Two firsts

First pair, hopefully not the last

They're done! After I don't know how many months (more than 12 for sure!), my first pair of socks are finally done. They're not that bad for a first pair of socks, they fit and are wearable. I gotta say, I finished them out of conviction, more than love of knitting socks... I didn't catch the sock-knitting-bug. I'll try once more (it wasn't that bad) with a more "festive" yarn that will keep me awake...maybe a different pattern. I definitely loved the fact that they were toe-up and knitted two on 2 circulars. I liked the "after-thought" heel. I didn't like that they ended up too pointy and that the ribbing took FOREVER! I used knit picks Two at once toe-up socks pattern and Essential yarn.

Heel close-up

Por fin los termine! Mi primer par de calcetines. Hace mas de un año que empece a tejerlos y hasta ayer los termine. La verdad no me gusto mucho tejer calcetines, estos los acabe mas por conviccion propia que gusto, pero ya que los veo acabados, no salieron tan mal! Yo creo lo voy a volver a intentar con diferente estambre y a lo mejor un patron diferente. Me gusto que se empiezan en la punta, que se tejen dos al mismo tiempo en 2 agujas circulares y el talon es muy facil. No me gusto que acabaron quedando un poco puntiagudos y el punto elastico no mas no se acababa!

And now another first...

Front

This is my first Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern (and my first post in Zimmermania!) I made the hat form Knitting Workshop. This is my first color work and I like the way in tourned out. It wasn't as hard as I thought, I just need to remember to knit loosely. I liked the instructions, but I feel I need to keep notes for when I want to used the same pattern (instructions are buried within the text). I didn't follow the pattern exactly (who can?), but I feel it lays a pretty good foundation for future hats. I think I'm hooked!

Now, If I can only make the back look as good as the front...any suggestions?

Back

Este dia ha sido de "primeros" aparte de mi primer par de calcetines, tambien acabe el primer proyecto diseñado por Elizabeth Zimmermann. Este es el gorro de Knitting Workshop, es el primer tejido que hago incorporando diferentes colores de estambre. Si tejes y nunca has oido hablar de EZ, googoleala! Vale la pena, ella mas que darte un patron de como tejer algo, te explica y te da rienda suelta para que tu lo modifiques. Esta resulto una buena "receta" que estoy segura volvere a usar. Lo unico que no me gusto fue que como esta tejido en circular, el diseño no esta alineado, sabes como solucionarlo?

Yey!

Yey! I'm finally back to knitting!! I started yesterday and so far so good. I decided to cast on yet another project. I don't know, I needed something that would be quick and since I joined the Zimmermania! (did you noticed the button on the sidebar?) I decided to start with the hat from Knitting Workshop. I'm using some alpaca I bought a looong time ago in a galaxy far far away, actually in Juarez. I've never done color work ( stripes don't count) so this project should give me, once it's done, multiple satisfactions ;-)

I prefer to use 2 circulars instead of DIP's

Last Saturday was our first night out on the town, can you believe it?! It took us exactly 3 months to go out for dinner and drinks. Maybe we had put it off because we don't know a lot of people, that's why we were really excited when Ambica and Mike told us they were coming. They live close by in Wisconsin and sometimes drive to the Twin cities to escape their little town. We ended up going for dinner to Blackbird , everything was really good and the staff was friendly, we ended up staying until 11 pm when they close at 10pm, and nobody said anything! We had a really nice time, I don't know if I'll be back thou, sometimes I like to have dessert and they don't have a good dessert menu. After that, we went downtown, had some drinks and listened to some jazz. Had a great time. Thanks guys for visiting!

Having a good time

Besides ripping thrift store sweaters, and now a little knitting, I'm keeping busy by listings things on eBay, currently I don't have knitting related items, but I'm planning on listing some books and magazines that I have, check it out!


I just realized that I have been blogging for more than a year and only have 35 posts! at this rate I'll take another 2 years to reach 100, that's why I've made the decision to blog at least once a week, even if I don't have any FO's, new WIP's or news to report. Consider this my once-a-week notice.

Still not knitting

I'm still not knitting, so I decided to dye some yarn that I had. I've been meaning to do this for months! So I started with some small samples of the yarns I had for dyeing and some Kool-aid, then I moved to some Jacquard Acid dyes that I bought last year. I basically followed the instructions on the web site, but combined several colors (vermillion, fiery red, burgandy and burnt orange). I liked the end results, next time I'll tied the skeins a little bit looser to avoid "white-spots". Most of the yarn came from thrift-store sweaters and will probably become various felted christmas presents for my family, but there was a bunch of yarn that my husband bought me in Germany and for that I have great plans...I just need to give my finger a little more rest, but I'm prepared!

