Otherwise known as the project that made me not hate purling so much.  Seriously.  It happened.  Now don’t get me wrong, I still don’t love purling and would choose knit stitch if given the choice, but something clicked and I figured out a good rhythm for it.  There were a few ups and downs in the making of this blanket and it would sit in the time out pile for weeks at a time.  Laura even rescued me once when she knitted it back for me after I had turned my work in the middle of the row, messing the whole thing up.

This is a blanket I started last summer, I believe.  It will go on its way to its recipient tomorrow.  She doesn’t know its coming and I plan for it just to show up at her house, unannounced.  I’m excited and I think she will be too!

I double stranded the yarns using Caron Simply Soft Party in Silver Sparkle and Caron Simply Soft in Purple (my favorite blanket yarns).  I made up the pattern as I went and really like the way it turned out!

It came of the needles last night and I even got all the ends sewed in already.  I will wash it this afternoon and get it packed up to go tomorrow!

Ali’s blanket folded

An artful drape over the couch… 🙂

A little over a year ago, my dad retired. We decided we would make it our mission to have father/daughter lunch and to try a new restaurant every week. We trade off every week picking and paying just to keep things even. Our only rule is it has to be a new place! We have allowed for a couple of repeats and also, we have allowed a couple of places that one of us has been to but not the other. We have had a great time galavanting around the city every week and still have a LOT of work to do! It has allowed us to explore all kinds of new places and see a bunch of new areas in town!

Without further ado, I present to you the list of places dad and I have been so far on our “mission”.  We have both rated each restaurant on a scale of 1 to 5.  1 being “I’ll probably never go there again” and 5 being “I would go all the time if I could!”

Pot Pie – our inaugural restaurant. Dad had seen it on a show on the food network and we had to try it. We both got pot pies because what else do you get at restaurant called Pot Pie? ME: 3, DAD: 4

Burrito Brothers – a burrito place (think Chipotle like) in the City Market.  ME: 3.5, DAD: 4.5

Pandolfi’s Deli – a great little place, unfortuantely now closed :(. We bent the rules and went twice within a few weeks, but only because they were closing and we had to go again before they closed! ME: 5, DAD: 4

Market 3 – a cool little market and deli close to our city market. Excellent peanut butter pie! ME: 4, DAD: 3.5

Scratch Bakery and Cafe – awesome bakery in downtown. Best Salted Caramel White Chocolate Chip Cookies (which we have actually been back for since…)! The food was decent too. ME: 4, DAD: 4

Ginger Sue’s – a breakfast and lunch spot right off the Liberty square.  I know dad has been there a couple more times for “breakfast call” with his buddies. ME: 3, DAD: 3.5

Johnny C’s Pasta and Deli – an Italian deli in an unlikely spot. Good food and good chocolate cake! ME: 4 , DAD: 4

La Tienda Chiquita – a little family run mexican restaurant in Liberty. ME: 3, DAD: 3

BC Bistro ME: 1, DAD: 1

The Majestic – A steakhouse/jazz club downtown.  Since we went for lunch, we didn’t get to see any live jazz, but I bet it would be fun to go some evening, even if it is a bit pricey.  ME: 3, DAD: 5

Los Corrals ME: 1, DAD: 1

Kate’s Kitchen – a “Northland” place that serves breakfast and lunch. Dad and I actually went here for breakfast for a change. ME: 3, DAD: 3

The Peanut Downtown – a repeat for Dad, a place known for their wings, but I had something else! ME: 3, DAD: 3

Manny’s Mexican Restaurant – a classic on “The Boulevard”. ME: 3.5, DAD: 4

Luigi’s Italian Restaurant – another local place in Liberty. ME: 3.5, DAD: 4

Rudy’s Tenampa Taqueria – Voted one of the top 10 mexican restaurants in the city, Dad and I weren’t so impressed… ME: 1, DAD: 1

Ben Franklin Bistro – on square in Clinton, a nice lunch spot! ME: 3, DAD: 3.5

The Lunch Box – an unassuming spot in the West Bottoms here in KC. ME: 4, DAD: 3

Ponaks – another Mexican restaurant on “The Boulevard” in KC. My new favorite place, I love that they don’t cover everything in cilantro! ME: 5, DAD: 4

Roxanne’s Cafe – a little cafe in Parkville. The food was decent but our service wasn’t the best…a better server could’ve made the whole experience better! ME: 2.5, DAD: 2

The Bell – a bar/restaurant in Liberty. Cool little spot that we actually had dinner here instead of our regualr lunch. Dad had some funky fish but the pretzel was awesome and my food was good! ME: 3, DAD:1

