Chocolate Therapy

Yum Yum!!!
Look what I made today:



It's David Lebovitz's Chocolate Idiot Cake which is very similar to his Chocolate Orbit Cake . I actually used the Scharffen Berger bittersweet chocolate(found it at Williams Sonoma) called for in the recipe. I've read about people who have also just used Nestle Semi-sweet chocolate chips with excellent results too. It is sinfully delicious!! Easy too-truly only an idiot could mess it up: there's no flour in the recipe, I melted the chocolate/butter combo in the microwave and used a 9" cake pan instead of the springform pan.

Why the need for chocolate therapy? Well it's actually more for DH. Here's been my schedule for a 5 week span:

Weeks 1 & 2: I was in Minnesota while he stayed in SA with Sophie who was sick (I offered to stay home but DH insisted I keep my travel plans). Several hundreds of dollars and trips to the vet later ended up getting a hysterectomy (she would have died without it). She was not a happy camper the first few days following surgery. DH took this pic of her with her "halo."

She looks and acts 150% better now. I was a wreck while this was going on but was afraid to write about it until I knew for sure she was in the clear. She is now :-)

Week 3: I was home for 1 day before having 4 days of teacher workshops downtown.

Week 4: I had 3 days of teacher training this week.

Week 5: I'm leaving for Dallas tomorrow(Sunday) for a 5 day teacher training and will fly back Friday night.

THEN I can start my summer vacation. I can hardly wait to be free of work obligations and spend my time knitting, reading and other fun stuff!

FO Friday

FINALLY!!! Some Finished Objects (FO's):



With the help of some of my guilty summer pleasure TV viewing of Starter Wife (man I would love to spend a summer in that house) and a 2 hour marathon of The Office (I freakin love that show) I was able to complete 2 dishcloths! Now its time to decide what to tackle next from my W.I.P. knitting basket. I'm bummed one of my other guilt pleasure shows-Project Runway won't show its new season until December-Boo!! Hiss!

I also have a restaurant recommendation for those of you in the S.A. area. DH and I tried some food from The Taco Garage the other day. It was fantastic!! We were there at lunch time and even though it's in a bad construction area the place was packed!! I find it a good sign when the clientele of a restaurant consists of all walks of life. I saw blue collared workers and shirt/tie professionals. People were there because the food was that good not because of location, status, or price. The service was amazing and I highly recommend the "roasted salsa"-I call the brown sauce although DH preferred the "green salsa." Everything we had was awesome (tortilla soup, nachos, enchiladas). Definitely worth dealing with the traffic!

What Kind of Soul Are You?

You Are a Seeker Soul

You are on a quest for knowledge and life challenges. You love to be curious and ask a ton of questions. Since you know so much, you make for an interesting conversationalist. Mentally alert, you can outwit almost anyone (and have fun doing it!). Very introspective, you can be silently critical of others. And your quiet nature makes it difficult for people to get to know you. You see yourself as a philosopher, and you take everything philosophically. Your main talent is expressing and communicating ideas. Souls you are most compatible with: Hunter Soul and Visionary Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

Musk-ohs

Growing up, a frequent answer to the question of "What's for dinner?" was "Must-Goes." Which in my head I heard as "musk-oh's" aka "leftovers" basically what needed to get eaten before it got thrown away. BTW, NOT my favorite meal because if it had been good in the first place, there wouldn't be leftovers.

I decided after looking in my knitting basket, my current W.I.P's could also be named Musk-ohs. These are projects that are the equivilent to knitting leftovers. Projects that started with a bang, and are now almost a chore to finish.

My Fiber "Musk-oh" Roll Call:

1. Dishcloths. Although I can't say I was jumping up and down at the thought of knitting more dishcloths. The yarn is an Ecoknit yarn(I bought from a clearance bin) which seems to split easily and makes my hands dry. I'm anxious to get the first dishcloth and its sibling(reversed colors) done-they are actually needed in my kitchen. My current dishcloth has been bleached out and has a hole.


2. Baby Blanket(heart embossed). I'm not sure who is going to receive it which is probably why it has stayed in the basket so long. I realized it wasn't going to match the personality of the original recipient (she's much more of a tomboy and not in to the girly things and has outgrown the "blanket" stage). For some reason, this blanket doesn't photograph well-it's much cuter in person).


3. Yarn for more fish. I have around 40 more fish to knit but am at the point where I need to knit in specific colors. One of these days I'll lay them all out so I know which color/how many of the fish are left.


For inquiring minds, here are the 31 fish knit from my May challenge:


4. Finally, here are some glovelets I started up at the cabin. The pattern: Eric's Glovelets. The yarn: Green Mountain Spinnery's Sylvan Spirit Amethest yarn. These are coming along a little slow since I'm still fairly new to dpn's and haven't done a glovelet type pattern before. I am most excited about knitting these!


Since those were my "Must Goes." Here are my "Must Comes" from my trip. I was really into visiting different yarn shops and buying yarn rather than the usual trip souvenirs. I wrote about my purchases while up in MN but here's a pic of them:


1. I couldn't resist picking up some of the softest yarn ever: Chunky Misti Alpaca. This skein will become another set of fingerless gloves but I may buy more to make a great blanket.

2.Elsebeth Lavold cotton yarn in some warm earthy tones to make more dishcloths for my kitchen.

