It's a sickness for sure

Oy. I got a delivery yesterday. More yarn. Correction: more cascade yarn. I ordered via net, at www.kyarns.com check it out. Once again, fast service. So one serious thing I am learning from buying yarn this way, the colors are not exactly the way they look on the computer. I looked at these colors online and it was all I could do to stop at only this many skeins. All the colors looked pretty. It's like the dress shop that uses a skinny mirror. You buy the outfit, take it home, and go....uh, how come it doesn't look as good on me at home? So although I highly recommend the kyarns, I think it's best to see the yarn up close and personal before buying. I also bought some purse handles and magnetic closures for the pocketbooks I'm working on. I also bought a sewing machine....pics of that to come. I've been wanting one for some time now. I can't wait to get started. I used to sew in highschool (mom taught me), so it's been awhile. I figure if I can teach myself to knit, why not sew also. Better yet, if I can handsew my pieces together, why not figure out a machine... Hah, famous last words.. So I also wanted to posted some pics from my friend Dan's gig. Pics are grainy due to use of regular 35mm camera, and dark club..Oh yeah, these were taken at the Legendary Stone Pony in Asbury Park. Band name: The Verge. We used to work together when I was in pharmacy school. I have known both of his sisters for quite sometime now. So dan is a great friend. We both like the same alternative music and we used to hang out in belmar, play trivia and drink screwdrivers made with fresh squeezed orange juice. I highly recommend this drink, it's worth the extra work of squeezing the oranges. yum. So that's it for me today, have a peaceful weekend.

Orange ya glad it's summer?

I decided to get pedicure today. Needed the relaxation after a harrowing morning getting blood drawn. Ugh. I'm feelin like a pin cushin already. And the phlebotomist, taking her time, poking and tapping on my veins. Jeepers lady, just take the fricken blood already. I swear, if she would have asked me to pump my arm I would have been on the floor. I came close. I saw white spots and nothing else. Just brutal. Anyhew, after that I needed a little TLC cudos to Chrissy for a job well done. I'm also currently in the market for a sewing machine. Nothing too fancy just the basics. It's been awhile since I have done machine sewing, but I think it would be a nice thing to add to my craft arsenal. We have a stonybrook near us that carries the most beautiful fabric. I bought some snippets last week. I'm thinking some lavender eye pillows for my students. It's a nice thing for shavasana (final relaxation) . I also thought it might be nice to line some of the pocketbooks I am making. The paisley fabric is beautiful, this picture does not do it justice. I also found a friend in the garden today..He was just hangin out on a branch and I zoomed in for a close up. Waiting on Mr. Mailman to bring me some goodies. Will take pics when the stuff arrives....

Something new and blue

Have you ever put a knitting project in "knitter's jail" ? Have you ever tossed it aside due to 1. several frogging sessions 2. total lack of skill needed to complete 3. just being plain cranky and losing patience to the point of boredom.. Well this was my Knitting Olympic project. Slightly like Michele Chen (? is that her name? the iceskater that dropped out before starting???) . Yup, that was me. Started out gung ho. Frogged this thing 5 times and just could not understand what I was doing wrong. So it's been sitting since feb. in a pile. in my yarn closet. all alone. still messed up. I couldn't even bring myself to frogging it the last time. See, the pattern calls for an increase at the beginning of each row. Cool. know how to do that. But then the written directions tell you to cont. in patt. Well, up until a month or so ago, I wasn't very good at that. Now, well, I learned something. All by myself.. I learned how to look at the stitches and see the pattern, and, voila, finished shoulder cozy. easy peasey. Those cool shades... New.. I needed to treat myself this week, so, yup, Chanel. My credit card is still smoking.. But H said, Buy yourself something nice. Um, men need to learn to add, "within reason" to that. However, the week and news I got this week, well deserved buy. The yarn I used for this is Debbie Bliss super chunky cashmerino. Very soft, and I bought it on ebay for a decent price. I also decided to show off the shawl I made last year.. I used colinette giotto.. I tried to sell it at a couple of the craft fairs but no one wants to pay what it's worth. People want pretty things but they want them on the cheap. If you've ever bought Colinette, it's not cheap!!! This wrap is also very long in the back. So, it's mine now, which is ok by me. I love pretty things. So next week return of Free Recipe Sunday. I promise, I wanted to post some knitting stuff today. Besides, it's too hot to cook..