I got a XXL man's sweater (J. Crew 100% wool) at the thrift store to keep myself busy for another week (in case you're wondering, I'm going to recycle the yarn and probably make something else) I love cheap yarn!

No Knitting

(en Español aqui)

I'm currently visiting my family in Juarez (and taking care of some health issues) and sadly...I have nothing to knit, worst? It was my decision.

I learned to knit when I was around 11, my mom and I went to a yarn store and if you bought the yarn and needles there, they would teach you how to knit. I never thought anything about my style of knitting until I moved to the US, long story short, I discovered (thanks to Annie Modesitt) that I was a combination knitter *.

As with many other things, I succumbed to peer pressure and about a year ago decided to start knitting through the front loop, the purling was a whole different story. I don't really know how "regular" continental knitters purl (I guessed I could've google it or something), the thing is that the yarn is on top of the needle and instead of wrapping the yarn around the needle (is that how you do it?) I started pushing the yarn downwards with my index finger, which meant and extra movement and stress on the articulation. My finger started hurting and swellign about 2-3 months ago, but that did not stopped me from knitting (it doesn't hurt when I knit), then the pain became more severe, it hurt when I put lateral pressuare on the top half of my finger, that meant that I had trouble tying my shoes, pulling my pants up (I do it by grabbing with my index fingers the belt loops) and doing other simple things. I'm pretty sure I have tendonitis due to the repetitive motion of pushing the yarn downwards as I purl. I decided to give my finger a rest and take a break from knitting, at least for a couple of weeks. As you might've guessed by now, I'm going to start knitting the old way again and hope for the best.

*I've checked with other Mexican knitters and that's the exact same way they knit.


Me not knitting doesn't mean no knitting post.

Last Saturday I bought 2 pairs of hand knit gloves.

















Knitted in Alpaca, these were made in Peru. I didn't notice that one the fingerless gloves doesn't have the ends weaved in and the other has a big hole on the side ( the knitter missed the side seam), I think finishing them off will make them feel a little more personal (yeah, keep telling that to yourself).

The fingerless gloves are for me, I have small hands, so they're a bit large, but I love the alpaca motif. The other pair is for my husband. Now that I think about it, I might go back to buy some more, they were $50 pesos each or less than $5 dlls!


>----ESPAÑOL-----

Advertencia: Esta no es una traduccion literal, pero la idea es la misma.

Ahorita estoy visitando a mi familia en Juarez y aproveche para ir al medico, gracias a Dios todo salio bien. Lo triste es que no tengo nada que tejer, ya que decidi darle un descanso a mi dedo indice de la mano izq. Hace como 2 o 3 meses que me duele la articulacion y yo le hecho la culpa a la nueva manera en la que tejo. Asi que, despues de mi periodo de reposo, volvere a tejer como antes.
Bueno, pero el que yo no este tejiendo no significa que no va haber fotos de tejidos.
Estos y estos guantes los compre el sabado pasado en un muestra artesanal en Misiones. Estan hechos con Alpaca y tejidos a mano en el Peru. Ademas de guantes habia gorros, bolsas, joyeria y demas, de muchos lados de America Latina y todo a muy buen precio (creo yo). Los morados son para mi y el par para Robe, y no, no voy a tratar de pararme el cuello con ellos y fingir que yo los hice, aunque quien le va a decir? ;-)

Nos vemos luego!

Before I leave...

I'm supposed to be packing, but instead I want to post my latest FO's. This are my first -completely-done-for-me items and I'm OK with how they turned out.

Se supone que debo de estar empacando, pero en vez de eso voy a mostrarles mis dos ultimos projectos terminados.

~This is the Sleeveless Top from the cover of VK Spring/Summer 2004

I used 7 balls of Classic Elite Bam Boo in Flamingo. I started around March (I think), at first it went pretty fast, but then I run out of yarn and had to order an extra ball from WEBS and I lost momentum and didn't get finished until today. I had forgotten how soft the yarn was! that almost makes me forget how much it splits.

Use 7 madejas de estambre de bamboo (muy suavecito!). Este projecto lo empece por ahi de Marzo y tuve que dejarlo imcompleto porque se me acabo el estambre y de aqui a que lo mande pedir y me llego por correo, ya habia perdido el vuelo.

Mods? Besides the yarn I think I made the front a little bit shorter so I wouldn't be as low cut and I did a 3-needle bind-off instead of grafting the shoulders to give it a little more stability. I made some mistakes with the increases and decreases in the back, but overall I like how it turned out and I'm glad this is out of the "Basket of shame".

