File under category: "Damn I'm smart"

No I'm not being modest at all -- DAMN I'm smart!

Today I brined two chickens to be roasted in the oven. I needed a v-rack to roast them and I don't own one (nor do I want to buy or store one). When I googled "v-rack homemade" I got an idea for wadding up aluminum foil in the bottom of the roasting pan and placing the chickens on top of that. Didn't like it and didn't want to waste that much foil.

Then

I thought....

I thought A LOT....

and I pulled out 3 mini muffin tins and arranged one in the bottom and the other two against that one. My result appears to be a successful homemade v-rack. What do you think?

Projects have been flying off the needles here!

I have been knitting a lot over the winter and spring. I have a few pathetic pictures to prove it:



Multiply this picture times 5 -- I mean, once you've seen one pair of plain knit socks you've seen them all.



My newest favorite sweater! LOVE THIS ONE!


The cat and the dog have officially bonded!


There was a little election in November!!!!!!!!!!! DH and I took Gabe and I had to take a pic of my ballot!


I knit a hat for my 21 y.o. nephew who still can't believe his aunt knows how to knit (I think he's been living under a rock)!



I think the above Halloween costume qualifies DH and I for parents of the year (thanks to "my friend "C" who donated old VCR parts which helped make it official). We made him a mask too -- but it wasn't photographed. BUMMER!

And I've been watching the birds like crazy in the backyard. The Baltimore Orioles arrived right on time. My Flicker's haven't been seen in a few months (boo hiss). But the Red-Bellied Woodpeckers, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers are loving life as are the Goldfinch. I'm officially a bird nerd!

A photo update

So much has happened lately.

First we adopted a cat. His name is Butter (he came with the name). He was so freaked when we got him, that he spent the first week behind our couch. By day 7, he and our dog were helping me knit:



Then Butter got so confident with the yarn, he decided to try it solo:



We went to Cloudcroft, NM for brief break. The aspens were beautiful and the temps were deliciously cool!

We stopped in Muleshoe, TX, which I was suprised to learn has a McDonald's AND a playland! Who knew???


I finished my "car socks" that have been in the car and on the needles since early summer:





The twins saw their first memorable mountains. The pic below was taken shortly after Eli said "these are the tallest mountains EVER!"



We went to White Sands, NM where the boys went sand sledding:



The innocent charming face below posed for this pic after pushing me down a dune when I casually commented that it seemed an awfully long way down....he just. pushed. me. down. the. dune!!!!



I regret that I don't have any good pics on my computer that show the boys in the "real" mountains -- but let me assure you that there was hiking, elk, elk poop, chimineas, and marshmallow roasting all around!

It was a great trip but we're glad to be home!

Sick day

I'm home with a sick little 6 year old today. He was feeling rotten, so we were cuddling in bed watching Sesame Street (such nostalgia value for this mommy). Good love!

Sesame Street is always evolving to excite kids with updated music and skits. Eli loved it, and Mommy loved this piece so much she had to share with you. I nearly rolled off the bed when it started.

Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?

Because yarn is a terrible thing to waste.

Last winter I fell in love with the genius that is Stephanie Japel and Fitted Knits. Her patterns are so approachable, flattering, and fun. I jumped off and made Boatneck Bluebell and knit with a fervor never before seen. I wore it for exactly 3 hours in early April. Then I felted it.


I called my friend, Chris. I showed her the shrunken felted mess and we had a memorial stout to help ease the blow. Then my friend Chris, who is a very petite gal and at least 6 sizes smaller than me, pulled the sweater over her head and walked out the door. Yep, that's right, the sweater shrunk to fit her size small frame vs. my large frame. I chalked it up to kharma and knitterly cockiness. I shouldn't have been knitting that selfishly on a sweater. I gave myself some time to digest the problems and recommitted to doing it again. I started it sometime in July and finished it in August. Meet Boatneck Bluebell versions 1.0 and 2.0 (unfelted).

I'm officially a dumbass. Any questions?

About last night...

I went to a concert last night.



WOW!

Double wow!

Words don't do it justice. Plant and Krauss were amazing. Plant's voice is pure nostalgia and Krauss' voice is pure heaven -- put those two together with a kick-ass talented band and you've got magic.

I saw a knitting friend there (who shall remain nameless). She told me she just found out about the show 2 hrs. before it started. She was really excited to "see Alison Krauss and some old guy." When they sang Plant's "I'm in the Mood" I turned around and told her very self-righteously "THAT'S the 'old guy!'" WONDERFUL!

It was also great being at the Zooampitheater. I saw SOO many concerts there in college, and being there again last night was like a trip down memory lane. Great venue, great music, great memories.

Enough waxing nostalgic. Just go buy "Raising Sand" if you don't own it. It's amazing!

Happiness is...

• Temps in the 7o's with NO HUMIDITY
• A new sweater in the pipeline (doesn't it SCREAM 1986?)
• The new Genius feature in iTunes
• My new "70's Sap" playlist (via Genius above)

What's on the 70's playlist you ask?

Ventura Highway
Make It with You
Everything I Own
Diary
Baby I'm-A Want You
It Don't Matter to Me
Guitar Man
Lost Without Your Love
I'd Really Love to See You Tonight
Nights Are Forever Without You
Love Is the Answer
It's Sad to Belong
Baker Street
Right Down the Line
Rocky Mountain High
Annie's Song
September Morn
Play Me
Holly Holy
I Am...I Said
Diamond Girl
FM
Deacon Blues
Hey Nineteen
Peg
Rikki Don't Lose that Number

Don't scoff, I didn't call it "70's Sap" for nothing! Oh put me in Mom's Monza driving down Doghouse Road in 1975 listening to many many of these tunes! Mom's didn't have the racing stripes though -- it was a totally cool color, you know, something like blue.

Never fear -- I've also got a kick-ass 80's playlist -- it's called "Skinny Rocks" - -because really, I was skinnier and rockin' in those days. ;-) I'll share that list with you sometime.

Time to get gauge for the new sweater (no, I'm not using the rainbow colorway, I promise).