Ahimsa, and lack there of

Sorry to miss free recipe sunday. My girlfriend and I went to NYC to see Amma (www.amma.org). This was my second trip to see her, so I am still a "newbie". She is an awesome humanitarian, and most who see her feel she is enlightened. She has devoted her life to God. She leads a selfless life. She is truly awesome to behold. She is also known as the hugging saint. When you go to see her you wait for darshan or a blessing in the form of a hug. She loves everyone unconditionally. In the practice of yoga there are yamas(principles) and niyamas(practices in life to be followed). We are human, but we try to follow these "rules for living" to bring us more spiritualty. I have spoken before about nonattatchment or aparigraha. Today I want to talk about ahimsa, or nonharming. Ahimsa is about nonviolence in speech, thought and action. I spend alot of time in my classes speaking about ahimsa, especially in forward folds, where, people tend to pull at their feet to get further into the pose. I think ahimsa is important for people to practice. We live in a world where humanity struggles with kindness. Alot of people are out for #1. I see this, daily, and I now recognize it as ignorance. People need to see the big picture. We all have something in common, we are, all from the same origin. There is a thread that binds us together. So why all this talk of ahimsa? I want to share something with you that happen to my girlfriend and I when we went to see Amma. We have not seen each other in about 4 months. We went through our teacher training together, and that is how we met. In hushed tones while we were waiting for our darshan we were "chatting". Now we were in the Manhattan center, there are vendors all around the sides, and Amma is up front. There is a live band playing music. People are sitting on the floor up front mediating and just enjoying being in the presence of Amma. As were my girlfriend and I in our own way. The woman in front of us turned around and said, "Can I ask you a question?" and I'm thinking to myself, sure but, I'm not too familar with this process of seeing Amma, and I don't live in the city... so we both say "sure". (now, we have little smiles on our faces because we're so happy to be experiencing this, and we're happy to be spending time together). The woman then in a very nasty tone says, "you would think in the prescence of such a supreme being you would not be talking to each other like your on some street corner, go to the back of the room". The look on her face....anger...hate....pure and unadulterated disdain. I think my girlfriend and I nearly fell off our chairs. Here we are, completely, belittled. In the enviroment of love. Hmmm, what's that all about? Should we not have taken it to heart? Were we in the wrong? possibly. Could it have been said in a nicer, kinder way? Um, I believe so. So I didn't feel angry at the woman. I felt sorry for her. Because she's ignorant. She doesn't get the big picture. Such a shame. Spread love people, or at least try. Listen to the Beatles, "All you need is love"
More knitting to come, almost finished with my shoulder cozy.....

Bag is finished....

I'm really not happy with how long it takes to felt in my washing machine. I am happy with the way this altered triangle bag came out. New flower added. It's a twist on the regular bag. I love this color combo. Just a brief post today. I'm on my way to the gym. I also stopped off at Barnes and Noble this afternoon. Bought 2 knitting books and 2 books for my niece, who is "totally bored" at her father's house. I have always loved to read. I used to read the whole summer list in the month of June. Especially when I was "bored" at grandmoms house for 2 weeks. Grandmom's beach house. Jeesh, how bored could I have been? What I wouldn't give to have a beach house. This Knit Cafe book is so pretty. I couldn't help myself. Here's a woman who gave up corporate and followed her dream. Nice. Maybe someday.....

Free recipe Sunday

Yesterday after work I took a little trip to WholeFoods. As I have said before one of my favorite foodstores. I decided to make salmon last night. I don't eat regular salmon (farm raised-if you are not sure what your eating, it's probably farm raised) so I traveled to WF to get the good stuff. Fresh King Salmon, wild caught. So as I side dish I made saffron rice and hearts of palm salad. So here's the recipe for the salad...
1 Lrg jar hearts of palm
1 pint grape tomatoes
1 bunch asparagus
1 lemon
olive oil
dijon mustard
salt, pepper, garlic salt, onion powder to taste

chop up asparagus, steam for 3-4 minutes, plunge into ice bath, then drain
chop hearts of palm and tomatoes
mix juice of lemon, olive oil and a tsp of dijon mustard unitl emulsified, add remaining ingredients, toss to coat and serve. Enjoy!!!

