Breakfast of Champions

This morning I was up and dressed and out of the apartment early enough to it up McDonald's for breakfast.  Yes, McDonald's is gross and yes I know I'm gross for going there, but if you could see the love and devotion in my soul for the miraculous creation that is the McGriddle you'd forgive me this one teeny tiny indulgence.

 It's a thing of beauty really.  First, it's scrambled eggs, but not really.  Scrambled eggs but better because they are all together in a blanket hugging two strips of bacon and covered with melted American cheese.  I think it's American, could be any bright orange processed cheese.  Sound god?  Yes?  It gets better!  Just when you think all you have to do is grab the bun and take a bite, there is no bun.  Instead it's two silver dollar pancakes injected with pancake syrup.  Sweet flavor explosion.  There's truly nothing better in the world.

In the book I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell by Tucker Max, he talks about a friend of his who is obsessed with McGriddles and goes into a monologue about how good they are.  If you've read the book, those delicious little breakfast sandwiches - that's what I'm talking about. 

So yeah, I was up and out early enough to get the breakfast of champions (McDonald's stops serving breakfast at 10:30am) and I'm not really going anywhere with this other than to say hot damn it was good.  I do have some yarn that's the color of the McGriddle bacon, and from here on out whenever I wear the scarf I'm currently making from this yarn I'm going to crave the succulent disgustingness of bacon flavored, syrup infused mini-pancakes.

Debbie Bliss Fez in colorway "chocolate".  It's a camel and merino blend of yarn.  It's so soft and squishy.  I've never worked with camel before, but I can already tell I'm going to a lot from here on out.  The stitch definition is beautiful.  You can see everything beautifully, and though right now the infinity scarf I'm working on is really just your basic knits and purls, I'm sure this would cable like a dream and I'm for sure going to do something with cables next. 

I'm not even kidding you, if McDonald's served breakfast past 10:30AM I'd be back there right now getting another McGriddle for lunch.  Don't judge me. 

warm brain

hThat stupid little groundhog was wrong about an early spring, but the weather seems to be finally warming up.  Nothing is more boring that talking (or reading about) the weather, but hey, I knit and it's relevant.  You ever try holding a camel/merino blend in your hands when it's over 65 degrees out?  Sweaty Palms City.

So yeah, it's been warm for a couple of days.  I went out and got some sun (the esthetician in me HAS to tell you always always always enjoy the sun with SPF 15!!) and drank in all the pretty colors of spring.  Lots of pinks and whites and blues out there.  Not too much green yet, but that may be a matter of geography rather than temperature.  You live in the desert and you accept the fact that grass just isn't a natural occurrence.

It's still cool at night so I decided it would be in my best interest to knit myself another hat, to keep my brain warm and all of that.  Warm brain = happy Rosa.  Bought myself a skein of Malabrigo Rios specifically for this purpose, and I'm pretty happy with it.  The pattern itself was super easy and I was done in a couple of hours of watching Back To The Future.

"You built a time machine... out of a DeLorean?!?"

Does he also say "Great Scott" a lot, or am I thinking of the Rocky Horror Picture Show?  Guess I didn't pay as much attention to the movie as I thought.

I could gush and gush about Malabrigo for days on end.  It really is luscious yarn.  Sex in a skein.  Honey in a hank.  Need on needles.  Squishy and warm and buttery soft and... just perfect.  Makes good hats and While the stitches bloom up slightly after some wear, I've never noticed pilling or any other annoying occurrences.

I'm calling it my Oceans Hat, because it's pretty like the oceans and also this weather makes me want to go to the beach and soak up the sun.  With SPF 15 and aloe vera, of course.  :)

Adventures in Babysitting

I caught one of the most awesome 80's movies ever, Adventures in Babysitting, on TV yesterday.  It was already about halfway through so I missed Elisabeth Shue dancing her heart out to "And Then He Kissed Me".  (Yes, I checked.  Yes, it's Elisabeth with an s.)  Never mind that she was a 24 who totally looked her age year old playing a 17 year old.  It's still a great movie.

