que la hice mucho de emoción y a lo mejor la noticia no es lo que esperaban, no, no estoy embarazada (hasta donde yo se). La gran noticia es que nos regresamos a vivir Juárez!!!...(pausa que permite digerir lo que acabas de leer). A lo mejor se preguntaran, es una buena noticia? Porque? Cuanto tiempo se van a quedar? Donde van a vivir? Que van a hacer? Quien mato a JFK?, para algunas todavía no tengo respuesta, y no precisamente la de JFK. El plan es regresarnos hasta que Robe entre a la residencia de patología (con el favor de dios Junio o Julio) y de esa manera empezara su “entrenamiento” con su papa un poco antes. Esperamos llegar para antes de navidad. Esta es definitivamente una EXCELENTE noticia, para mi, para Robe, para nuestras familias y esperemos también para ustedes. Estamos muy emocionadillos. Adiós Bloomington, te vamos a extrañar, pero por otro lado NOS VAMOS A JUAREZ!!!

p.s. A robe le fue muy bien en su entrevista en Minneapolis y tiene otra en Hartford el 1ro de Diciembre, mandenle buena vibra.


This might not be an exact translation of the text in Spanish (sorry I’m not as good as Jazy) but you’ll get the idea. Nop, I’m not pregnant (as far as I know). We’re moving to Juarez!. We decided that It would be a good opportunity for Roberto to train with his dad while he waits to get into the Pathology Residency Program (if all goes as planned June or July). So, my last day at MCPL is December 10th and we should be on the road by the 18 or 19. We still haven’t worked out some of the minor details, like where will live (Juarez or El Paso?), where are we going to leave our stuff? Among other logistical problems (we have 2 cars and only one Driver’s License). We’re very excited! I hope you come and visit us, you know that mi casa es su casa. Roberto’s interview in Minneapolis went pretty well and he has another in Hartford on the 1st of December, send good thoughts his way. I’ll try to keep you posted on all the packing details, actually I’m looking forward to packing, I’ll finally know for sure what’s under the bed ;-)

Gustan?

Ayer cocine CHILES EN NOGADA, yo creo que mas que los tacos este es el plato mas mexicano que existe, por los colores que reflejan la bandera de Mexico.

Modestia aparte me quedaron muy ricos.



La ocasion? Los cocine para desearle buena suerte a Robe en su entrevista. Despues les platico como le fue.

Nuevo "look"

Pues despues de pensarla mucho, por fin me corte el pelo. He aqui la foto del antes, comiendo un taco de chorizo con queso (para antojar a jazy y gera), notese hasta donde me llega el cabello en la espalda, hacia mucho tiempo que no lo traia asi de largo, desde marzo que no me lo cortaba (mi amiga Q me lo corto cuando vino de visita).

Tadan! He aqui el "despues", no se aprecia mucho pero la parte de enfrente es mas larga que la de atras, ahi disculpen la "cara", saliendodel trabajo fui al mall a cortarmelo. La chava me lo aliso, yo pensaba llegar a pintarmelo (no se alcanza a ver en la foto pero traigo una mega-raiz!). Luego que me lo pinte y me lo enchine pongo otra foto.

Oh! Brother

Look what I found! A Brother KX-350 knitting machine. I have no idea waht to do with it, I've never used one, but for $20 dlls I could not resist. I comes with the manual and the videotape. I might use it to make my DH a felted messenger bag, I got the yarn (and some color cards and the superwash "swiss" to try it out) from Knitpicks.com. If anyone out there has any idea if this was a good buy or if this is a good machine, please let me know!