Ventana Gourmet Grill – a great spot in downtown Excelsior Springs. Perfect for lunch and I know mom and dad have also been back for dinner. ME: 4, DAD: 5

Anthony’s Restaurant & Lounge – ME: 3, DAD: 3

Gram & Dun – this was a KC Restaurant week pick! It is among the pricier restauarants on the Plaza and RW was a great way to try it. Food and service were both great! ME: 4, DAD: 4.5

Big Biscuit – this was a pick that I had been to before. Its a standard breakfast and lunch place. They are cropping up around the city everywhere! ME: 3, DAD: 3.5

Big Bam’s Burgers – a little burger joint in town. ME: 3, DAD: 3

Cupinis – this was a repeat for me…I love this place! A new one for dad. ME: 5, DAD: 4.5

Squeal Like a Pig (SLAP) BBQ – a hole in the wall, new to KC BBQ place. This place was AWESOME! Just typing it makes me want it NOW. ME: 5, DAD: 5

Judi’s Bakery and Cafe – it is a bakery and cafe, but truthfully we have never eaten a meal there, just stopped in a couple of times to grab some dessert. ME: 3, DAD: 5

The Phoenix – a cool restaurant and jazz bar downtown. There wasn’t any live music for when we were there for lunch but its supposed to be a hoppin place for music! ME: 3, DAD: 4

Hog Jaw Fritz BBQ – BBQ in Riverside! ME: 3, DAD: 3

Grunauer – a German restaurant down in the Crossroads/Freight District in KC. Lots of unfamiliar things on the menu, but what I had was decent. ME: 3, DAD: 5

Harvey’s at Union Station – a cool place to eat inside Union Station. Ask to sit on the top deck, its a great view of the Station! ME: 4, DAD: 4

Rock and Run Brewery – another place in Liberty, a cool restaurant/brewery – even though beer is not my thing! ME: 3, DAD: 3

Port Fonda – Mexican food in Westport that is not your traditional amercianized mexican food. Was a bit pricey for what you got, but the food was great! ME: 3, DAD: 2.5

Happy Gillis Cafe – a restaurant and hangout in Colombus Park. They had a different twist on their menu items. ME: 3, DAD: 2.5

Rays Lunch – an old fashioned greasy burger diner in Excelsior Springs. It was your typical greasy burger joint, don’t forget your cash when you go…cash only! ME: 3, DAD: 2

Blue Nile Cafe – ethiopian food in the City Market. My niece joined us and she definately wasn’t a fan but to be fair, dad and I weren’t impressed either. ME: 1.5, DAD: 2

KC Smokeburgers – dad has been here before but said I needed to try it. Huge burgers that are brought to the table in little smokers then placed on your bun. It was a good sized burger with good flavor! ME: 4, DAD: 4

Pie Five – this is a new place to KC (I think). It’s like the Chipotle of pizza. You pick your crust and toppings and they assemble it in front of you and cook it in their super fast pizza oven. You also get either a dessert or a salad and a drink for $10. A good amount of food for the money, I need to take Josh soon. ME: 5, DAD: 4.5

The Bite – a sandwich shop in the City Market. They have lots of interesting sounding sandwiches. A little pricey for a sandwich but it was a good sandwich! ME: 3.5, DAD: 4

My top three picks are Ponaks, SLAP and Pie Five. YUM!

Our dessert at Grunauer

This week we skipped our regular lunch because dad was heading out of town and instead went to breakfast at an old favorite, Ma and Pa’s Kettle.  They have the best biscuits and gravy and that’s what we got!  We would go there more but it is in a rare pocket of town where smoking in restaurants is still allowed and the smoke gets overwhelming in there!  But we love the people and the good, simple food so we endure it every so often.

From here on out, I hope to put up more detailed reviews as we go. 🙂

I was super excited when I saw this article listing 87 new spots in KC on Facebook last night.  Looks like we have lots more work to do!

I may be a little obsessed with seeing “Whats in your purse” posts on Flickr.  What better way to adapt this to a crafty life?  There is frequently a project in my purse for those moments you are out and about and have a little free time on your hands.

What about your knitting/crafting bag?  Are there things that are constant?  Is it always the same bag?

