Kitcheny Goodness!

This isn't even slightly about yarn, but I'm not gonna apologize for that, I'm too excited. You know there was a bit of kitchen trauma last week. But it's over, and I can now present you with the pretties! (Yes, I should've done this earlier, but I'd been gone from the office for two weeks, and there was a bit to catch up on.)

First, the refrigerator. This (which leaked a bit, which caused an ongoing mold battle between me and the alleged "seal" of the freezer)


...was replaced by THIS lovely creature:




The old dishwasher was almost 40 years old. Absolutely the state of the art, top of the line in 1973! It leaked (that's what the little catch-tray on the floor is for), and didn't actually clean so well; we used it as a sterilizer, mostly. (It also tended to get a wee bit hotter than it was supposed to; it really was sterilizing things in boiling-hot steam.)


I've been wanting something that would actually wash the dishes without any help from me for quite some time, so the Noisy Monster that Tried to Eat the Kitchen was replaced with stainless steel, inside and out. Which, I should add, both cleans dishes by itself, and does not leak!




Since our microwave is also stainless steel, we sprung for a new kitchen clock, too:


(Yes, that's police tape that says "DANGER MEN COOKING". When we moved in, my mother insisted that I put a border up in the kitchen. So I did. She's been trying to get me to take it down ever since.)

With all this shiny new stuff, I actually cooked yesterday. It went well; everything worked, everything cleaned up delightfully easily, and no one got sick from it!


Yaaaay, the new appliances work!!

Still in appliance mode.

New refrigerator - lovely. Very shiny.
New dishwasher - someone f'ed up at the installers, so they aren't delivering today. Bloody good thing I've got an extra day, or Someone Would Be Unhappy that wasn't me. Also, they should be really glad it was my husband on the phone, not me. I'm sleep depped from getting everything ready for the install, and cranky as heck. I should get a call tomorrow with my delivery window by 8am. If I don't, I WILL be the one calling, and I'll be more sleep deprived and crankier.
Means I can't put the house back the way it should be yet.
And I refuse to get food/start cooking until I haz dishwashr.
Eventually, photos. Really.

Whups!

Um.... we will return you to your regularly-scheduled blog sometime tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon, once all the housecleaning and appliance installation is finished... Buzy Backson!

Future Finishes (part II)

Again, not so much with the finishing. So, instead, I'm gonna show you The Next Next Five Things I'm Likely To Make From My Ravelry Queue! Mind you, these aren't the second top five things in my queue. It's stuff that I already have the yarn for (mostly), and have a prayer of finding the pattern for (or know where I can get it), and I wander by it and go "OOOOOOO!" in my queue. Again, what I actually start will depend on my mood that day, the phase of the moon, etc. So, in no particular order, they are:

6.

Danica

Yes, I made one for my husband; I want one. I, however, will also get a matching hat. I'm making mine out of Feza Iplik Cyprus Mohair (the ABSOLUTE PERFECT YARN), just a different (and much brighter) colorway, to avoid confusion. I bought lots (I think his scarf was two balls, but I'm making mine narrower, so it should be longer, and whatever's left over from my hat will also go onto the scarf. Possibly as fringe...

This is Knotty Stitcher's version. My colors are the same, just brighter.
(She's also stitching Chatelaine's "Alhambra Garden", which is in my cross-stitch queue.)

7.

Entrelac Hat

... which will match my Danica scarf. Woohoo! I'm really just using this pattern as a starting off point, since my yarn is much thicker than what is called for, but it'll give me The Idea Of It All. I hope.

MyYarns' photo, which is The Best One Out There for this project.

8.

Friendship Star Lapghan (Ravelry Link)

Okay, so I don't actually have the pattern for this yet; I have to figure out the new PayPal system, or make my husband buy it for me. But I've had the yarn for a while now, and I just adore the pattern! It's crochet, so it'll work up pretty quickly. If I do manage to find a way to buy the pattern before the Olympics begin, this will probably be one of the projects I start & finish while staying up late and watching too much ice dancing and ski jumping.

Sue's photo that made me ask if she was going to offer the pattern for sale, and she did!

9.

Eclipse Socks

Okay, this yarn was gonna be my Hunt Item for Black Friday. (Black Friday seems a good day to get yarn for Twilight socks, yes?) Woohooo! I've now seen the new movie, have the yarn, and hope to be wearing the socks (and matching mitts) to "Eclipse" this summer. Woohoo!

Julie's photo that goes with the pattern. I love that she's got the book next to the sock!

10.

Cubism

Again, I don't have the pattern yet (darn you, PayPal), but again, I have the yarn. This is what drew me into the world of Wooly Thoughts patterns (of which I will own many, if not all, once I've figured out how to pay for them). If you haven't browsed through all the amazing Wooly Thoughts stuff... it's possible I haven't linked to it. I can't believe that I haven't, since I'm so over the moon about it all, but it's possible. Anyway, here's the link to their website: http://www.woollythoughts.com/

Detail of this brilliant pattern, by the designers.

Okay, no YoT this week, because most of last week (and Thanksgiving weekend) was dedicated to earning this:


As of Saturday, I had (officially) 51,098 words, which was enough to be verified, and I've spent most of the time since actually finishing up the first draft of the book (looks like it will clock in around 60k when all is said and done. I'm very happy to have "won" again this year, and had a lot of fun writing my book. For the last day of writing, I even donned both my NaNoWriMo t-shirt and my NaNoWriMo hoodie. Woohoo!


Oh, FINE, I do have some yarn to show you. I didn't actually hit the Black Friday sale at Fibre Space, since I was worried they might not have yarn by the time I got there. (There were Tweets about quite a line, and yarn frenzy...!) So, the Monday before, since my husband had to work late (we commute together), I headed to the store to score enough black and red yarn (Louet Gems, if you're curious) to make some Eclipse Socks (and matching mitts). There was yarn! Yay! I also picked up two balls of Berocco Merino DK in Charcoal Grey for aforementioned husband's Trilobite Hat, since the Eco Alpaca, while totally lovely, wasn't really working for this particular hat.


And, since I was in a yarn store, I just had to get something shiny and new, and I found SIZE 1 9" circular needles! NINE INCH!!! So cute! So tiny! So much more likely to work on socks for my freakishly small feet! Woohooo!


There, I showed you some yarn. Feel better now?