I am joining Dewey’s Knit-Along (in memory of Dewey) and hosted by Robin. It’s one of the mini-challenges that Robin concocted for Dewey’s Book Challenge, but you can join in the knit-along without doing the reading challenge. I’m terrible with reading challenges, but I thought I would tag my next Knitting Project as my Dewey Knit-Along item.

So, with the same yarn I used for my mom’s hat, I am knitting her a scarflette. More specifically, the Ribbed Mini-Scarf [ravlink] by Celeste Glassel. I figure that my mom already has some really fancy, pretty silk scarf/pashmina things for work, but she needs a more practical scarf to wear with her hat. Also, it’s not as big/long/time-consuming as a regular sized scarf.

P.S. I’m being booted out* of the house for Superbowl tomorrow so I hope to find a coffeeshop to sit, knit, and surf the net. * Note: but who really wants to be in a house with grown men yelling and belching and farting and smoking?

1. I’d really like a hug from my man right now.
2. Inappropriate phrases is what you’d most often hear me say if I stubbed my toe.
3. Possession is a slippery slope.
4. I heart Captain Jack Sparrow.
5. Marshmallows and fire go together like love and marriage. Add some chocolate and graham crackers and you get s’mores.
6. My apartment hunt goes on and on.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to finally finishing my website portfolio, tomorrow my plans include building a light box to photograph some earrings and Sunday, I want to finish my cocoa pal’s package!

A couple weeks ago I ordered a little earring tree off eBay. It arrived today and I’m glad I only paid a couple dollars for it, it isn’t nearly as classy as they made it out to be… but you can’t tell that the “crystal base” is actually just plastic. *sigh* Either way, it’ll hold the earring well and I want to practice photographing them to properly portray the colours and designs.

My cocoa pal’s package is nearly done. I just have to put the finishing touches on their Blah Buster Buddy, and find one more item for the package. I want to get her a knitting accessory that she needs/wants, but it’s difficult to find the right item. Speaking of knitting accessories, my tapestry needles and dropping like flies! I had four, and now I’m down to one… and I have no idea where or when they disappeared!

I am feeling so influenced by advertisements right now. I’m watching TV and you know the mail-order infomercials? There was this awesome scrapbooking cutter that I wanted. And now I just saw an ad for International Delight Irish Cream that I want to try. And yesterday I stopped by Tim Horton’s to try their new lattes. They are actually pretty good, and cheaper than Starbucks!

Maybe I should turn off the TV, I now want Hagen Daz ice cream… now half the fat!

Some of you may or may not know that I’m a vegetarian. Well I recently was sent some books from a publishers that are a little more extreme than my current dietary habits; however, I’ve flipped through them and flagged some recipes I’d like to try or adapt. I just wanted to let you all know that I’ll be talking about my cooking a little if I can.

I love 30-minute type meals, and am endlessly searching for a “quick meals vegetarian” book. And I would love to hear some recipe recommendations if you have any.

Great Chefs Cook Vegan by Linda Long. My first impression of this book was that it was very gourmet. I’m going to wait until I try cooking a recipe or two before I pass any judgement though. I marked some recipes that I could adapt, as I may not have the ingredients, or use dairy items instead of non-dairy products. The book appears to be a collection of recipes from over 20 different chefs; everything from entrees and salads to soups and desserts. There are some recipes that call for fresh berries that made my mouth water.

Everyday Raw by Matthew Kenney. The photos in this book look so delicious and fresh. The design of the book is very modern, and I think it makes a statement on the Raw Movement. The intro in the book talks about the key to eating raw is to use what’s fresh, local, in season, and available. I noticed that a number of the recipes call for a “dehydrator” and “dehydration sheets” which appear to be a substitute to an oven… I’m not really sure but there are certainly some appealing recipes that I’d love to adapt and work into my regular day-to-day life. There are a lot of great suggestions for salsas, sauces, dressings, and smoothies. I’m interested in trying acai berry, mango guacamole, and pineapple salsa! I’ll let you know how it all goes.

Project Details [ravpage]:
Yarn: Michell & CIA. Luxury Collection Alpaca Peru. 100% baby alpaca.
Pattern: Fetching-Inspired Hat [ravlink] by Grace KnitsALOT.
Needles: 6mm circulars (instead of DPNs)

The pattern was very vague, but fortunately, hats with a 5 stitch repeat are fairly easy to manipulate. I held the yarn doubled (the pattern called for bulky) and CO 130 sts (pattern calls for 80). Other than that, I followed the pattern pretty much exactly. I did take to putting it on my head to figure out length, but that all went well!