Currently I am using a Thirty-One bag to house my to-go items.  I always have my little notions box in my bag of the moment as well as something to write on/with.  Right now one of my projects is big enough, that I need a bigger bag like this one to carry it around in.  Also hanging out in the bag is 2 other projects that I can work on when I need something different.  My little projects I store in gallon size Ziploc bags to ensure their safety.  I have a cat (and dog, sometimes) that loves to go exploring in my bag looking for things to drag about…

My Bag

Inside my bag

My notions box (which closes to make sure everything is snug as a bug)

Hitchhiker scarf

A project waiting to happen

So, whats in your bag?

Back at the end of March when Laura and I went to the Heartland Fiber Fest we were inspired to dye some yarn of our own.  So much so that we purchased some acid dyes while we were there.  We each picked two colors and brought our purchase home aspiring to dye some yarn!

Fast forward to quite a few weeks later when we actually dyed some yarn!  We used our crockpots to heat the water and be our dyeing tubs.

We were pouring out of little bowls, and this made for some messy pours, hence the more blue than pink in my pot.

The crockpot worked beautifully for the whole process and we learned a lot for next time!  I dyed a skein of 100% wool and Laura dyed a skein of something that didn’t have as much of the fibers the acid dye really takes to, hence her muted colors.  They are still beautiful though!  Mine, the wool, is on the left and Lauras, the mixed fiber, is on the right.

A week or so later we had another go at it.  This time I did one out of Fishermans Wool from Lion Brand and another out of 100% cotton.  The cotton took the dye, but was very muted.  Next time we do cotton, we are going to try tye-dye dyes!  Here are my yarns for the second go around drying (yes, hanging from my chandelier over the dining room table!).

Now we both have the dyeing yarn bug!  We want to try different techniques and yarns and all the stuff!

But first…I need to decide on what to knit up with these beauties!

Yes.  Its true.  I have too many proverbial irons in the fire.  There is so much I want to do, yet so little time!

I have resolved to get some projects off my needles before putting any new ones on them!  I did succeed in getting a baby blanket off last week.  It took me another week to get the ends weaved/sewed in.  It still needs washed.  It is for a friend that just had a baby.  My intent was to mail it to her, along with a blanket I already had done for her older daughter (its rough being the big sister and see baby getting all kind of presesnts) but I just found out earlier today that she will be in town next week so I can deliver them in person!  Now to get them washed up!  I think  I will wait until later in the week to try to negate some of the dog hair they will end up with on them.

I have a few other projects on needles right now too.  Lets see…there is:

• A super secret project that has been in the works since the fall.  It is a straight forward and mindless project, just too big to cart around many places.
• A Hitchhiker scarf that I have also been working on since the fall.  It is an easy 8 row repeat but as you get on in the projects the rows are really long!  It is getting there tho.  It is my current “carry along” project.
• A Baby Surprise Jacket that something went wrong with, so it’s currently in the time out pile.  I had an intended recipient but her due date is quickly approaching and I don’t see the project coming out of time out in time to be done.
• A scarf that I got the yarn for at the LYS in Winterset, Iowa when we went up for the Fiberfest earlier this year.  I bought it as a kit.  It came with samples of all the colorways of the KFI Luxury Collection.  Its an easy knit, done in the round then sew both ends up.  It’s usually my purse project but the hitchhiker has taken precedence for now.

I think that is all my projects at the moment.  I also have several skeins of yarn waiting in the wings that my friend and I have dyed.  I want to make some monsters from The Big Book of Knitted Monsters, which I currently have checked out from the library.  I will have to return it and re-check it out when I am actually ready to knit some monsters.  NO NEW PROJECTS!  Well, knitting projects maybe…

There are SO many crafty things I want to do!  There are cute little counted cross stitch projects I would like to attempt, I have a bunch of buttons that came in my grandmas sewing kit I want to do something fun with, I want to do salt dough doggie nose and paw prints, and countless other things.  I should really step away from Pinterest, me thinks.  Hah.  Fat Chance.

Ok, now off to do some reading.  Which, unfortunately, doesn’t mesh well with other crafty stuffs!

Hi!  I saw this a couple of places and thought it would make for a fun getting to know me blog post.

So here goes.  Currently I am:

So here we go.  I changed services/web addresses to something free for now.  Eventually I hope to get my old posts from thingswedo ported over.  We shall see.

I plan to blog about knitting and other crafty projects, food stuff – be it cooking adventures or adventures in new restaurants and whatever else strikes my fancy.

About me. I am a 30-ish person living in suburban Kansas City.  I enjoy knitting, photography, cooking/baking, reading and dogs.  I aspire to be a runner, but laziness has kept me from that so far.  I am built for comfort, not speed!

Welcome!

(EDITED TO ADD: Any posts you see before this are from my “old” blog and have been ported over, sans pictures)