Hola Amigos!! Me gusta Salsa Mucho!! How-o About-o You-o?!!

What does salsa have to do about knitting you ask (I know my husband did)? Well, nothing exactly. Except, that I got a chance to go to a party last weekend and two things happened there: 1. I got to show case some of the items that I had knit (which is always a great feeling) and 2. My friend (Yes, I have amigos - I know it's hard to believe for me too) served a fresh salsa that was out of this world!! So I thought since she was nice enough to send me the recipe, I would be nice enough to share it with you. Be aware that you may not be able to stop eating this salsa until you run out of chips. So plan the size of the batch is good for one large size of bag of chips or you make sure that you have another bag handy just in case. Mi Amiga made a double batch, which is a two chip bagger size batch, and was pretty much gone by the end of the party. Also at the end of the salsa eating escapade, you may be a bit gaseous. Mi Amiga didn't wait until the end of the party and was pretty much letting everyone know that, "It's her party and she'll fart if she wants to, Fart if she wants too, Fart if she wants too, You would fart too if it happened to you! poo-poo-poopoo-poo!"

Here's the recipe, exactly as it was sent to me:

Black Bean Salad

2 cans black beans - rinsed and drained
1 can of corn - drained
2 large tomatos…..diced
1 large avocado diced
1 purple onion diced
1/2 cup cilantro diced
3-4 tablespoons of line juice
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of pepper

You decide how big you want the pieces when you diced each item.

Now, after reading through this recipe for the first time, I giggled and thought to myself, "Should I do it? I just have to!" You know when you see that spelling error and you just can't resist giving the person a hard time. So of course, I mischievously answered the e-mail as follows:

"I just tried the recipe and am having trouble getting the juice out of the lines. I don't know what I am doing wrong. I've tried different inks and even different paper, but still nothing. Help!"

I still smile a little just basking in the glow of my humor (maybe again, it's just me). Who needs enemies when you have friends like me. Haw-Haw-Ha! (that's my evil laugh).

Since this is a knitting blog - back to the regular scheduled knitting topic.

I am only half done with the bikini bottoms now, because my bottom seems to need more knitting than the pattern originally called for. I am still knitting and hoping that it will cover all my assets. I think I'm on the right path to get to the bottom of it (ok, that will be the last really painful pun in this blog entry - the others will only be rated as moderately painful). So I better change the subject:

I watched an episode of Knitty Gritty that had a great pattern for a hat that I am going to definitely make. It's called "Man's Best Friend". Go ahead - Click the link - I know you want to. Eveybody is doing it. It'll be fun.... Anyway, enough peer pressure...Here's a picture of the hat:They call the tassels dread locks and you twirl the yarn and then knit them into place. Cool huh? They even have a pattern for a matching dog sweater. I know what you are thinking, George doesn't need a sweater...but maybe he would want one anyway. I'll ask him later (he can't read so he doesn't know about it yet).

That's all I know for now - so I'll leave you with this little piece of advice: "Remember, where ever you go, there you are!"

Twin Peaks?

I finished the bikini top and it looks great. I really love the colors I chose. If you remember the original pattern had lime green ties, florescent pink master color, with turquoise highlights (if you don't, scroll down - it's in a previous blog date). I love purple so I chose that and I winged the other colors. I think they look very good together. It is very close knitted - I used only a size 3 - it called for a size 5, but I did the gauge swatch and this is what I had to use to get to the right size. I made a size larger than the pattern called for the twins - but thought it would be better to cover up more than less. I was right because it fits like a glove (and not the one worn by OJ!). I am planning on wearing the top in the tub to see how it performs. I don't want any surprises on its maiden voyage after all.

Now you may be saying to yourself, "Self, Yah it looks good on the towel - but how will it really look when it is on?" Well wonder no longer, here is George the wonder Cat wearing the Bikini Top:

Side view - It was very nice of George to show us the profile - he is a professional after all!


Looks good from the front too!


Oops, I didn't mean to show George changing. I hope that I don't get kicked off the blog site for Kitty Porn!

So now I have to finish the bottoms to complete the ensemble, so stay tuned. (I wonder how I am going to get George into those? Hmmmmmm......).

Fuzzy Slippers to the Rescue!!

So I decided to knit the slippers before the bikini because I was going crazy not knitting. Plus I had to wait for the elastic/cotton yarn to arrive. The slippers knit up really fast because the pattern call for size 15 needles! It felt like I was knitting with broom sticks after knitting with size 3. Plus they are so large that they look like you are making slippers for Paul Bunyan. Side Note: Our Grandma lived in Brainard, MN where there was a Paul Bunyan Park that she used to take us to when we were young. There was an enormous statue / figure of Paul Bunyan that always amazed me. Paul would speak (mouth moved and eyes blinked, and I think he even turned his head, and one arm was raised by a pulley and rope system. He was amazing to a little kid!!) and call me by name and say, "And there's Angela here to see me! Ho-Ho-Ho!" Ok maybe that last part was Santa. I was little, who can remember such things? But I remember my Grandma telling me how all the ladies in town would be knitting a new hat for Paul Bunyan or sewing a new shirt. If Paul were here today, he could fit into my slippers....that's all I'm saying. They look huge. Take a look:

Here they are on my bed. OK, maybe not that huge - but too big for permanent footwear, that's for sure.

Here they are before Felting with George (my cat ruler).

I felted them last night after going to the movie "Mr Brooks." Side Note #2: Check it out, it is such a good movie. Fairly graphic (Michelle you would like it)!! But it was so good. You never knew what was going to happen next. You have got to see it. You definitely won't be bored. But it still had me on the edge of my seat last night and I couldn't sleep. So if you can't sleep, the next best thing is felting. It's like laundry with a kick - since you end up with cool felted stuff. So yes, I was felting at midnight - I may have a problem :-).

After Felting with George! Not a great picture, but it was late. I think George has the look on his face of, "What are thinking about felting at midnight? Go to bed already." At least that's what I think. He felt better after a midnight snack - but still he looks a little annoyed:

Maybe it is the fact that I am wearing wet felted slippers that smell like wet wool. His treat was in the far right bowl on his little kitty table. Here's some better pictures of my fuzzy slippers:

I think my feet feel like dancing in fuzzy slippers. So if you ever can't sleep - try knitting or better yet, felting to the rescue! Now I had to go hang up these slippers to dry - they kind of felt soggy.