before i head off to unfamiliar territory. it’s been a bit quiet in my blog, but i’ve been busy finishing up my work for the year and getting ready for my trip to ASIA!!. be prepared for many pictures and possibly random ramblings for the next month. for the record, i’m going to be in shanghai, xi’an, beijing, hong kong, bangkok, and phuket. =)
now i’m onto trying to fit a million things into one day that i need to do but still have time to enjoy the weekend. cheers!
i was simultaneously embarking on two new things earlier this evening: felting a little cozy for my new nano and making lasagna for the first time.
i had heard that noro silk garden was difficult to felt because of its high silk content but i decided to give it a shot anyway. i had knit a little cozy the day before and it was slightly too big, so i thought the opportunity to felt it to shrink it down and make it a denser fabric would be appropriate. i threw my little completed project into a pillowcase, tied it up, and ran it through 4-5 full hot wash cycles with a few pairs of pants. the results: a super soft, extra fuzzy, and perfect sized little pouch for my special little music player. not completely felted, but it is a nice hybrid =) here is a photo to compare the felted result vs. my non-felted noro striped scarf (see the slow progress) :
i think it’s harder to see the differences in the photo than in person, but you can see in the felted cozy there is less stitch definition than in the scarf. i think i’m starting to get the hang of my camera to produce sharper photos. 
pattern: nano cozy.. cast on 28 st, stockinette stitch until half an inch larger than nano lengthwise. bind off, fold hot dog style and sew to form a little pouch.
yarn: noro silk garden #084
needles: size 7
started/completed: dec 07 / dec 08
norm and i made a lasagna following this recipe, with the only changes being substituting the ground beef for ground turkey and adding 1/2 lb of chopped hot links. it was an easy recipe yet the lasagna noodles were a little bit of a challenge. it was definitely a team-building activity to put the lasagna together before the noodles awaiting to be arranged in the pan cooled and stuck to each other. it came out pretty tasty, however next time i think i would like to either chop the hot links into finer pieces or use ground italian sausage. and maybe throw in some spinach. maybe someday when i’m not so lazy i’ll put up pictures of the food we make.
my crazy hat for ravi and jessica’s crazy hat party was completed..2 days late. at first i was stressed that i couldn’t finish it in time but then i asked myself why am i stressing over a gathering with some good friends and cheerfully wore my wip. it was a great night! be sure to check out judy’s blog for a nice detailed rendition of food, hats, and rock band. i feel like i’m cheating not writing my account but she wrote so much that i think mostly everything was covered. plus, she has pictures of kelvin’s awesome last minute crazy hat creation. did i mention awesomeness?
anyway, i guess another reason i was stressed about not finishing my hat in time was that i actually didn’t enjoy knitting this one..and i feared that if i didn’t finish it for the party i would never have a reason to finish it and it would lie incomplete and wasting away. the only reason i can think of that made this project so dreadful to me was i wasn’t feeling for single-colored acrylic yarn when i had piles of noro waiting to be made into something. nonetheless, it has been completed! thanks to judy telling me she wants to see the final product and norm reminding me that of judy’s request. tada!
pattern: hallowig from knitty
yarn: red heart in purple
needles: size 8
started/completed: nov 29 / dec 3
right now im working on a noro striped scarf. i love 1×1 rib cause it produces non-curling stockinette! enjoy the pretty colors..
