This was my second pair of socks ever. I made my mom a pair from the same book last year, but I wanted to try my hand at a different pattern. I eventually settled on the Embossed Leaves socks by Mona Schmidt. The lacy leaf motif caught my eye and I thought the design would look really cool with the colorway of the yarn I planned to use.

These didn’t take me very long at all. I worked on them for a few days while we were at the beach with some friends (the long drive to and from gave me some nice, uninterrupted chunks of time for working) and then off and on when we returned to Winston-Salem. They were done in maybe a week and a half total. I’m pleased with the result, too. The leaf design turned out to be quite pretty.

Another thing I especially liked about this pattern as compared with the first one I did (Evelyn A. Clark’s Retro Rib Socks) was the construction of the toe. Instead of working decrease rows until about 16 stitches remained, then using kitchener stitch to graft these stitches together, the Embossed Leaves Socks decrease down to 8 stitches, through which you then run the end of the yarn, pulling tightly to close off the toe. While I’m perfectly comfortable with kitchener stitch, it can be frustrating to learn and master, which makes the toe of these socks a bit less intimidating for a beginner.

All in all, a very successful and satisfying knitting adventure. (Next up: fewer knitting- and Etsy-specific blog posts. Promise!)

Here’s a sneak peek at the newest table runner I’m working on. I switched up the stitch pattern this time and decided to do a chevron lace design, which has turned out really cool. It seems like I finally cut the “yarn” thin enough, and on top of everything, I’m loving this color (which came from one of J’s old t-shirts, pictured below). What do you think?

One of my favorite things about Etsy is the way sellers will come together to promote each other and get the word out about each other’s work. This is the whole principle behind Etsy treasuries, which individual members can curate in order to display items that they find particularly beautiful or interesting. Sometimes, featuring someone or saying a kind word about his or her creations will even result in the pleasant surprise of a thank-you gift. I was lucky enough to receive two such surprises this past week.

In my last entry, I mentioned that one of the Etsy treasuries I curated made it to the front page of the website. Well! The lovely lady who alerted me to that fact, Melissa of NewFashionedWhispers, was one of the artists in said treasury and wanted to send me a little something to thank me for featuring her. My special somethings arrived a few days ago. Aren’t these adorned bobby pins beautiful?

Hair pins from NewFashionedWhispers

She also sent these pretty earrings. Thank you, Melissa!

Earrings from NewFashionedWhispers

Go check out Melissa’s shop for more of her gorgeous jewelry and accessories. Everything has such a romantic, dreamy, almost vintage feeling to it. You won’t be disappointed!

I also found in my mailbox a little thank-you gift from Kathleen of BusPaintings, whom I featured in a treasury a while back. She sent me a nice set of her Live Oak or a Shade Tree Notecards, and if you know anything about my slight obsession with birds and trees, you know I love them. Look how green and cheerful!

Notecards from BusPaintings

The notecards arrived in a package with the story of Kathleen’s paintings, which came out of her views from Capital Metro Bus #983 on her commutes from the urban part of Austin, Texas to the more rural hill country of Leander, Texas.

The BusPaintings story

Thank you, Kathleen! Head over to her shop and take a look at her other work, which includes original oil and watercolor paintings, art trading cards and supplies, and of course, notecards.

Someday I'll fly away...

Plus, with Etsy‘s new Treasury East feature, this and the other collections I’ve been curating recently will never expire. Awesome.

I’ve been working on some new stuff for my Etsy shop this summer. Right now, I’m getting a line of recycled cotton coasters up, in lots of different reversible designs and color combinations. For example, here are the Love Coasters:

Love Coasters in Almond Marl & Chocolate

Other designs include peace signs, the recycle logo, and a modification of my autumn tree pattern (that I originally created for this scarf). So far, I’ve sold a set of these:

Tree Coasters in Blueberry & Chocolate

I’m also generating some new ideas for other household and decor type projects that might sell better in the warm months than my standard fare of scarves and hats. As I’m currently unemployed for the summer, I’ve been able to treat Etsy as a full-time job; it’s been great. Now if I can just generate some sales, I’ll be right…

Three-bean Vegetable Chili

Ingredients:

• 6 cloves garlic (more or less to taste)
• One large green bell pepper
• One large red onion
• One medium jalapeño pepper
• One large (28-ounce) can of diced tomatoes
• 3 standard (15-ounce) cans of beans, any type (I usually use kidney, black, and cannellini/white)
• One standard can of whole corn
• One bag of Boca meatless crumbles (optional; carnivorous souls can substitute cooked ground beef)
• 3 tablespoons cumin
• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• Powdered cayenne pepper to taste
• Salt and pepper
• Sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese to garnish

Building castles with ingredients can be a fun pre-cooking activity.

Directions:

Peel and mince garlic and sauté in vegetable oil for about 3 minutes on low to medium heat. While this is simmering (and filling your house with one of my favorite aromas ever), finely chop the jalapeño and roughly chop the bell pepper and onion. Add these to the garlic and cook over medium heat for about 7 minutes, adding more oil if necessary.

Sizzle sizzle, y'all

Meanwhile, lightly drain the beans and corn and start them cookin’ in a large pot over medium heat. Add Boca crumbles now, or pre-cooked ground beef if you prefer; both are optional and I promise that your chili will still be super delicious with beans and veggies only.

