Mystery KAL - Clue 5

This clue was super short and it entailed doing an i-cord bind off on the top of the connected trapezoids.

I had to increase the needle size a couple times so the bind off would lay flat.  I really like the look of this bind off.

All that is left is both sides and the bottom.  The last clue will be out on the 28th and will include the other bead color.  I still have no clue what the finished item will be.

A New Bag

It has been a lucky month for me as I have won a couple more prizes.  The first that I received is a box bag from the Lazy Sock Monkey from the donation that I made for the Make A Wish charity that I blogged about here.

It is a cute bag with special fabric designating the Denver Oyster 2012 and the Cupcake Mafia.

Lisa also added in some stitch markers.

My other prize will not be here for quite a while but I'm so excited about it.  I'll post about it when it gets here.

Another Pair of Socks

I finished another pair of plain jane socks for me.  The yarn is from Knit Picks that I got from a sock kit from a time before when I didn't knit socks.  I like the confetti look and I used Cat Bordhi's Sweet Tomato Heel.

Mystery KAL - Clue 4

Clue 4 arrived a little early and I was able to finish it before the weekend was done.  It is the second connector for the last trapezoid so all the pieces are connected now.

The beading was a bit fiddly but worked out pretty well.

Awaiting the next to the last clue.

Prize Winner!

I posted here about my fractal spun Ruby Slippers Shawlette and I was please to hear on the Knit 1 Heart Too podcast that I won a prize!

Woo Hoo!  Here is the prize that I won - 

One skein of Ella Rae yarn and a cute little notions holder.

Infinite Knitters

Lovely time with the Infinite Knitters who meet on Monday evenings at the Panera Bread on Balboa Avenue.

We welcomed a new member, Katherine and said goodbye to Heather who will be relocating to the Pacific Northwest.  She will be missed.

It was the first time that we had a full table since moving from the Starbucks.

Moon Cake

The Moon festival (also called the Mooncake or Mid-Autumn festival) falls on September 30th in 2012. 

Every year on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, when the moon is at its maximum brightness for the entire year, the Chinese celebrate "zhong qiu jie." Children are told the story of the moon fairy living in a crystal palace, who comes out to dance on the moon's shadowed surface. The legend surrounding the "lady living in the moon" dates back to ancient times, to a day when ten suns appeared at once in the sky. The Emperor ordered a famous archer to shoot down the nine extra suns. Once the task was accomplished, Goddess of Western Heaven rewarded the archer with a pill that would make him immortal. However, his wife found the pill, took it, and was banished to the moon as a result. Legend says that her beauty is greatest on the day of the Moon festival.

Of course, the most famous legend surrounding the Moon festival concerns its possible role in Chinese history. Overrun by the Mongols in the thirteenth century, the Chinese threw off their oppressors in 1368 AD. It is said that mooncakes - which the Mongols did not eat - were the perfect vehicle for hiding and passing along plans for the rebellion. Families were instructed not to eat the mooncakes until the day of the moon festival, which is when the rebellion took place. (In another version plans were passed along in mooncakes over several years of Mid-Autumn festivals, but the basic idea is the same).

There are many types of moon cake which are usually sold in boxes with 4 cakes per box.  These cakes are only available for sale close to the moon festival and while at the local vietnamese market, there was an entire display of all kinds of moon cake.

My mom thinks that I have peasant tastes as I always gravitate toward the plain cakes.  There are the ones with the egg yolk center and many different beans and nuts.

This is the kind I usually buy when I remember to hit the asian markets during the moon festival.

The interior consists only of mung bean which is not too sweet.

I cut the cake into 8 pieces and usually eat a quarter of the cake at a time.  This year, I purchased this brand which is locally made and the cake was very tasty.

My Hope Shawl

There is a fiber artist in Colorado that annually raises money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and she has a knit designer create a pattern as a donation prize.  This was the first year that I heard about it and I donated some funds to her charity and I received this pattern in return.

I dug around in the stash (yarn and beads) and finished knitting the shawl.  It came out really well after I had to frog back to beginning as I found a easier way to do the crossed cables.  The beads add a bit of weight to the edge and I really like how it turned out.

I might have to give this away since the fiber content has mohair and I can't really wear that against my skin.

In Dreams Restart

Quite a while ago, I started knitting In Dreams and ended up frogging the entire project because the yarn color was all wrong.

I then dug around my fiber stash and started spinning up some purple wool and silk fiber and had the finished two ply lace skeins just hanging around.

Since I have been using knitcompanion, I decided to add this to the queue.

Here is the start of the project and it includes some purple beads as well.  

It is going along pretty well.  I think the lace patterning will be much more discernible now.

September Supper Club - Thai

In reviewing our past themes, it was determined that we never selected Thai food for supper club.

Since it was my turn to host, I used my google-fu and searched out some Thai restaurant menus and came up with the following menu.

Tom Yum Soup with Coconut Milk

Pad Thai

Panang Curry with Chicken with some Jasmine rice

Coconut Milk Sticky Rice with Mangoes

I also made some Thai iced tea but everyone had wine instead so I enjoyed that in the days after.

It was another successful dinner.  Sadly it was the last supper club with Amy as she is moving back to the Pacific Northwest in retirement.  It was a great run with her and we had some great meals.

Mystery KAL - Clues 2 and 3

I posted here about the new mystery knit-a-long by Laura Nelkin.  Clue 2 was a repeat of clue 1 two more times - so I ended up with three trapezoids instead of one.

Clue 3 was released after the holiday weekend and it was to connect two of the trapezoids.  I was going to knit the "thing" without beads, but decided "what the heck" and dug around my bead collection and strung beads.

Here is the finished connector.

Also the knitcompanion tutorial had some added tips that I can use for other chart patterns.  It is a great learn-a-long as well.

I had previous knit a Laura Nelkin beaded scarf for my friend Janet and it was not a fun experience.  I have to say that this time around, the beads are smaller and lighter and are more easily strung and pushed along.

I think I really like pre-strung beads now.