So the movie was on, and I was in the process of ripping out an infinity scarf that I decided needed to be longer, when I looked up and realized that Elisabeth She is wearing a really sweet, really long rainbow scarf through most of the movie.  It's amazing.  Observe:

 

I searched through Ravelry and did some Google-fu, but came up with nothing in the way of a pattern for it.  Looks easy enough, probably stockinette knit in the round.  The problem will be finding the right weight yarn in the right colors.  I'm thinking of using Knit Picks Shine Sport cotton yarn, since it's sport weight and the colors seem right, but blerggggggahhhh.... it's cotton and that's so not my favorite thing. 

Naturally Caron will probably have the right colors, but having used it before I'm thinking it'll be way too shiny to be a proper Adventures in babysitting scarf.  There's always Vanna's Choice, which really should be called Last Choice because it makes my fingers cry.  My favorite yarn ever ever EVER Malabrigo definitely has all the colors, but it may be more than I'm willing to spend and they are kettle dyed, so not true solids like I need.

I actually have some of everything mentioned, so a small sample is going on my needles so I can get to work writing up the stitch numbers for the pattern.  I can worry about the colors later.   Maybe I'll make it to WonderCon as Chris Parker this year.  Where does one find a nice 80's style beige trench coat like that anyway?

Halter Part 2

Just in time to wear for an unplanned trip to Las Vegas during an especially sunny couple of days, I finished the halter top I was working on.  I truly am in love with it.  So in love with it that I'll probably make it in another color with just a couple of very slight modifications from this one.

It was mindless tv knitting (meaning I could knit and watch tv and not really pay much attention and still get it right) until I got to the increases.  Then I got slightly confused on the increase here, knit in pattern, increase there simply because in my head it's all counting in rhythm and the increases (and subsequent decreases) messed with the sing-song quality of my count rhythm and slowed me down.  A lot.  That's my bad though, the pattern in no way should try to anticipate how much of an airhead I can be.

It's very comfortable, makes me look thin (yay!) and more top heavy than I actually am (double yay!) and after living with it for about a week now, the color couldn't be prettier.  The actual fabric of it is a little thicker then I'd like for a summer top, but it's only a slight complaint and isn't really that big of a deal.

Now onto the next project.

Halter Part 1

Having just moved to Bakersfield from the very mild climate of San Francisco, I am anticipating a very warm spring/summer season.  I grew up in the Inland Empire so I'm used to hot summers, and honestly I can't wait.  My new place has a huge living room window and I have a little patio with a door and a window to my bedroom, all in shade.  It'll be nice to get a breeze going through here when things get into the triple digits.

In antici... pation of this, I'm making myself a few tops.  Found the pattern for a halter and it looks so cute.  I ordered the yarn right away.  Totally disappointed that the color in the pattern, Aegean Sea, wasn't available.  I ended up getting Cape Cod Blue instead.  It's pretty, reminiscent of blue jeans.  I have a few pairs of shorts in a light tan color, beigeish, whatever color that is.  Neutral.  I figured this blue would look good with those.

Cotton yarn is not my favorite.  It feels, for lack of a better word, gross on my fingers while I'm working with it.  I'm probably spoiled by working with yarns like Malabrigo (Merino wool) and Noro Kogarashi (wool and silk).  This cotton, however, isn't so bad because there is just a touch of elastic in it.  It's very springy and doesn't feel so, blah, sluggish or whatever it is that bugs me about other cotton yarn.

While it feels ok, it is just weird to knit with, because it is springy.  There isn't much stitch definition.  It probably won't block much, if at all, because of the elastic.  However, for such a tiny little skein there seems to be a ton of yarn in it.  I bought 4 for the top, not sure I'll need all of them.

Though I usually wear a size small in everything, and knitting patterns tend to be even bigger than regular clothes on me resulting in me needing an extra-small, I'm not quite getting gauge on this one.  I started to knit the size small while watching the Oscars last night.  Tried it on after getting about 4 inches done and it was tight as a mo'fo.  Skin tight!  not wanting to look like a street walker, I ripped it all out and cast on for the size medium.  Haven't tried it on yet, but I'm about 3 inches in and it already looks a lot bigger around.  I'm going to knit to the end of this skein and try it then.  I'm using size 4 needles.  My hands are mad at me for this, and my next project you better believe is going to be with bulky yarn on size 11's just to give my poor hands a break.  It's exhausting holding those tiny things.

Seems nuts that I'm worried about a halter top when it is 55° out, but I was here last summer so I know how hot it gets.  Super excited.  I love the heat!