If it looks like this, you're doing it right.

As the peppers and onions are finishing up (they should be getting soft), I would advise requesting a whiskey and ginger from your boyfriend (or girlfriend, or other minion). This step isn’t necessary necessary, but it’s kind of necessary. Let’s be honest, cooking is much better with alcohol. Those cutesy “I cook with wine! Sometimes I put it in the food too.” magnets don’t lie.

Other cocktails maybe be substituted if desired.

See? Delicious. Now to proceed with the task at hand. Um, okay, set the drink down for one second. There. Good. Add the pepper and onion mixture to the large pot, along with the diced tomatoes. Stir everything up and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper, tweaking my amounts to taste. Turn heat down a little so that mixture simmers but doesn’t vigorously boil.

So close, young warrior. Breathe it in!

You can get by with simmering the chili for 5 or 10 minutes since you’re not actually cooking stuff. I generally prefer to let it go longer, though, just so all the flavors have more time to meld themselves into the proper conglomeration of Delicious. I’d recommend up to 45 minutes, if you have time. Just make sure you stir occasionally and monitor the heat so it doesn’t start to stick to the pot.

When you’re good and ready, give it a taste. Adjust your seasonings if you need to, then serve it up! Garnish with shredded cheddar and sour cream.

Serving suggestion.

If you try it, leave a comment and let me know what you think. Enjoy!

Ferris Wheel at NC State Fair 2009

We ended up going on a Thursday a few weeks ago. It worked out perfectly, too, because it was Food Lion Hunger Relief Day, the one day that you can get in free if you bring four canned goods. (To graduate students, free = YES, PLEASE, if you didn’t know). Mainly we just spent time walking around and exploring. I showed J the Village of Yesteryear, where tons of artisans and crafters have booths displaying their wares; we checked out the barns and I squealed over all the animals; we took advantage of the outstanding people-watching (arguably on the order of that People of Walmart website), etc. etc. Oh, and we almost missed the rabbits, since they were in a separate building from the other animals. I just happened to see them as we were walking by to go somewhere else. People. This would have been a cri.sis.

After shying away from the booth with all the weird fried stuff (candy bars, Oreos, sticks of butter, and such as) on account of the huge line, we ended up snacking on chicken tenders (he), fries (me), and fresh lemonade (us). Then, before leaving, we decided to ride the Ferris Wheel. It’s pretty much my favorite thing ever, for a few reasons. First, it’s relatively tame as rides go, but still gives you that oh crap, danger feeling as you’re going up and over the top. Also, you’re up really high, which gives a great view of the whole fairgrounds.

Everything the light touches, Simba.

Plus. What stereotypical make-out location is better than the Ferris Wheel? I challenge you to name it. At the very least, they make great places for photo-ops.

We are a stereotype. Also: self-portraits are hard.

This ride in particular turned out to be really cool, too. See, we had to wait in line forever because right when we were almost to the front, the operators had to bust out their tools and fix a part on the wheel. (Slightly unsettling, but I firmly believe that the fear of death legitimately adds to the excitement of shitty carnival rides). When we finally got on and the wheel started to rotate, there was a loud explosion sound right as we were passing the part that they just finished repairing. Well. Luckily for us, we soon realized that the ride wasn’t actually falling apart. The explosion was fireworks! Awesome! We got to watch fireworks from the Ferris Wheel! It was perfect! They were still going when our ride ended, so we stood around and watched until they were over.

Needs to be a postcard. Just sayin.'

So, in summary: I love the fair. I love living in North Carolina so I can attend it. And no, this post was not sponsored by said state fair (although I wish it were; I could use the dollaz).

As a proper goodbye (and so the title of the post will make sense), I’ll leave you with a photo from Halloween last Saturday. Wake Forest threw a party for the graduate students at Burke Street Pub, and we heard there was free beer, so we hit it up with a few people from J’s program. Turned out to be pretty interesting (fun?) (way too crowded?) (really loud?), and also reinforced my growing suspicion that I’m a 74-year-old trapped in a 23-year-old’s body. The whole time, I was thinking: Man, I’d rather be sitting on my couch in my sweatpants, knitting and watching scary movies with J and the cat. But that’s a different discussion. Anyway, we were ZOMBIES!

BRRAAAAINNSS!!

Enjoy me and my undead boyfriend haunting your dreams tonight, suckers!

Both of these sellers have amazing shops of their own, so make sure to check them out. (I’m especially loving KisforCalligraphy’s Vintage Atlas Thank You Envelope Seals and SolDelSur’s Environmentally Friendly Christmas Tree Decorations).

Les bons onguents (KisforCalligraphy)

Featured artists:
sparrownestknits
slidesideways
johnnyandstacie
anagrampress
NaturesCabinet
porterness
ME2Designs
leandogpottery
beehivekitchenware
twogreenchickens
somethingshidinghere
ButlerandMaid

My latest favorites in black (SolDelSur)

Featured artists:
sparrownestknits
FirebirdJewellery
fiberstory
urbandesign
heiditheartist
rosamurillo
iheartfink
fieldofroses
morewarped
soradesigns
NiuTaller
agmode

I know SolDelSur‘s treasury uses black and red instead of black and orange, but it still puts me in the Halloween mood for some reason. Speaking of which, Happy Halloween to everyone!