X in Flight is the first installment of the XYZ Trilogy by Karen Rivers.

“X in Flight” centers on the lives of three intriguing teens. Xenos (“X” for short) will never be a normal kid. And it isn’t his looks or the way he carries himself. It isn’t because he hasn’t quite figured out how to deal with his crazy girlfriend or out-there mother. It’s because X doesn’t want to be normal. He wants to stand out.

So, quite by accident, X gets his wish. Now, he can fly. But is he an angel of a superhero? What’s the purpose of his new power? There are no obvious answers, but X should know by now that very few things come easy. Even a brand new set of wings…

I really don’t know how to describe this book, I’ve actually been sitting on this review for several days. The book is geared towards young adults, and I think that Karen Rivers nailed that apprehensive, self-conscious teen in all of us. However, I don’t think the characters needed to use the f-word

I think what bothered me most was the narrative mode. We followed three characters, and each time we returned to one, the point of view changed dramatically. This was a little off-putting, yet I was really compelled by the story, to find out what happens… or happened (due to the POV I’m not really sure…).

The main character, X, is written in first-person narrative, but as a letter to the girl he has a crush on. It’s like he’s writing in a diary, addressed to the girl, Ruby, but he’ll never show her. Ruby’s chapters are written in second-person narrative (“you find yourself looking over the school”). These chapters feel the weirdest, probably because second-person narrative is uncommon in Western literature. The third character we follow is Cat, X’s current girlfriend, and the narrative is third-person. This one is the most common narrative, and sounds the most relaxed and normal for the book.

I’m already reading the next book in the trilogy, Y in the Shadows, because I want to know what the point is. Sure X can fly, but why? What was the point of it? Was it just a character-development type book?

Here are some photos I snapped over the past couple weeks of Henry. For the most part I know he’s a happy cat, he has food, water, love, and many soft places to sleep. However he has this really weird pose with his top half and head over the edge of the bed… and I can’t tell if he’s relaxed or forlorn. Maybe you guys can lend some insight.

This is where he sits while looking out the window, which he loves to do, so it confuses me that he looks kind of sad.

This is him sleeping… but with the duvet piled up so much you can’t really tell that he’s halfway off the bed.

And here he is sleeping on the heating pad (he loves it when I just put it on low). This one he looked like he was going to fall off the bed!

There is probably no reason to be worried, and I’m not really. It’s just that I could understand this pose while he’s looking out the window (nearly parallel to the bed), but for example, the last one he’s just looking at the floor! Maybe he’s just a weirdo.

Please share a favorite tea snack, especially if it is a treasured recipe!

To be honest, I drink tea all day, every day… so there isn’t one particular thing that I have to have with my tea. However, there are some things that if I’m eating them, I need tea. It’s like Frank Sinatra says, “you can’t have one without the other.”

• Chocolate: I just find it gets too rich and sickly-sweet in my mouth. My boyfriend is a chocoholic, so I often hint towards a cup of tea when he brings out the tin of chocolates.
• Peanut butter: I love peanut butter on toast, so it is a wonderful breakfast combo with my morning tea
• Biscuits: such as HobNobs, McVities Light, Arrowroot, or any other sort of digestive. I love dipping them in tea! My mouth gets too dry if I eat them plain.
• Cookies (different from biscuits): They are also good dipped in tea, but not necessarily vital. Just, enjoyable!
• Morning: In order to wake up, I enjoy tea. It’s not so much the caffeine, since I have it before I sleep too, but I think it is the routine.

If I needed to pick a snack or a recipe, I’ll share my new Pumpkin Spice Loaf (Starbucks style). I searched the internet everywhere, and literally tons of websites claimed that this recipe was “thee” Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Loaf. WRONG. I tried so many recipes, and had tons of wasted ingredients (although my dad enjoyed the baked goods)… until I found a recipe that was pure pumpkin loaf. I added my own mix of spices and, voila! A perfect Starbucks-tasting Pumpkin Spice Loaf… and I’m gonna share it!

