quick (Contiguous + The Tailored Sweater) = Top-Down Twinkle Best Friend Cardigan, take two

This is the most awesome sweater (it's still a work in progress):

You are looking at a Twinkle Best Friend Cardigan, with the set-in sleeves, worked from a cast-on and then with increases, to shape the back, front and sleeves. It is so amazing I cannot wait until I'm done to start talking about it, I have to gush now. Because I started with a cable cast-on of 16 stitches, did increases in between different sets of markers, and voila, set-in sleeves, top-down, with one contiguous piece of yarn. I did do little things using Tuulia's method though, like the slip-stitches on the outside of the sleeve increases to simulate a seam, it just looks so polished that way.

Looks like it's going to be my mother's though. It's a little big for me, and she keeps asking me when I'm going to knit her something. Maybe I'll go back and knit one for myself. . . someday.

Criminal or. . . ?

Last week I read this article about Cars 2 (it just came out). Basically, it says that they made a sequel to Cars even though it didn't perform well, so that they could sell junk to kids. It also says that they created the plot (international spying) so that they could sell MORE crap. Internationally. All the little kids I know were excited about this movie coming out, and I'm sure their parents are going to pay for it. Last Sunday the Target ad's cover was Cars 2 merchandise. When you opened it, it had a folded section with more Cars 2 stuff. Die cast cars, cereal, water toys, bed sheets, ad nauseum. I know it's smart, if you can get into that racket, but wow, I'm just speechless.

Bub has asked why candy is at the check-out registers and we've talked about impulse buys (amusing our cashier), so now we've also talked about creating a product just to sell it. I think eventually there will be something that he really likes, aside from books, that he really wants, but when he does, I want it to be because he finds it cool and not because some schmuck in a suit marketed it to him.

Autism from an International Angle

This weekend we watched two films where the main characters have autism. The first film we watched was Chocolate, a Thai martial arts film (with transvestites!) where the heroine is able to learn martial arts from watching martial arts, and then goes to collect her sick mother's debts. (I'm leaving out sooooooo much of the plot.) After watching, they had a bloopers reel that showed that none of the stunts were CGI and were in fact, done by real people. The main character got the most damage since she was doing all of the fighting and never got a break, and she looked like a kid. That would accidentally get kicked in the face, or cut her hand open, etc. But she was really good. I couldn't figure out why the movie was called Chocolate, though.

The second film we watched was called Ben X, about a boy with Asperger's who's bullied at school and finally decides to do something about it. Chocolate was dubbed over; Ben X had subtitles.

I enjoyed Chocolate better than Ben X, because Chocolate had tons of martial arts sequences and cheesy music. Not that I actually enjoy cheesy music, but if I'm going to have suspended disbelief, Thai mafia transvestites and cheesy music lighten up an otherwise grim and graphically violent (did you see Kill Bill Volume One? It was like that, but without being hilarious) movie. Ben X was depressing in its realism.

A comedy of catastrophes--tweaking recipes

There's a Frugal Gourmet recipe I used to do all the time when I lived in San Francisco about ten years ago. What I really loved about it was that I typically already had all of the ingredients, so you didn't have to make a special effort to assemble it. Now that I don't have my own kitchen, every once in awhile, when I'm able to, I try to make it again, but it never turns out right. This time was no exception. I had a host of problems:

1-the proportions were not exact;
2-it might have been cilantro rather than parsley that I used (but I'm pretty sure it was parsley) and also, it wasn't enough;
3-it was supposed to be 1 egg for one and a half pounds of meat but instead it was two and a quarter pounds (again, proportions);
4-at the last moment, I discovered that contrary to my assumption, there was no flour in the kitchen to roll the meatballs in;
5-instead of two cups of tomato juice, I gave three or four plum tomatoes a whirl in the blender and added water;
6-the pan I used had no lid so instead of simmering, covered, for 45 minutes, it was uncovered, reducing faster.

Nonetheless, here's a picture:

(Sorry, vegetarians, who find meat disgusting.) It turned out all right, more or less. It was edible. I'm blessed with a husband who seems to think that everything I cook tastes delicious (even when I don't think that). I think his stomach loves me.

I heart Chocolate Stout Float

Have you ever had a chocolate stout float? It's like a root beer float, but instead of root beer, it's made with a chocolate stout (yes, another English beer). It has actual cocoa powder in it. It's absolutely delicious. Especially when it's also made with Breyer's Vanilla Ice Cream. But now I digress.

Pictured above, is Young's Double Chocolate Stout. I'm especially amused for some reason by the "Pure Luxury" text at the top. You can also try a float with a lambic, but I don't care for that so much.

Wormageddon

I didn't have time to post earlier last week when it actually happened, so this is catch-up. The day after we moved our red wigglers into their new home, this sight befell me:

That's right. Our worms tried to escape and then perished on the floor. Hubby thinks we didn't use enough newspaper and didn't feed them enough. I felt so bad! So we (I) tore up another newspaper and added more food for the rest of the worms that were left in there. Hopefully they make it.

Yeah, those worms are it. That's all that's left.

FO-Cupcake Hat for a newborn

 With the pom-pom, and without.

My pom-poms end up wonky. I think it was the yarn, but I'm not sure, since I've successfully made pom-poms before. This time I added sprinkles. Also, I scaled it down to fit a newborn. It's for my cousin's new baby, I hope they like it, but I'm not sure--do non-knitters treasure hand knits as much as knitters? This was almost completely knit out of Caron. I only use Caron for baby knits. I feel weird when I knit with it.