El patron no lo segui tan a la letra, modifique el estambre, lo hice un poco mas corto del frente (para que no fuera tan escotado) y en vez de hacer el punto Kitchener en los hombros, desmonte usando 3 agujas. Me equivoque en la parte de atras, pero con todo y eso me gusto el producto final y me alegro de que ya por fin este terminado.

~Short-sleeve lacy Cardigan from VK Spring/Summer 2007

another picture...

This is my second attempt at set-in sleeves (the first one is still unfinished) and I didn't like them! I think I could have done better, but I just wanted it to be over with. It's a little short for my taste and I like it better unbuttoned. This was my "moving" project, I cast-on as we left El Paso, Tx and casted off about a week ago, pretty fast for my standards!

Este suetercito me dio muchos dolores de cabeza! empezando con las mangas estilo "set-in", no me gusto mucho como quedaron, a lo mejor algun dia lo descoso y las vuelvo a hacer. Tambien quedo un poco mas corto de lo que yo esperaba y me gusta mas como se ve abierto que cerrado.

Este projecto lo empece cuando veniamos en camino de El Paso y lo acabe hace apenas una semana.

This was knitted in Omega Sinfonia 100% cotton. I used almost 6 balls of yarn using 2 strands held together. I had a little accident while blocking it... I had made sure to use a colander to wet the piece for blocking, but somehow it still made contact with the bathroom fixtures and it stained the back a little.

Use estambre Omega Sinfonia 100% algodon, casi 6 madejas usando 2 al mismo tiempo. Mientras hormaba el sueter tuve un pequeño accidente...al parecer al mojarlo en el baño se mancho con cloro o limpiador y la parte de atras se mancho.

I don't know what to do about them. Should I use a permanent marker in a similar color or

just leave them be? Besides the stains, in this picture you can see my un-even stitches and the mistake I made while picking up stitches from the back.

Next time I'll knit something from the top down in a more forgiving yarn...that's what I learned.

No se que hacer, las cubro con un marcador permanente o las dejo asi? ustedes que piensan? Ademas de las manchas en la foto pueden ver que las puntadas estan un poco chuecas y que me equivoque en el cuello...moraleja, la proxima vez voy a tejer un sueter de arriba hacia abajo y en algun estambre mas elastico.

Next post will be from Juarez, Yey!

Nos vemos en Juarez!

Amor

Julio 25, 2003

Gracias por tanta felicidad!

Te amo

Un buen dia

As promised in the last post, here are the pictures of my mini-Clapotis.

Tal como lo prometi en el ultimo post, aqui esta una foto de mi mini-clapotis.

Pattern: Clapotis from Knitty

Yarn: Noro's Silk Garden, can't remember the color.

Modifications: I did less setup rows to make it skinnier. It ended up measuring almost 79" long by 11 across.

The oranges are not as bright, but usually I don't wear orange. This scarf will be a nice way to warm up a cold winter day.

Patron: Clapotis de Knitty

Estambre: Silk Garden de Noro

Modificaciones: Teji la bufanda menos ancha.

En la foto se ve mas naranja de lo qeu es, de cualquier manera no estoy acostumbrada a usar el anaranjado en la ropa. Esta bufanda va a ser una buena manera de alegrar un frio dia de invierno.

Yesterday was a good day, I baked some delicious chocolate cupcakes and I got some goodies in the mail:

Ayer fue un buen dia, hice kekitos de chocolate y recibi varias sorpresas en el correo:

1) My state ID! Which I'm not showing the picture

Por fin me llego mi identificacion del estado

2)My Knitty swap package arrived, Thank you yarn-a-holic!

Me llego mi paquete del intercambio que hice antes de venirme para aca.

3) and last but not least, We won! We got free tickets to go see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in 3-D!

Y por ultimo, Ganamos!! Nos mandaron boletos gratis para ir a ver la nueva pelicula de Harry Potter en 3-D, luego les platico como esta.

Europe

(en Español aqui)

It's been a while since I really posted something (I don't think Knitty's Swap counts). So much has happened... where to start? oh yea! the beginning.
In my last post I wrote a little about our trip to visit my sister in Zurich, very little actually and more about the yarn ;-)
So, allow me to fill in the gaps.

The Plan: To visit Jazy y Gera in Zurich, stopping first in London and Paris and then do some Europe sightseeing with them.

The People: My husband, older sister, our friend Ali and myself.

