All the fat, none of the flavor.

I made these cookies for the kids in one of my classes. I told the classes that if they got perfect attendance I would make them cookies and I am following through on my promise, even though a girl tried to start a fight in that class last week. Dang Junior High kids.

But really, these cookies have no flavor when baked. I’ve eaten one from the new batch and still, there is no flavor. No substantial taste, nothing to really enjoy. It is the lack of real vanilla, I’ve decided. I thought and thought about it, this dry powder with egg and margarine added to it and compared that to a regular recipe….and that is the true difference. No vanilla. So the cookies are bland. Blah, much like that particular class, these cookies could use some improvent.

HeeHee HeeHee

Heehee Heehee. I just had to share this with everyone. Lol.

I know it’s not knitting related, but it is hilarious.  Darby got a good laugh over it too.

Random Act of Kindness?

I was getting some Starbucks Monday morning and noticed the the trunk of the car in front of me was open. I pondered for a while…was there a reason for it to be open? No, it did not look like it. Would the lady be freaked out if I just walked up and slammed the trunk of her car? Probably. We slowly inched our was towards caffinated goodness and I decided I better do something before she drives down the street with her trunk open. So I got out, walked up to her car with some apprehension and said “Hey, your trunk is open.” She asked me to close it and I did. When I got up to the window my drink was free. Now I don’t know if she paid or if the barrista appreciated what I did (he said it was free because I did a good deed) but I drove off with a free tall skinny vanilla latte and a sense that I did something good but disappointment in myself for thinking I should be rewarded for doing something so simple and obviously the right thing to do.

Yay Latte!

So as far as knitting goes, I am busy at work knitting during testing. Heehee. My job is so darn easy sometimes. I watch a few late kids and those who don’t have to test and knit for 2 hours. It’s awesome. So Wicked continues. I’m now past the armpits and into the bust, which is 4 inches of stockinette and a little mindnumbing. But Jen (my friend) thinks it looks awesome and I tend to agree.

Here it is mid frog. I had to rip out the whole thing, rewind the center-pull ball and start over. It’s looking lovely now.

Darby Sweater, heavily revised…

So as those of you who read my blog occasionally know, my goal was to make Darby a dog sweater inspired by the Jay-Walker Socks.  And it became the “too Small Dog Sweater”…Poor Pup!  So I frogged all but the ribbed neck and started over, this time with a seed stitch on the back and the ribbing continues on the chest and belly area.  As you can see, it is a much better fit.  Pattern will be coming along, eventually…

In LOL speak she would be saying “Oh noez, mah eyes iz closed! We take piktur again, k?

Too small dog sweater

I set out to make Darby a new sweater, this time knit texture. My goal was to make a sweater inspired by the “Jaywalker socks” because I so liked the zig-zag pattern. Naturally I did not actually READ the pattern, oh no. I just made note of the fact that there were symmetrical increases and decreases.

I stole this picture from her blog (cause it was awesome): tiphanie

So, being that I have made a great many sweaters for Darby, I cast on with 30 stitches, worked in a 1×1 rib, increased up to 36 sts total, bound off the legs, cast back on, and set out to make my own zigzag. But….I hadn’t actually read the pattern and I wasn’t quite sure what I was doing. Naturally, I forged ahead. Here’s what I ended up making….

While it is a thoroughly adorable sweater, it is TOO small for my tiny Darby. She was really not pleased with having to wear it.

Yeah, you can tell she’s not a fan of it. Heehee. It is pretty cute. If you need a sweater for a dog who’s maybe 2lbs or less, I’ll be happy to send it to you.

Obnoxious Superman Hat

Dear Obnoxious Superman hat,

I know you thought you had me beat, you wanted so badly for me to give up after the first 8 times starting and failing. Your yarn was too small and your needles were too slippery, but I would not let you win, oh no! You may think that just because I started with 200 stitches and had to re-do you again and again, making you smaller each time, that I would finally throw the towel in and move on to my Wicked sweater. Ha! I have much too much time on my hands to give up.

Your charts were stupid, some too big and some too small, while my own charts were pathetic at best, but I persisted. You would taunt me, sitting there with your tangled up yarn, your bits down at the bottom from the unsuccessful swatches. And when I first thought you were done, you had ladders, big gaping holes where the decreases were. I moved forward, picking up stitches to hide the ladders, leading to another awful, awful version of you, with your spliced together skein and bitty bitty knots.

Don’t think this is over, you obnoxious hat. This is over when I say it is.

 Please note, the dog was also not impressed with you.

So again I cast on, this time with half the original number of stitches, because boyfriend has a significantly smaller head than I thought. This time, with 100 stitches and a simple k2tog decrease 5 times instead of k2tog, skpsso, 4 times. And finally, no ladders, no huge gigantor hat.  Finally a completed hat, simple, black, no intarsia, no stranded color work with ends to weave in.  Just a simple-black-hat.

Now we do the tricky part.  The hat and I, we dance.

And, finally, I win.