Friends Don’t Let Friends Blog Drunk

Apple pie

Originally uploaded by efbq

I know this blog is titularly about the creation of beauty, but I think that an apple pie can count as a thing of beauty…  Especially if made from this recipe from America’s Test Kitchen.  OMG, you totally have to try this one!

Modifications – I used a ready made crust, and actually transferred the filling into a pie plate.  Brushed the top with butter instead of egg white.  That’s it, not much playing around at all.

The pie was a tremendous success, even better than the cheesecake I usually make for Memorial Day cookoouts (and I think those are pretty damn good, if I do say so myself).J

As usual, there was music and merriment

About the title of this post… Well, DD#1 did ask if I was drinking at one point, to which I quite proudly replies “Yes, I am” and f lourished the bottle of Mike’s Hard Pomegranate Punch which I was drinking.  My Mother-in-Law declared me a cheap drunk, and I was forced to agree.  DD#1 is off at a study session, DD#2 and M-i-L are bonding, DH is back at the cookout, hoping for more chances to sing, and I am here, at home, humiliating myself before the world wide web.

I’m happy.  May be hurting in the morning though, and there’s not even any left over pie to soak up my pain.

Hope your Memorial Day was good, and that you did manage to get in a few moments to actually think about those who have been sacrificed on the altar of War and Patriotism.

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Twittering…

Twitter enabled, but don’t expect to do much with it. You can follow EFBQ (expect re-tweets mostly) and SecFreqPodcast, for (yeah) the podcast. So current events stuff.

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Ask and…

So, now that I’ve mentioned Cast-On withdrawel, Brenda has uploaded another episode.  Cool how that works, huh?

I’ve been procrastinating all morning (and babying myself after a migraine attack yesterday).  Haven’t done anything more useful than playing chauffer to DD#1.    Been working myself up to cast on Calla, a beautiful tank top from the late, lamented MagKnits which I found on Ravelry.    There are some great pics of it on the Same Knit Different Day blog.  It’s been a while since I’ve had two projects going at once, but Haruni’s tiny lace stitches seem like a huge challenge while I’m still headache fogged.  😦

Waffling about casting on yet, I’m still thinking through the mods I want to make.    Do I really want all those rows of eyelets, or should I turn some to twists or cable braids?   I’m pretty sure I want the back plainer than the front, but not sure how much plainer.  I won’t even worry about the neckline/straps until I get close to them, but the basic cable pattern I should plan out before starting.

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Growing the Feather and Fan

Well, I’ve been working on the Haruni, and it’s coming along nicely.  I’m getting used to the Claudia’s Handpainted Mohair as well.  That beautiful halo (which I love, BTW) comes from horrible, hairy, loosely plied yarn, which I didn’t think I could tolerate.  Who knows, by the time the project’s done I might well miss it.

I’ve been dealing with Cast-On withdrawal by working through the CraftLit back catalog.  This is actually more entertaining than downloading directly from Libravox, both for the book-clubish elements and because rather than choosing from hundreds of books I’ve been choosing from a limited library.  Just finished Turn of the Screw, and am in the middle of A Tale of Two Cities.  I’m thinking I’ll skip Frankenstein, because that would be re-reading, and it’s not the point of the exercise.

I’ll probably be starting another project in the next few days.  It’s always nice to have more than one thing on the needles.  I’m also considering joining a yarn swap.  If I do it, I’ll post it.

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Well, I knit the first 21 rows of Haruni, then frogged back and knit again.    As you can see from the picture, the work in progress has symmetry, which the first go round rather lacked.  I am using lifelines this time around.

Got an e-mail this week from Sean McKeel of  KnitNotWar 1,0o0.  This is an art installation where cranes from all sorts of knitters are displayed as part of an anti-war protest.  I knit (and felted) ten cranes a couple of years ago, then forgot all about it.   I was contacted to confirm the spelling of my name, and went back to the blog to see how things are progressing.  I’m looking forward to seeing pictures after all this time…

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…and, a year later…

Claudia

Originally uploaded by efbq

Yeah. I know. My last post was in May of ’09. sorry about that.

Still here, still knitting. I’m about to start my most ambitious project to date, a mohair shawl known as Haruni (which is the Elvish word for grandmother, per Tolkein). The pattern, which is absolutely awesome, is a free download from Ravelry. (If you don’t have a Ravelry account Chemgrrl has a picture up on her blog)

So I’ve got some really yummy yarn, Claudia’s Handpainted Yarns Kid Mohair in “Just Plum”.  I found an amazing shawl pin which matches it perfectly.  The pattern calls for the same yardage as in my skein, and states that about half the yardage goes into the border, and states very clearly how many repeats of the base pattern to do before beginning the border.

Still, I’m a bit paranoid about running out of yarn in the middle of the border, so I want a check on how many repeats I can manage.  To that end I’m pulling out my algebra skills, so I’ll be able to reassure myself I’m not going to run short.

I don’t have a really good scale, so I’m going to have to rely on measurements.  The ball is 217 mm in circumference.

IIRC, circumference is 2π4 and volume is 4/3 πr³

By my calculations, this gives a radius of about 35mm, and a volume of about 179,503mm³.

So, half that volume (89,751mm³) would give a final radius of 28mm and a circumference of 176mm.  So I have a way to check myself.

Of course, the first calculations gave me a final circumference of 35mm, which can’t be right, so who knows how far off my math still is…

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