amy stevens

While whiling away the time at the Philadelphia airport, I came across the Amy Stevens: Confections exhibt. How fun is that?

mmm, mmm good

so, the marinated shrimp with champagne beurre blanc from champagne thursday was devine! we had smaller shrimp (31-40/lb) on hand, so i cooked them in a grill pan instead of under the broiler. and since it was a main course, i served the shrimp over baby greens and asparagus that had been steamed in the left over marinade.

next time i'll only use 3/4 c of butter in the beurre blanc, as the full amount was a bit much.

ps. the o cuvee vinegar is fantastic. i tossed the greens in just a touch of evoo and some o along with s&p. yum!

who needs this?

i do! i do!

make magazine's blog show's how to make an aquarivision. truly, i need this.

champagne thursday

happy champagne thursday! doesn't this recipe for marinated shrimp with champagne beurre blanc sound delish? as i am the boss of dinner tonight, this will be the main course. perhaps accompanied by some grilled asparagus and an extra bottle of saint-germain...

stay tuned for the review.

happy anniversary to us...

Photo by Karyn Iserman. She rocks!

Take me back

Congratulations, Shawn and Ashley! Thanks for allowing us to share in your special day.

white house

So, I'm learning to be more aggressive in post processing my digital images. This one needed some help. Thanks for the constructive critisism, Dave.

Leafletter.com

Heather Bailey found this cool thing at leafletter.com

Welcome to blogland, Paige!

My niece Paige has a great new blog! Stop by Paigey's Place and say hi.

And now back to our regularly scheduled program...

Yes, I've been completely obsessed with my new camera. It's been all lusty infatuation and 2 gig SD cards. Oh, and that zippy little 50mm f/1.8 lens. Toes curl just thinking about it.

What was I saying?

Right. So, I've been sidetracked, but still knitting. Just a bit. I'm slooooooowly working my way through the VK Aran Stocking. It's a little fussy using 2 Addi circs (US3), because the alpaca is a bit splitty. I finally got the hang of cabling without a cable needle, though it took about 20 rounds.

Onward and upward.

Lie to me...

New Photoblog

It's been getting a little cluttered here, so I started a photoblog at librajennifer.aminus3.com. Check it out.

Spring

Dogwood and Sky

Nikon D80, 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 D, 50mm, 1/500 sec - f/4.2, ISO 100

It Aint Easy Being Green

Yellow Iris

Nikon D80, 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 D, 62mm (macro), 1/250 sec - f/13, ISO 100

VK Holiday 2006 Aran Stocking Corrections

I just started knitting the Aran Christmas Stocking from VK Holiday 2006 and noticed a mixup with the charts. Here are the corrections they sent (quite promptly, I might add).

Vogue Knitting Holiday '06 #1 Stocking, photo on page 65, instrux begin on page 104

Chart 1, rnd 10 - sts 9 and 10 should be purl sts.

Chart 1 and Chart 2 were transposed in rnd 5 of instrux. For those of you knitting this stocking for the holidays, we apologisefor the delay. The following is a two-part correction. Please follow #1 if you have not yet begun to knit. Please follow #2 if you have knit up to rnd 79 with the incorrect chartplacement and are ready to work the heel flap. The correction willreposition the cables to match the photo.

#1.STOCKING

LegRnd 5 *Work rnd 1 of Chart 2, sl marker, work rnd 1 of Left TwistCable, sl marker, work 5 sts seed st, sl marker, work rnd 1 of RightTwist Cable, sl marker, work rnd 1 of Chart 1, sl marker, work rnd 1 ofLeft Twist Cable, work 5 sts in seed st, sl marker, work rnd 1 of RightTwist Cable, sl marker; rep from * once. Continue in pattern as written from this point.

#2.STOCKING

LegRdn 79 (set up for heel) Work in pats as established across first 102sts.

Heel flap: Slipping markers as you come to them, work in pats as established on rem22 sts, plus first 40 sts - 62 sts, rearranging sts on 2 needles. Turn and work across 62 sts in pats as established, turn. Continue in pattern as written from this point.

Fortunately, I noticed it only 60sts into round 5 and didn't need to tink much. Hope this helps anyone else out there knitting it!

Green

Echinacea Before

Nikon D80, 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 D, 105mm Macro at 1/200 sec - f4.5, ISO 100

The bane of my existence...

Or, Vogue Knitting International Fall 2006 #8 Arch-Shaped Stockings.

For starters, the words "replace entire pattern" in the erratta do not inspire confidence. But, you'd think that the pattern would be correct the second time around. You'd be wrong, of course. I knit both heels twice (user error) and the sole of the feet at least three times (crappy instructions). Grrr.

The yarn is Knit Picks Gloss in Cocoa (two 50g balls) and Bare Merino/Silk (one 100g ball) on US3s.

I worked these two at once on two circs to the end of the heel. The pattern is odd (based on my limited sock experience) and has an uneven distribution of instep and heel stitches (less on the heel side) and once you begin the foot decreases you k2tog or ssk the edge st on the instep with the edge st on the heel. Anyway, the point is that it was waaaay easier to finish the foot of the socks one at a time.


As for the sole of these babies. The pattern wasn't worth the paper it was printed on. After trial and much error, the striping worked out, but boy was it frustrating. I'm not sure I can explain this properly, but here goes. The shaping works out from the center of the sole (which was white on my socks). As you begin the shaping you k2tog (using stripe color that will maintain the pattern on the outer part of the sole, in my case brown - every arch dec. will use this color), k3 (following the established color sequence), m1 (again maintaing the pattern from the outside, so, for me the first round was white - these sts will alternate colors each shaping round), kB (at your center st), m1 (white), k3 (in pattern), ssk (brown). Work the next round even. On your next shaping round you k2tog (brown), k4, m1 (brown), kB (center), m1 (brown), k4, ssk (brown). Get it?

The funniest (read: I think I may cry) part of this story is that I knit these socks to wear with a specific pair of shoes that were just slightly loose. Great shoes. Do you have my shoes? Yeah, neither do I. How exactly does one lose a pair of chocolate suede 3" wedges? How, I ask you? Seriously.

Well the socks are complete and cute, I suppose. The required gauge seems a little coarse to me and my tension could have been better. But they are destined to sit in a drawer, because I have no shoes that fit over them.

Cheers.

PS. Thanks, hubby, for helping with the photos.

PhotoSharks - Plants

Nikon D80, 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5d AF Nikkor, ISO 100

High Key

Having a new camera and a pair of white cats has led me to the inevitable, high key photos. Tell me what you think... Constructive critisism will be greatly appreciated.

Pan in the window.

Thor on the floor. Does this really count as high key or is there too much shadow?

Thor in the window.

Thor in the window (again). Does the soft focus add or detract?

Lip Smackin' Good!

Who loves her new Nikon D80? I do! I do!

This is actual size...