Joseph's Favorite Things

These are a few of his favorite things:

Breakfast Food: pancakes
Dinner Foods: pizza
Snack Foods: milkshakes, cheese crackers, banana, grapes
Drinks: he only gets milk and water; mean Mama.
Animals: bears, especially panda
Toys: his trains, roller coaster, trucks.. who am I kidding, he likes all of his toys.
Places: aquarium, zoo, golf store, hippo hop, playground
Songs: If You're Happy and You Know It
Sounds: birds, trains, trucks
Book: I Took the Moon for a Walk (night) and Animal Boogie (day)

FO: Fast Track Black Bag

In the continued interest of destashing my yarn bins, I've been working on a couple of handbags. I finished one tonight (still needs to be lined... if I ever get to that!).

I think it turned out cute, but I don't know how everyone else seems to make grosgrain bows seem elegant and cute. Mine are just fumbly looking. Oh well.

Fast Track Black Handbag

Today...

We went to the park with some friends. I even had the foresight to grab the camera. Went to take a picture, and realized that I'd forgotten to put the memory card in.

Mom Fail.

Sorry, folks! I'll try again soon.

FO: Baby Layette

Before I became a super knitter (I kid!) I used to mostly knit small items like... baby hats. Lots of baby hats. They take very little yarn, so I'd generally just buy one or maybe two skeins to use later for projects.

So now, I have a couple of bins full of 1- and 2-skein color lots. One of my knitting goals this year is to "destash" my yarn of such things, and in the future to buy yarn for specific projects as needed.

When I had to frog my tank top, I wanted to get knitting right away but lacked yarn and a plan for an adult sized project, so I reverted back to baby things. I managed to knit a sweater (needs buttons when I figure out if it'll be for a boy or girl), hat, booties AND a baby toy with 2 skeins of random yarn! Woo hoo! I do have a few pregnant friends, so I have plenty of choice for a good home for them.

Beans and Rice, Rice and Beans

Have you ever tried to cook a bag of dried beans? Did you succeed? Me neither - UNTIL TODAY!

Since I'm so excited about this, and I know that those who've tried and failed in the past are dying to know, let me share my secret:

1) Overnight soak
2) 7 hours in the crockpot on low
3) 2 hours in the crockpot on high

I'm sure there are a thousand combinations that would make this work. When I checked my beans after 7 hours on low, they were still hard and I figured it was another FAIL. I cranked it to high before going to the park in desperation, but stopped by Trader Joe's on the way home and bought canned beans because I thought it was futile. It worked, though! Amazing.

I know - those of you who have not spent half of their lifetime trying to decode this riddle are thinking "Jen, just go get a freaking can of beans". Let me tell you why you should cook them from dried, though:

1) It's cheap - a bag of beans cost $1 and makes almost 4 cans of beans. Try to beat $0.25/can.
2) It's better for you - unless you are buying a few special brands of beans, your cans are coming with a side of BPA. Garden of Eatin' and Trader Joe's are two of a few that sell bpa free cans of beans, but it'll cost you. Only $1.20/can at TJ's, but over $2 for GoE!
3) It's better for the environment - a one pound bag of dried beans equals four cans. Each can ways 14.5oz. So you are trucking almost 4 times the weight around with cans for the same amount of food.
4) It's FASTER - really - it took me about 30 seconds to fill up the bowl with water last night. Another 30 seconds to drain and refill this morning. 15 seconds to taste test at 4pm, but it took me a half an hour to pit stop at the grocery store on the way home to get the cans. And now I have the equivalent of 4 cans to put up for later. Sweet.

By the way, we made vegetarian tacos tonight for dinner. It's our meatless meal of the week. I'm hoping that by the end of the year we'll be up to eating 2 or 3 vegetarian dinners per week. That'll keep room in the budget for Niman Ranch bacon. If you've never had it, go forth, and feel free to lick your fingers when you are done.

Isn't he the cutest... little boy?

Oh my goodness - he is NOT a little baby anymore, is he? He's still cute as a button, though!

Eating strawberries and whipped cream. Well, whipped cream anyway.

Not too old to run around nekkid

Making silly faces for Mama

Aw, I love those smiles! So handsome!

Fountain of Love

Last week we were at the library, and Joseph caught sight of the water fountain. He always thinks it's where you wash your hands. So I told him it's where you get a drink and took him over to see. He learned to push the button to make the water turn on, and even got a couple of drinks from the fountain (without sucking on the spout! Woo hoo!)

At the end he was so excited he was forgoing his normal "Wa-wa" and forced out the whole word. But it was a lot of effort, and he was excited, so across the entire library I'm sure you could hear him shouting "Wwwwater!!!! Wwwwater!!!!"

Next time we'll have to work on our library voice.

Frog Pond

Although I'm used to posting beautiful FO's on my blog, every once in a while I knit a real dud. I've spent the last few days knitting a heavily modified Coachella tank top, but I tried it on today and it's not turning out the way I'd hoped at all. So, I'll be frogging it and reusing the yarn for something else. In knitting speak, frogs say "rrrrrip it", as in "rip it back", hence the post title.


Luckily, when it comes to knitting, there is no such thing as wasted yarn. Wasted time, well, that's a totally different issue! But, if you learn from your mistakes, it's not wasted, right? That's what I'm telling myself, anyway.

Bye bye, Coachella!

Super FO: Great Lakes Cardigan

I present to you, dear readers, my first adult sweater!!! I feel like I've "arrived" as a knitter. Haha!

It's a Drops pattern, which means it has a super nice name like "113-17". I named it the Great Lakes Cardi, as the colorway of the yarn I used is called Great Lakes (it took about 3.5 skeins).

Someday Soon

This is just for practice... someday soon maybe we'll have actual dishes in there.

Splish, Splash, Swish!

That's right, get that floor nice and clean!

Dig deep - the best bubbles are at the bottom!

He actually did clean up the floor - I just gave him a towel and showed him how to do it. My wheels are already turning on this wonderful development!

Aftermath

This is what things look like after a good tantrum:

Red Eyes...

Blotchy Forehead

And a big gulp of milk.

Poor Joseph!

FO: Fetching Fingerless Gloves

I've been holding off posting these until they arrived in Japan and onto the arms of my dearest friend, Teresa. They arrived today, so without further adieu:

Fetching Fingerless Gloves - perfect for keeping your arms and hands warm while typing, knitting, writing, or, in Teresa's case, studying hard for the New York bar exam.

I didn't intend it, but it turned out to be a gratuitous ring shot.
Oh the days of wedding planning.
Now instead of paper crafts there are plastic toys in the background!

I did not care for the afterthought thumb - I think it's a bit wonky looking, especially when not on a hand. I think I'd prefer one that relies separating the thumb stitches and creating a cast on edge to reconnect to the main tube.