Yeah, me too...

Early morning dentist appointment

+

Whining pup in the wee hours every night for two weeks

+

A gazillion fires to put out at work today (and every day)

=

I feel like Cecil looks in that picture up there.

Oof.

Finished: Stripey Buttony Cardigan

This is a warm and cozy one, for sure. Icelandic wool (purchased in Iceland!) will do that. You know what else it'll do? Require layering. Wow, that's some itchy yarn.

Pattern -- Buttony by Katie Marcus (ravelry page here)
Yarn -- Alafoss Lopi, purchased here.
Needles -- US size 8

Saving Grace of the Day

Sometimes you just have to set yourself up for success by planning for a bright spot in your day by bringing delicious leftovers to work for lunch.  Mmm hmm.  Guess what I was eating this afternoon (oh, who am I kidding -- at 11:15 this morning)?  Black bean salsa with mangos and avocados, that's what.  Highly recommended at the end of a tough day, or preemptively packed in a tupperware just in case.

Black Bean Salsa with Mangos and Avocados
1 large can of black beans, rinsed and drained
1 mango, peeled and chopped
Sweet onion, minced (I used three slices of a large onion)
Splash of olive oil
Generous splash of lime juice
Pinch of brown sugar
Basil, mint, or cilantro, to taste
1 avocado, peeled and chopped

Mix everything except the avocado in a bowl; let it sit so the flavors can combine, at least an hour.  Add the avocado immediately before serving. 

We had this for dinner yesterday in wheat tortillas, but it's just as delicious on its own.

Doesn't everyone block sweaters in mixing bowls?

The stripey Icelandic wool sweater is all knit up, the thousand and one ends have been woven in, and I blocked it over the weekend. The yarn is taking its sweet time to dry, and the sleeves are still a little damp. In the meantime, though, I can show you what it looked like while it was soaking in a mixing bowl. Fascinating, I know.








Mmmm, wet wool.

And, just because I was asked so nicely for photographic proof, here are those boots I mentioned the other day. Note: they're lying on a carpet that I have a new found adoration for, now that it's cleaner than it's been in ages. We replaced our old, ineffective vacuum last week with a new model, and I'll admit I may have spent part of the weekend dancing around the house saying things like "our carpets look brand new!" and "this is our best purchase ever!" and "pet hair! it's picking up the PET HAIR!"

But, ahem, here are the boots:

Weekend, hurrah!

This weekend, I'll be doing the following:

- weaving in a thousand and one ends of yarn on that stripey sweater (it's nearly done! must find buttons, too!)

- napping

- trying to figure out how to put a stop to Mr. Cecil's new habit of whining from his crate constantly during the hours of 10:00pm through 4:00am. (The napping makes sense now, right?)

- starting cucumber seeds in little peat pots

- more napping

- eating Girl Scout cookies

- admiring the out-of-the-blue flowers Mr. Wonderful surprised me with the other day:




Happy weekend to everybody!

Crusading in the Name of Logic: Item 2

Marketing is such a gold mine for infuriating twists of logic.  Yesterday evening I made the mistake of actually listening to the pitch for soup in a Campbell's commercial.  In amongst the implicit claims that their soup will make you healthy and happy and the envy of all your friends, was a glowing description of the product.  Among the wonder-ingredients?  "Farm-grown vegetables."

Wait.  What's so great about "farm-grown" vegetables?  What other kind is there? It's kind of like saying a particular soup is superior because it contains white -- yes, white! -- potatoes. 

A place where acres upon acres of crops are doused with chemicals, harvested by underpaid workers, and owned by a multinational corporation is still a farm.  I have all the respect in the world for farmers, and obviously, not every farm uses questionable tactics to turn a profit.  My point is that the phrase "farm-grown" provides essentially no information about the quality of the ingredients in a particular brand of soup.

Tell me the celery magically fell out of the sky. Then I'll be impressed.

Festive

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!  We celebrated with green smoothies for breakfast.  Mmmm, spinach and fruit.

Sorely Needed

... and I say that because (1) I'm clearly uninspired as far as content to post -- hi there, it's been since Thursday, hmm? -- and (2) I've been a little bit of a crankypants lately.  Such is the way of those who spend their work days finding and fixing other people's mistakes.

Annnnd so, for these reasons, I give you....

A second-string gratitude list (first-string would, of course, include the obvious, the cliche, the vomit-inducing, and thus is excluded).

1.  New boots that are comfy and stylin' and cost me less than a tank of gas.

2.  The ability to spell most words without looking them up.  As much as it drives me batty when others don't take the time to use spellcheck (people! at a minimum, at least use spellcheck!), I'm fortunate to have the knowledge and aptitude to be aware of most errors.

3.  NPR.  I remember thinking to myself maybe five years ago that I wished I was the type of person who listened to NPR. At the time, I gave it a half-hearted attempt, but it didn't stick.  I gave up, and yet somehow I've gradually morphed into an avid listener.

4.  This week's weather forecast: running outside is within reach.

5.  Cantaloupe. I've eaten three this week.  What?  They were on sale.

Speed Knitting

Bulky yarn and larger than normal knitting needles mean I've been flying through this most recent sweater.  I started it last week and have pretty much everything except the sleeves done.  The yarn was purchased in Iceland, and the pattern is Buttony by Katie Marcus.

It's a good thing this one's going quickly.  I'll want to wear it when it's done, and for that I'll need relatively brisk weather... which will be in short supply soon, right?

Right?

Endearingly Random

I hope it's endearing, anyway.  Better than "frazzled and uninspired," yes?

We went to lunch over the weekend at a German restaurant with a little market attached, full of imported goods.  Including chocolate clogs. 

How great is that?

Finished: Cotton Candy Cardigan

Remember when I talked incessantly about a super secret gift knitting project I was working on for months, and then I (somewhat anticlimactically) was able to show you the result? Well, if you can believe it, I actually had yarn left over from the 20 linear feet of shawls, and it -- some of it, anyway... I bought a lot of yarn -- has since been turned into a drapey, open-front cardigan... a-like so:

Pattern -- Pretty in Pink by Josée Paquin (ravelry page here)
Yarn -- Patons Grace
Needles -- varied throughout the course of the pattern








I think this might be the first time I've ever knit something in the color suggested, although I didn't use the yarn the pattern calls for so I'm staying true to form on that. And at the risk of stating the obvious, spring and its short sleeve weather can hurry up and get here annnny time now. Ahem.

My Cup Runneth Over

It's a good day today for so many reasons.

It's Friday!  Thank you, sweet baby Jesus.

The Awesome Husband and I have been married for six months today.  We went out for dinner yesterday (not for that reason, just as a spur of the moment idea, which might be even better) and had a great conversation about our wedding, going on dates still, and how lucky we are in general. 

My lunch today is leftovers from yesterday's dinner.  Pizza with roasted chicken, two types of mushrooms, potatoes, leeks, and fontina cheese.  I'm already salivating, and it's only 9:30.

It's National Grammar Day!

There's a pair of boots that I bought online for a song on their way to me as we speak.

I can't be the only one in an (uncharacteristically, of late) good mood.  What's going well for you today?