Starbucks-style Pumpkin Spice Loaf

Makes 1 loaf

• 1½ c. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• 5 tsp. pumpkin spice (see recipe below)
• 4 eggs
• 1 c. granulated (white) sugar
• ¼ c. light brown sugar
• ½ tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 c. canned pumpkin
• ¾ c. vegetable/cooking oil

Prepare pumpkin spice (makes 8 tsp.) by combining 4 tsp. ground cinnamon, 2 tsp. ground ginger, 1 tsp. allspice and 1 t.sp nutmeg. You can tweak this to your particular tastes later by using more/less of a particular spice.

1. Set the oven to 350 degrees (F); Grease a loaf pan
2. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin spice; set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat eggs, sugars, and vanilla until combined.
4. Add dry ingredients and mix well.
5. Add pumpkin and oil and mix well.
6. Pour batter into greased loaf pan.
7. Bake for approximately 90 minutes, check with toothpick; if toothpick doesn’t come out clean, bake for another 10 minutes, and check again; continue this until toothpick comes out clean.
8. Cool on a wire rack before slicing and eating.

We’ve still got a few more days left in January to have some tea talk. Make sure to visit the blog if you’d like to join in!

I really enjoy Weekly Topics for a swap. I think it’s a neat way to keep you involved during the “quiet period” between signing up and receiving a package. Here is the Cocoa Swap Question #3:

Marshmallows/Whipped Cream – The big debate: How do you prefer you top your cocoa?  If you like marshmallows, do they need to be the big ones, little ones, homemade, gourmet, flavored?  If it’s whipped cream, is it fresh, the kind in the can, flavored?  Or are you a fluff gal?  Or… do you like your cocoa naked?  Tell us about how you top off your favorite cup of chocolate!

I am whipped cream all the way. In the can… and straight into my mouth. No, but really… canned whipped cream is great on top of hot cocoa. Did any of you have the peppermint whipped cream from Starbucks over the holidays? To. Die. For. If you’re making whipped cream fresh though, you better have some pumpkin pie or strawberry shortcake on hand!

Marshmallows are just more of a “roast over the fire and make s’mores with” kind of treat. They don’t get gooey enough in hot cocoa. Or Marshmallow Alphabet! Did anyone used to do that with their fingers? Mash up marshmallows into goo and then form letters with your fingers?… yeah me neither….

Naked cocoa is fine too, which is how it usually is as I don’t regularly stock whipped cream. But I have a question, what is “fluff”?

This past summer, my sister took a class through the Richmond Weavers & Spinners Guild. The course was taught by Linda Montague, who is the Guild’s representative and also coordinates the fibre arts portion of the Surrey Art Gallery. As I mentioned in my yarn shopping post, my sister Bonnie is taking another course by Linda in Richmond (side-by-side to Vancouver).

Bonnie was flattered to hear everyone wanted to see her project, so I asked her if I could take photos and blog about her sampler project from the summer. Here are some photos and details of what I learned.

It is a 4-shaft loom set for plain weave with twill variations, also known as “The Sampler”.

The yarn is nothing special and kind of itchy, just whatever was available at the class. This wasn’t something they purchased wool for.

But I must say, it makes a neat finished product!

This is her favourite weave, an alternating plain & twill, which she selected for her first project!

This one is my favourite (left) because of the stripey-diagonal goodness. And the one on the far right is a plain weave.

This is my other favourite weave! Probably because I can’t knit that!

This week, Kim has brought up the topic about what to blog about; more specifically, brainstorming ideas and what to do when we can’t think of anything to blog about.

Well, as you may have noticed, I don’t seem to have this problem. I blog nearly daily… and I always try to make it something new, interesting, or unique. I’m trying to cut back on the pointless memes. For example Tuesday Teasers; while it’s interesting to know what other people are reading, picking a random quote from a random page just doesn’t do it for me anymore. However, I really enjoy Friday Fill-Ins, mostly for the final question which talks about weekend plans.

Kim posted some links to websites that have ideas and suggestions about what to blog about. If you’re just starting out blogging, this might be helpful, but to be honest for me, if I don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. Kinda like Thumper’s mom’s motto (from Bambi).

I don’t think my problem is the ideas or how often I blog, I think it’s the quality/interest-level of my blog posts. So I’ve decided to become more connected in the blogisphere by 1. Doing sort of an “in the news” / bloglines kind of post every so often; and 2. developing and marketing my blog designing skills and hopefully doing some freelance work.