3. Trekking XXL in color "135." My sister also bought the same yarn so we could make matching socks.

4. 3 skeins of Green Mountain Spinnery's Sylvan Spirit yarn (2 Amethyst and 1 Moonshadow). I already started some glovelets with one of the skeins and not sure what the others will become (more glovelets, a scarf, or socks).

5. 2 skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn.

Not pictured but mentioned/photographed in a previous entry:
Mountain Colors "Bear"foot yarn in the colors Yellowstone and Winter Sky.

I also bought some patterns, a book, and a partial sock-kit (the shop owner didn't have all the yarn needed for a particular pair of intarsia socks but gave me a great discount on the yarn she did have).


What are your "Musk-ohs?"

Bears!!!

One of the neatest things I did on my trip home was to go to the North American Bear Center.

This center just opened up a month or so ago and it was such an interesting place to visit! Probably the highlight of my trip!

Meet Teddy and Honey! (Click on the image to read the text)


Since the bears are living in a less confined area, you just never know if/or for how long you will see them from the observation deck. This was the only shot I got of Teddy before he went back in to the woods.


Luckily Honey came out and stayed for quite awhile. It was amazing!!!

Side view.


Eating bugs.


Taking a drink!


Looking up at the observation deck.

Retreating back into the woods.


What would a knitting blog be without some yarn? Here's the Mountain Colors "Bear"foot yarn in the colors Yellowstone and Winter Sky I purchased while up north.

A Tisket A Tasket

A Tisket A Tasket..
Can you believe I made this basket?


One of the activities my Mom had planned for us while I was visiting was to take a Blueberry Basket making class through the local community ed program.

Just to document the process for the non-believers(no one could believe we made the baskets!) I took several pictures of the process.

Here is how the basket looks when you are just starting out. Take a look at Mom's girly tools with all the flowers-click to enlarge the pic!




Here's where we were "braiding" three strands and adding the blueberries.


This was about 3 hours(the weaving takes a lot longer than you think!) in to the project and we were getting tired! It's a lot more labor intensive that we thought. It didn't help we did the whole process in one sitting...and after a full day of shopping!


Almost done!


Here's everyone from the class along with our instructor-Sharon...4 hours later with our completed baskets!


Although we were exhausted after our long day-both Mom and I thought we'd try another basket class next summer!

Let the Unpacking Begin!

Yes, I'm back in "Big-T." Actually my flight got in around 5:30 p.m. on Friday. I was exhausted Fri. p.m. and most of yesterday too. The heat and humidity had drained me of all energy. It was quite a temperature change for me. Now, I'm beginning to get acclimated to the Texas temps again.

The flights both ways were good (I hadn't flown since before 9/11 so there were quite a few changes) and I had an assortment of experiences (sitting next to a crying baby, near a lady doped up on dramamine who wouldn't shut up, bumpy flight with lots of turbulents, tight connections (only enough time to visit the restroom before boarding on the next flight), and lucking out by having the middle seat vacant. I've come to the conclusion that although I once LOVED to fly and looked upon it as an adventure, I now tolerate it. I'd much rather fly than drive, but it's not my favorite thing. Maybe I need to try flying First Class one of these days.

Even though the weather in MN was mostly rainy, it was at least cool..or even cold by Texas standards. I loved that!!! I've got lots of stories and pics to share in my upcoming blog entries-stay tuned!!

Time to go get ready because believe it or not, I've got a teacher workshop to go to today....Sunday.... Actually I think the organizers were pretty smart. The workshop is 1/2 day today (which means no SNB for me-Wah!!!), all day tomorrow and Tuesday and then half a day on Wednesday (morning only). I guess they figured finishing Wed. morning would allow all those flying or had significant drives to get out of town at a reasonable time. So, I'll be spending the next few days dealing with downtown traffic and learning all I can about struggling adolescent readers.

What Kind of Flower Are You?

I am a Snapdragon. "Mischief is your middle name, but your first is friend. You are quite the prankster that loves to make other people laugh." What Flower Are You?

May Fish Challenge

Still in Minnesota but wanted to give an update on my May fish challenge.

I was successful and did "Knit a Fish A Day in May!" But when I got to the 31st fish, I didn't much care to knit a fish for awhile. I've started a new project(fingerless gloves) with some yarn I purchased at this store. I really had a good time there and purchased the book One Skein Wonders along with lots of yarn and a few patterns (Needless to say I'm having to send some things home by mail since it will not all fit in my suitcases-hee!) My sister also purchased a book and some yarn. Pics will have to wait until I get back to San Antonio this weekend-my Dad doesn't have the card reader I need for my camera.

I love having sisters who knit!! My other sister visited this weekend but didn't bring her knitting. Although we all three knit-we also have very different knitting personalities. Older sister never follows a pattern and knits a lot of artistic type scarves and wall art. Her latest interest is in Tunisian crochet. My younger sister loves to knit funky things in bright colors. I like basic things and prefer to follow a pattern.

It's rained every day I've been here which has made for great reading and knitting time, but little else. The temps have been quite cool, I may experience temps in the upper 30's lower 40's by the end of the week-yikes! I know I'll be in for quite a shock on Friday where the temp in SA is expected to get to 94.

We haven't launched the boat yet either. Hopefully that will happen before I leave-if it ever stops raining and there aren't so many blasted bugs!!!