While we are on the food subject, I also found these Black Mission Figs. Beautiful. Not easy to find in these parts. Will have to think up something to make with these. Pasta dish? Maybe next weeks FRS. On the knitting front. I started playing around with some manos yarn I had in my stash and guess what happens, I run out of yarn. Run out of manos at 5pm on a sat in the summer. Good luck finishing that. Most LYS are closed in sunday, so it will have to wait to get finished. I only have about 12 more rows to go. Crimeney. I should have known better. But as in everything knitting I always have to learn the hard way.

Feltin' Friday

Time to felt. The washing machine is currently running in the backround as I felt another Bag. I'm into the pink and green thing this summer. I tried a different flower for this one. I am noting that one particular problem with the long process of felting is that my water temp. in washer is not hot, even though I have it set at hot. I had a busy morning, went out to pennsie to LYS in Yardley, YKnotKnit. I had a gift certificate sitting there for months. So I spent it. More Cascade 220... And some bulky wool, that, well, it's a suprise. Let's just say I'm working on a pattern of my own for a bag. I saw something in a magazine and I said, hmmm I can do that. So it's trial and error time. On the gardening front, here's an idea of how those "cute, pretty" deer destory greenary. I am mad, this portulaca was my FAVORITE plant (refer back to WMAO post and you will see how beautiful it was) They even began to pull the indivigual plants out of the ground . This is the first year they have been interested in this plant. Probably a baby doe. They have also eaten most of my beautiful hosta plant, my roses and moonflowers. Nuisance. So I will leave you with a pic of my kitty. We have decided to forgo giving her canned food. She gets sick everytime. So, we will stick with the dry kibble and hopefully she will gain back a pound. My sweet little girl....

Super duper

Hubby and I went to a matinee of Superman Returns today. I must say, I was a little skeptical going in. I am a Christopher Reeve's fan. I grew up with him as Superman. I will tell you, this new guy, he is Super also! He did a great job, very handsome. The movie was excellent. That is all I will say, don't want to spoil anything. Go see it. So this is the tote bag I have been working on. The pattern comes from Interweave Knits, the original has circles on it, I opted for a peace sign. I'm only going to do the pattern on one side. Both sides would take me forever. It is tedious work, and there are some holes, but felting should help to hide all the little mistakes. How long do you think it will take to weave in all the ends? Almost as long as it takes to knit one side. Oy.

Happy 4th-free recipe Sunday a day early

Happy 4th. Sister G. and I went out last night to see Yasgur's Farm. We both wore red, white and blue in honor of our country's Birthday!!! On my way back home today I stopped at Barlow's flower farm. This my friends is truly a treat. I bought 2 perrenials ( something mettle and gooseneck loosestrife-which I think is going to grow enormous). I also bought a really pretty indoor plant, which I have not yet photographed and a wandering jew with lots of pink in it. I'm hoping the deer will not eat this gooseneck ls, will know by tommorrow.
So as promised free recipe sunday (a day early) hubby and I are supposed to chillout with neighbors tonight post fireworks. So I thought I would make white sangria and homemade mango salsa with chips. So here's the recipe for the mango salsa: If you have fresh tomatoes that would be best. about 4-6 tomatoes depending on size,
diced and strain juice, or you can
use canned diced tomatoes ( I used muir glen organic), 2 med-lrg ripe mangoes, 1/4 large red onion diced fine, juice of 1 lime, then add spices: garlic salt, onion powder, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper to taste. Mix well, then add fresh cilantro (coriander) chopped fine. Let this sit for several hours, in a cool dry spot. Remember putting tomatoes in the fridge causes a chemical reaction that makes them lose their flavor. Serve with chips or as a topping for grilled chicken!!!Enjoy.
I also wanted to post some more flowers, knitting soon I promise!!! I am working on a tote right now, so I will post a pic as soon as I finish the one side-it's in intarsia! woo hoo, what a mess. So here's some pics.. One of them is the planter from earlier in the summer that has the nictotina plant in it, it has grown leaps and bounds!!!!