Thing-a-day.com

For the last day of Thing-a-Day I decided to attack yesterday’s failed attempt of making a gaiter (neck warmer) for my husband.  I’ve been working on it on and off all day and just barely finished in time.  I tried it on and boy, does it make my neck toasty!  I think I’m going to have to make one for myself.  I can’t believe that TAD is over, that February is over.  It’s only going to start getting warmer.  Yippie!  I’ve really enjoyed participating in TAD and will be looking forward to next Feb!  Thanks everyone! 

Today I started knitted a gaiter for my husband.  Two hours later I realized it was way too big and I had to frog the whole thing.  Now I am back to square one.  To feel better I knitted another flower square that I made yesterday. 

Today I crocheted these squares which will one day be joined with many more to make a scarf or a bag or a blanket.  I found the pattern in a knitting book that I bought in Tokyo.  I used Sirdar Snuggly DK 100% acrylic yarn.  I’ve always been snooty about only using yarn made from natural fibers, but I’m a changed knitter now.  I love this yarn!   

Today I made my favorite salad.  This salad was made for me over 10 yrs ago and ever since then there has be no other.  Not only is it tasty, but it’s easy to make.  The key ingredients are a ripe avocado and the dressing.  Today’s salad included baby romaine lettuce, baby arugula, celery, carrots, cucumber, grape tomatoes and diced avocado.   The dressing is a simple balsamic vinegar and olive oil mixture  with crushed garlic, salt, freshly ground pepper and squeeze of lemon. Pour dressing over salad and toss.  I also added some freshly shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano. Yum!  Of course, I would advise not eating this if you have an important meeting any time in the near future.  

So I have this thing for turtles, sea turtles in particular.  There is something magnificent about them, just watch them swim.  Anyways, the other day I found instructions for a turtle amigurumi that I wanted to make.  Today I made a flower.  Hopefully, I will make a turtle someday.

Today I made vegan blueberry buckwheat pancakes that were enjoyed by my vegan friend who was visiting me from out of the country.   Sorry, I didn’t have time to document, so no photo.   Instead of milk I used Almond Breeze and replaced butter with olive oil.  The recipe also included a table spoon of apple cider vinegar.   I think there may be some kitchen science to the reason you add the cider vinegar, does anyone know anything about this?  

Today I crocheted my first tawashi, Japanese word for scrubbing brush.  The knitted kind are made from acrylic yarn and work exceptionally well for dish washing.  I got the pattern from here (warning: the instructions are in Japanese).  I tried it out this evening and it works great!, but found that it was a bit small (no surprise there, since most things from Japan are small).  So I might make 3 more and stitch them all together to make a bigger square. 

A number of cool people have knitted these cute olives.  Today I thought I would join them.  If you are interested,  Cignoh’s post has a link to the website with directions. 

Today I took photos of the lunar eclipse.  We were very lucky tonight because the sky was crystal clear.  It was very cool to watch in more ways than one.  At one point, I couldn’t tell if I was pushing the camera button or not because my fingers were so frozen.    

Today I made two balls of yarn.  I had planned on knitting socks for my grandmother.  How naive of me.  I found some beautiful merino wool and a free pattern online, things were looking good.  But this is as far as I got.  I know it doesn’t seem like much, but it took me an 40 min. because I don’t own a jig that does it for you.  It was actually a rather meditative process, though at times a bit frustrating.  

Going with one of this week’s theme, Little People, today I designed my first “My First Scrabble” board for my 4 yr old nephew.  Each board will have theme words, the first theme being (of course) ANIMALS!  Yes, I know “horse” is not connected to any other word, but it’s my game, so I can do what I want.  To highlight each word, the words going across the board are identified by the background color while the words going down the board are identified by font color.   I haven’t yet figured out all the rules to the game, but it has something to do with matching the letter tiles with those on the board, getting rid of all your tiles, making words, etc …  All my sister has to do is print out the pdf file of the board and use Scrabble tiles and rack.  

Today I made turkey chili for the first time.  A friend made this for me last week and her chili was SO tasty that I wanted to make it for my husband.  I have to confess that hers was better, but still today’s chili was enjoyed by the both of us.    

So, this is sort of cheating, but I made this today from a beading kit that I bought in Tokyo.  The bead balls which I made the other day are incorporated in the charm. 

Today I learned how to make a ball out of beads.  This skill proved to be more difficult than I first thought and if you look closely one is a better ball than the other; and neither being perfectly correct.  It didn’t help that the instructions were in Japanese.  

So, lately I have been playing a lot of Scrabulous which has been great because it has allowed me to reconnect with old friends; bad because I don’t get anything done.  Today I started designing a board game that uses Scrabble letters for my nephew who is 4.  Hopefully, the game will help him learn letters and words at the same time, so that when he turns five, we can play Scrabble together.  

Today I made one of our favorite Japanese dish, tonkatsu, sliced pork tenderloin that is battered and coated with panko (Japanese bread crumbs) and then deep fried.  This dish is typically served with raw shredded cabbage, rice and miso soup.  YUM!

My friend made these the other day and the pattern (’Fetching’ from Knitty.com) caught my eye.   I have been wanting to try cable knitting and this project seemed manageable. Plus , I liked the design.  I used an alpaca yarn so the end result has a softer look than on Knitty, but I love them and they keep my hands warm (minus my fingers).

Today I shoveled the driveway twice and made a square piece for my blanket. The yarn I’m using is a Yorkshire Tweed 4-ply and no. 3 needles. I sort of modified a pattern from a Debbie Bliss book (How to Knit). I’ve calculated that with the amount of yarn in my stash, I could potentially make 72 squares! 6 down, 66 more to go!

Today I wrote a letter to my grandmother in Japan. She is 85 yrs old and is one tough cookie.