The Knitting project: A smaller version of Clapotis knitted in Noro Silk Garden yarn. I started while waiting for our plane in Chicago and finished on the plane back.

The Story: We hopped on a plane on May 5th and came back May 30th... story too short? OK, OK here are the details...

London: We were there for 3 days and stayed at the Fitzroy/Cosmo Hotel , you really get what you payed for here...which isn't much, but still, we didn't need much. I loved London, I don't know if it was because it was my first trip to Europe or if it was the the view, I thought it was a beautiful city and the people, even thou don't seem to notice or acknowledge you on the streets, were very friendly, open and kind when you talked to them. We saw the Rosetta stone, a piece of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Tower of London among lots other things. We ate fish and chips and drank London Pride. We even squeezed a visit to this yarn shop. Needless to say I knitted every time I had a chance (on the tube mostly).

knitting on the tube

Paris: We took an overnight bus to Paris (it was cheap, but I don't recommend it). By now we were really tired of walking...and each other, just kidding! We had our differences, but it all worked out at the end. We stayed for 3 days at the Hotel Lafayette, which was much better than the one in London. Paris was very different than what I imagined. It wasn't as glamorous or romantic as I thought it would be*, but still, it was beautiful and it was PARIS! We visited Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, Père Lachaise, the Louvre and I got to try escargot (it doesn't taste like chicken). I had such a wonderful time.

Me knitting while visiting the dead

*Let me rephrase that, I was expecting a "Paris Cliche" berets, baguette, scarves, "La vie en rose" and all.

Zurich: The whole idea of this trip was to visit my sister and her husband (which happens to be my husband's brother) who live in Zurich. We took an overnight train to Zurich and got there early in the morning. You can read more about this part of the trip here, all I can add is that Jazy and Gera were great hosts and we couldn't have had a better time. Gracias Jazy y Gera!

During a boat ride through Lake Zurich

Venice: Of all the places we visited, I was looking forward to this one the most. Venice was all that I expected and more, I loved it. I loved the piazza, the bridges, the canals, the decaying buildings, everything...to me it was surreal, romantic and magical all at once. I had a chance to visit Lellabella and got some souvenir yarn. Towards the end I kinda got tired of the tourists, I guess I felt at home there... I don't know how the locals deal with them.

The blue door in the back is the yarn shop

Rome: This was a last-minute decision. We thought for a while that we would go to Prague, but since Robe and I still had days in our Eurorail Pass, we opted for Rome instead. We took an overnight train and 11 hrs after we were in Rome. While there we had a chance to visit our friend Kate and she let us stay in her apartment while she was away (Thanks Kate!). Rome was something out of a book, everywhere you looked there was a ruin or ancient site. It was so fun and mind blowing to finally get to see in person so much history! Everyday (sometimes twice!) we had gelato, you know what they say, when in rome...

We were there for 4 days and got to see the Coliseum, Borghese Gallery, Pantheon, Vatican city among many other things. I still get excited when I think that I was there, in rome...

I didn't get any funny looks for knitting at the Coliseum

As usual, we took an overnight train back to Zurich and the next day we where of to real life. I had such much fun!! I was really blessed that I could enjoy this experience with my husband, family and friends.

Tomorrow, OK, next post I'll show you the finished scarf and things I would have done differently.

Adios!

----ESPAÑOL-----

(OJO: Mis traducciones no son literales, los texto en ingles y español puede que sean un poco diferentes, la idea es esa)

Pues hace rato que no escribo nada y muchas cosas han pasado desde entonces, por donde empezar? ah!si, por el principio.

En el ultimo post escribi un poco sobre nuestro viaje a Zurich, bueno mas bien escribi acerca del estambre que compre durante el viaje y no mucho sobre el viaje, asi que ahi les va:

El Plan: Visitar a Jazy y Gera en Zurich pasando antes por Londres y Paris.

El Equipo: Mi hermanna Magda, nuestro amigo Ali, mi esposo y yo.

El Tejido: Una version mas angosta (tipo bufanda) de Clapotis tejida en Noro Silk Garden. Este proyecto lo empece mientras esperabamos el avion en chicago y lo termine en el vuelo de regreso.

El Cuento: Nos trepamos al avion el 5 de mayo y regresamos el 30 del mismo mes, colorin colorado este cuento se ha acabado...bueno aun hay mas.

