Date: April 4, 2009
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Location:
Borders (in the same strip as Target)
4420 Mitchellville Road
Bowie, MD 20716
Phone: 301.352.5560
See you there!
Bowie Borders Knitting Meetup
March 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Nothing to See Here… Move Right Along…Thankyouverymuch.
March 25, 2009 By 1 Comment
beginning of sweater yoke
This photo of my full sized February Lady Sweater reminds me very much of this one, from last summer:
sweater yoke in progress
This one was my February Baby Sweater, which I completed last August. I remember feeling like the yoke took forever. (It did.) I knit it in sock yarn on size 1 needles. It took a whole summer, because each teeny-tiny row was about 183 stitches long. Crazy! But it was so worth it, because in the end, I got this:
sweater, after blocking
That’s Lisa Souza yarn, by the way. If you’ve never bought from Lisa, you should. Now. Go! I’ll wait…
Ahem. So where were we? Oh yes, my current sweater. One thing that I am finding bothersome so far is that the yarn knots up on itself so easy as it comes out of the ball! I’ve already had to cut it once, and I almost did again today! But luckily someone at the knit group at work had a darning needle handy, and just at the point where I was ready to boil over in frustration the knot gave way. Phew!
I’ve made my first buttonhole, too. Cool! Except it looks weird. But that’s ok, it is my first, and as such, I’m keeping it for a souvenir. You can only have a first — anything — once. They’re worth remembering.
I hope to see you again in this space tomorrow! I need to go order another set of darning needles. My last good one disappeared when wrangling a knot. Ugh. Ciao!
It’s Been a Year!
March 24, 2009 By 1 Comment
It just now occurred to me that it’s now been a year since our very first Bowie Borders knit group meeting. A whole year! We’ve grown a lot and are going strong. I am so happy to have some time with my knitterly peeps once in a while, and am so grateful to all the ladies that have helped make the group a success.
I’ve been remiss in posting the photos from last Saturday’s meeting. So, at long last, here is this month’s gallery:
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- Dina’s Scarf
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- Ileana
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- Leslie and Molinda
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- Marie
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- Sue
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- Trish 3
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- Wanda
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- Yvonne
Trish 3 is a newcomer, and we were so glad to meet her! She was working on a lovely vintage pattern for a lacy top that made me want to DROOL!
Sue (I am SO sorry if I messed up your name!) is making beautiful crocheted squares in different sizes for an afghan.
And Wanda? I’m sorry I can’t remember what you’re working on in this photo but I’m so glad to see such a big smile on your face at your first group meeting! I hope this means you’ll be back again!
Not pictured were Melodye and Carla, who somehow managed to sneak away before I got the camera out. Melodye showed us her completed Cobblestone Pullover, which was gor-GEOUS!
I guess I wasn’t too quick with the camera because I was working on casting on for my first sweater:
I’ve already encountered knots in my yarn and I’m barely past the first buttonhole. I had to cut the yarn and rejoin already. I hope this isn’t a bad sign of what’s ahead… I’ve had my fill of knotty yarn for awhile.
Next group meeting is April 4! Hope to see everyone there.
Is It Soup Yet?
March 22, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Easy Vegetable Pot Roast Stew
So yesterday morning I got up and put on a pot of soup. It was knit group day anyway so I wanted to have dinner well underway before I left. So, without further ado, this is what I came up with:
Easy Vegetable Pot Roast Soup
2 lbs. cubed beef stew meat
3 cans condensed beef broth
3-4 stalks celery, chopped
1 medium onion, not too finely chopped
1/2 large bag baby carrots
1 3/4 lbs. diced tomatoes, canned
1 3/4 lbs. tomato puree, canned
1 can corn
1 can green beans
about 2 tsps dried chopped rosemary
salt and pepper to taste
Brown the cubed beef in a skillet until it starts to caramelize, but do not over-brown. Place in large crock pot. Pour one can of beef broth into skillet and use liquid to scrape beef drippings from pan. Pour broth with drippings into crock pot. Add the other two cans of broth. Add chopped celery, onions and baby carrots. Add canned ingredients; do not drain before adding. Add rosemary, salt and pepper. Cook on high for an hour or two, then switch to low for the remainder of the afternoon. Serve when you’re ready to eat dinner. I let mine cook for about a total of 7 hours, but you could probably do more or less and be fine. The trick is to cook until the meat falls apart easily with a fork or the edge of a soup spoon.
Serve with yummy bread; we ate ours with Challah from the bakery. Home-cooked heaven! Enjoy.
Crabby
March 21, 2009 By 2 Comments
Sorry for the long time no bloggy thing, but this has been a long week for me. For starters, my good wheelchair is in for repairs (electrical short, AGAIN!) and I’ve been sitting in my old and clunky one for just over a week, and it makes me feel, well, old and clunky. I’ve been in the old chair for about a week now and my hip is really starting to complain. So excuse me if I don’t sound like a happy girl; the truth is I could cry tonight.
To top it off I’ve been having computer troubles too. The two USB ports on the front of my computer died some time ago (wheelchair meets USB cable dangling down from computer… so much for the USB ports. They were literally ripped out of my machine.). No I can’t replace the part. My computer’s too old. So I’ve been making do with a USB hub, except I have to use a powered one so that my iPod will charge, and electrical sources are already hard to come by around here… and I broke my USB hub. (wheelchair again. Are you sensing a pattern? Shut up with the laughing. I’m not in the mood.) Then, I’ve been having increasing problems with my monitor wanting to stay on. I was hoping against hope that it wasn’t my graphics card. Thank goodness it wasn’t! This morning when my monitor absolutely refused to turn on, I got up close to it and sort of looked at it sideways and discovered that the stuff was on screen, but the monitor was dark. Ok. So a dead backlight bulb I can live with. Monitors are way cheaper now than they used to be so I can take it.
Except you know what? A lot of the monitors are in widescreen now. I am not sure I like this. Not everything has to be like I’m watching a movie all the time, does it? The new layout of the computer screen is going to take some getting used to. Ick. Like I needed change just now, what with me being so crabby and all, on account of the wheelchair thing…
But I suppose it beats the alternative of the seriously black screen I was dealing with this morning. Maybe I should have taken the opportunity to download Jaws and experience the computer through alternate means, because, well, I am a web site manager and maybe I need to know these things a little more first hand. But, as I said, I’m crabby. So I don’t think I would have done well with something THAT new.
But there was one bright spot in my day: today we had an extra session of knit group! It was really fun and there were a few new folks. I brought along my gauge swatch for my February Lady Sweater, and one of my new knit pals checked my gauge for me, and I started the sweater. Yay! My first sweater, ever, except for the baby version I did last year. I don’t think this really counts because well, it’s just a baby sweater and so I wasn’t too concerned about whether it fit, because well, as Elizabeth Zimmermann herself said, “babies come in various sizes.” So I’m considering this project to be my first “official” sweater. Wish me luck! It’ll probably take me most of this year.
So far I have half of the first row done. Maybe I’ll be able to start the increases by tomorrow! I’m already planning my next one in bigger yarn, because this one is going to be slow going. Here’s to hoping that my impatience doesn’t get in the way!
I’ll blog about group tomorrow. It was fun, and I don’t want my current mood to rub off on my description of it! I had so much fun meeting all of the new folks today! See you tomorrow.
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