Composting With Earthworms (red wigglers)

We're doing some unit studies from Heifer International. We've read a book about chickens and worms and how they both help the soil. The next step was to build a composting bin.

 You have no idea how hard it was to find a plastic bin with the right dimensions. It has to be opaque,  eight to 14 inches deep, and about 12 x 12 per pound of worms. We had, by my estimation, about half a pound, but this way we can expand. Anyway, I ended up at our local hardware store.

 The worms, from Uncle Jim's worm farm. Two worm vendors are actually the same company though; I chose the other one, because they guaranteed their worms live upon arrival, but upon ordering, got emails from the Uncle Jim's.

 Drilling holes into the bin for ventilation (top) and drainage (bottom).

 Setting the worms free in the bin.

 A bunch of damp newspaper, along with a couple handfuls of soil from the yard.

 And a couple of the red wigglers themselves. Some were dead, but most seemed to be alive, so here's to hoping this works.

And then Itty Bitty woke up from her nap, but she woke up in a good mood and played peek-a-boo before I went in (you could hear her). The picture above is how she "hides". Just like an ostrich.

More weekday round-up

Some more stuff we did a week or two ago:

 I broke out my LEGOs from when I was a kid, and Bub really liked them. We also made things with his LEGO set (see above).

 Later on we tried to construct cubes using miniature marshmallows and toothpicks. Well, Bub constructed, I "supervised" (this did not actually involve me eating the marshmallows). Bub had a good time with the marshmallows. It was definitely from eating them throughout.

Memorial Day weekend we took the kids to the circus. This is the pre-show where the kids are invited to go down to the ring. The kids had a good time, although it was two hours rather than one. Itty Bitty did not have an attention span that long. Bub, on the other hand, had so many questions we had to talk to the circus performers afterwards to get them answered:

-How did the sphere that the motorcycles were in separate? (Hydraulics)

-What is that giant ring called that the acrobats went up and down on (no, not the trapeze). (I forgot the answer.)

Bub didn't actually care to get anyone's autograph or take a picture with anyone, he just wanted answers to his questions.

Father's Day prep

We were supposed to go do a Meet-Up group craft today, but I found out last night that Hubby was expecting a delivery that might require a signature. Thus, we did our crafting at home today, in preparation for Father's Day. The first one is mine, obviously, with the kids handprints cut out.

 This was Itty-Bitty's contribution:

 And Bub made a card. This is the outside:

 And this is the inside, complete with ahem, flair.

His handwriting has been improving, I've got to say. And that, is a very good thing. I wanted to get Hubby a bottle for Father's Day, but taking two small children to a liquor store full of breakable bottles just doesn't sound like a good idea.

Alcohol round-up

Stuff we've been drinking. First up, Ventura Co. Limoncello. It's actually from Ventura County, California, so it's much closer than say, the Limoncello you could buy that was made in Italy. Also, this was one of the only limoncellos at our favorite liquor store that did not have added coloring. That yellow is all-natural:

It's quite tart and good with a little mineral water. It fully satisfied my longing to try a limoncello.

Up next is a British beer, Red Speckled Hen. I tried it after trying an Alaskan beer and I've got to say I liked the Alaskan beer better. Red Speckled Hen is British, like Fuller's, but it ain't no Fuller's. (Yes, I realize it's cheaper, but I think I'll stick to quality.)

 And last up we have Honeymoon Nectar, Sweet Honeywine (opposed to their spiced one).

This one is actually also spiced, but lightly so, and very sweet. Also, it doesn't say the alcohol content, but I suspect it's fairly high. At least, that's what my body is telling me.

Hubby was gifted with a bottle each of Ardbeg and Laphroig a couple of weeks ago but I didn't take pictures on account that they're Scotches he's already tried.

Do cars have personality?

Hubby and I agreed that this car looked surprised:

or, as Hubby anthropomorphized: "Oh my gosh, I'm a car!" It actually reminded me of some three-wheeled cars and trucks we saw in Rome in 1999. Who knew they'd eventually make it Stateside?

Your brain can identify a hit. . .

maybe (after all, this study was only done with 27 participants). But it's very intriguing. I would be interested in finding out whether it worked for a variety of types of music, or if the genres matched the participants' stated preferences. Although I suspect it might not matter.

My wish came true! (Google's Les Paul Doodle)

Did anyone else play with it yesterday or the day before? I was telling Hubby that it was so cool, they (Google) should keep it cached somewhere so that people can play with it always.

Bub musings

-"How is the universe always expanding?"
-What are tonsils for?
-and a lot of metal questions. Like iron v. steel, and what's the hardest substance, etc.

At the same time, we moved the mini-fridge from our bedroom to the study a few weeks ago; he only noticed this morning.
Bub: The refrigerator is missing! Where did it go?
Itty-Bitty: It right here!

(Because she, of course, noticed as soon as it was moved and also made note of where it ended up.)

Finished doll, did I ever post pictures?

Of course, she could still use some clothes (she's wearing a sweater backwards because I still don't have a shirt for her). Overall though, it was a success and Itty Bitty has told me I should make a doll for myself now.

I love me some Adele

Recently I've been listening to a lot of dance music. Sometimes they mix other stuff in there too, and that's the case with Adele. I particularly like these two tracks off her latest album, 21 (written and recorded while she was 21, a follow-up to her first album, 19):

Rolling in the Deep

and Someone Like You


She has a phenomenal voice, like Florence Welch from Florence + the Machine. And both are British. Us Americans don't seem to have many young women with voices like that. We have little pop tarts that dress provocatively and gyrate while lip synching.

ETA: the video links don't seem to be working so I'll just paste in the urls to the videos.