Londres: Aqui estuvimos por 3 dias. Nos hospedamos aqui, la verdad el lugar no estaba muy bueno, pero tampoco estaba caro, asi qeu ahi se balancearon las cosas. Londres me encanto, no se si seria porque era la priera vez qeu viajaba a Europa y ahi aterrizamos por primera vez o que, pero me gustaron muchos los edifcios, las calles, los paisajes...hasta el clima! un dia nos llovio, pero no hubiera sido Londres sin lluvia. Entre otras cosas vimos la piedra Rosetta, un pedazo de los manuscritos del Mar Muerto y la torre de Londres. Comimos Fish and Chips y bebimos cerveza local. Hasta compre estambre en esta tienda. Esta de sobra decir que me la pase tejiendo en el metro (ver foto arriba).

Paris: Tomamos un camion de noche a Paris, fue extremadamente barato , pero no lo recomiendo. Pasamos toda la noche en un camion totalmente lleno y apretado, aparte de que ya veniamos cansados de tanto caminar, se nos hizo muy pesado el viaje. Llegamos a este Hotel y nos quedamos 3 noches. Esa tarde Robe y yo nos quedamos en el hotel (me lastime el tobillo y estaba descansandolo), baba y Ali se fueron a turistear. Paris fue toda una sorpresa; yo me imaginaba la ciudad diferente, mas romantica y glamorosa, con "la vida en rosa" de sountrack. Se me hizo muy bonita, pero diferente a la idea que yo tenia en mi cabeza. Aqui visitamos Notra Dame, el Louvre, el cementerio Père Lachaise y la torre Eiffel entre muchas cosas mas. Comimos escargot (santos caracoles Batman!) y la verdad no saben tan mal. En la foto de la version en Ingles estoy tejiendo en el cementerio.

Zurich: El proposito original del viaje era visitar a Jazy y Gera. Como era de esperarse, tomamos el tren nocturno en Paris y llegamos en la mañana a Zurich. Nos la pasamos muy padre con ellos, fueron muy buenos anfitriones. Fuimos a uetliberg, nos paseamos en bote por el lago Zurich, descansamos mucho y sobre todo convivimos con Jazy y Gera como cuando viviamos en la misma ciudad. Aparte de todas las delicias que jazy nos preparo de comer, tambien probamos los famosos luxemburgerli (aqui en ingles) que estan deliciosos! mmm... se te desbaratan en la boca. Ve el blog de jazy en Ingles o Español para mas detalles de esta parte del viaje.

Venecia: (suspiro) Venecia...es un sueño. De todo el viaje, esta parte era la que mas anticipada y no me decepciono. Me encantaron las piazzas, los canales, los edificios que parece que se caen en pedazos, los callejones; Yo nunca he ido a Guanajuato, pero me dijeron que las callejuelas son parecidas. Se me hizo un lugar magico, romantico y encantador. En un abrir y cerrar de ojos regresaria a Venecia, aunqeu ya a el final me artaron un poco los turistas, yo no se como le hacen lso qeu viven ahi para sobrevivir.

Roma: Visitarla fue una desicion de ultimo minuto. Por un tiempo pensamos que iriamos a Praga, pero nos quedaron dias en nuestro pase de Eurorail y preferimos usarlos. Como ya se imaginaran, tomamos un tren por la noche en Zurich y 11 horas despues estabamos en Roma. Nuestra amiga Kate nos dejo quedarnos en su apartamento mientras estuvo fuera de la ciudad (gracias Kate!). La ciudad esta como salida de un libro! Por todos lados hay ruinas, estatuas, museos, hay tanta historia y tantas cosas que ver! Todavia no me la creo que estuve en Roma.

Durante nuestra estancia de 4 dias visitamos entre otras cosas la Galeria Borghese, el Coliseo, el Panteon, el Vaticano (se me puso chinita la piel frente la tumba de Juan Pablo II), comimos gelato y auntentica pizza italiana. (en la foto de arriba estoy tejiendo en el Coliseo)

Regreseamos a Zurich en el tren de la noche y despues de descansar un dia Robe y yo regresamos a la realidad (en este caso Juarez). Me siento tan afortunada de haber tenido la oportunidad de conocer tantos lugares, pero me siento realmente bendecida por haberlos podido disfrutar con mi esposo, familia y amigos.

Despues escribo sobre las cosas que haria diferente si volviera a ir.

Bye!

Knitty's Swap

Hi, Thanks for stopping by!

Link to Knitty's swap post
Link to pictures of items I'm swapping

Things I've knitted:

-Summer blouse here and here
-Orangina
-Felted slippers, Beret and headband here
-Lace scarf
-Calorimetry
-Top down sweater and scarf here
- Cap and small cluth here
- Some of these FO's have seen the "finished light" since this post

I can't belive I've posted so few FO's...one more thing to add to the TO DO list.

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.