August 27th, 2008 Abe
This comic made me laugh for a solid ten minutes.
Check out Eunika’s new sword. Pretty cool looking huh?
Over the wekend I got in a group that killed a bunch of 50s and 60s range Epic bosses. Here’s a shot of us getting Rahotep for a heritage quest.
And here’s a shot of a dragon that we killed in some KoS zone who’s name I can’t remember.
You can see Dennika getting prepared for the pull there in the chat log.
I also made a bunch of bread today. A normal white loaf, a white loaf with kosher salt on the outside and a special creation.
It’s normal bread with sliced apple, cut up dried apricots and stilton cheese mixed in. I baked it in the tray we usually make peach cobbler in and I but a mixture of butter and brown sugar on top. It’s delicious.
Abe
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August 22nd, 2008 Abe
Been a while since I posted. I’ve been very busy working on two of my short stories this past week. Hopefully soon my stories will be ready to go through Critters. I’ve also been sending out resume’s like a madman and I’ve made two and a half loaves of bread. The half is the loaf that’s in progress right this moment. It’s going to be another loaf of beef stew bread using the stew I made a few days ago.
This morning I found this link to crafting updates that are coming in the next game update for EQ2. I’m posting it because the person that wrote the article made the funniest screenshots to show the new cloth and leather armor looks. Here’s a sample.
You can see the rest of the pics here.
Here’s a cool screenshot of a single group downing an epic in lavastorm a few weeks ago. I was playing Dennika.
Yes, Dennika is totally smashing that giant in the ass.
Dennika is now my favorite character. She’s incredibly versatile. I can solo heal dungeon runs. I can solo super effectively. And I can tank and off tank. And I can DPS as well. Of course to do all of this I carry around two complete sets of mastercrafted gear. But it’s worth it because I can single-handedly transform a struggling group in to a successful group.
And people’s reactions to a priest tanking and out DPSing them are fun too 
Abe
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August 21st, 2008 angela
Was I the only freak who hadn’t heard about the new Star Trek: Phoenix series? It is a series, right? Doesn’t way what channel it will be on but that it will be free through various places. If that is the case, it is not being aired, I bet it is even worse than Star Trek Enterprise. This one is set 42 years after Nemesis. We’ll see how that goes.
Nanowrimo is quickly coming upon us. I don’t want to bother the people at work too much, but I will remind the EDEN writer’s group of it soon. I got an email today that said the two people in the Seattle area that have the highest word count get a walk on part on the second episode of Star Trek: Phoenix. That would be cool. Next Generation would have been better, but anything Star Trek would be pretty cool.
This last weekend was awesome. I got there and we took about an hour and a half to get out there and start, but once we got out to the woods with our portable easels, we painted with water colors four about 5 and a half hours! It was really fun.
Here is the painting I started. It is not finished. I plan to finish it, but we’ll see.
Apparently, when Isaac and I are together, we won’t shut up. The sounds were spectacular though. You don’t get noise like that in the city.
You could hear a single tractor off on the distance. That was the only unnatural sound. Frogs croaking, birds calling and hopping around in trees. The best was the Raven caw. Mom said you could hear their wings whistle in the air when they fly over head. As soon as she finished saying that, one flew over head and we could hear the zip, zip, zip of its wings.
Unfortunately, the bleeding hearts were not in bloom, but I got some pictures of the leaves and mom will send me some photos she has of the flowers. Then I will make a bleeding hearts lace something or other. Maybe a lace sweater with fair isle flowers… We’ll see.
That night we had some chicken for dinner with some delicious and subtle gravy from my mom, the gravy master. (No joke. She is really good.) And then a little ice cream while we watched an episode of The Andy Griffith Show. And earlier for lunch, mom, Jim, Isaac, and I polished off half a loaf of Stew Bread with some Swiss cheese. Everyone loved Abe’s Stew Bread.
The next day, mom pawned some of my old boxes of stuff off on me. Cleaned out a corner of the old dog kennel. I took 5 and tossed 2 boxes. There was my old dress up clothes. 4 of the dresses I would wear if they fit me, but I am much more voluptuous than the ladies on my mom. I think most of those dresses were hers during the 70s or something. I with I could wear them. I also found a pink plastic box full of filthy old Troll dolls with mainly pink and purple hair. I am going to keep some for decorating (Xmas and Halloween and such), and the rest I might sell or give to goodwill. I found some stuff I got from Grambie when she died. Hilarious stuff. She had the funniest taste. Loved the sea. I got an abalone shell that is big enough to hold soup. There are these appetizer holders. Wood with little holes all over to hold toothpicks, but they are shaped like a sea horse and an angel fish. And a great tray for juice. Has fruit hand painted on the tray and a cute little pitcher and little matching cups. It doesn’t even look like the pitcher holds enough for a single serving for each of the 6 glasses, though. I also found a bunch of my books from when I was little. Lots of Garfield and Joke books.
The best though was the game I made when I was in high school doing Running Start at the community college. I was taking a 3-d art class and one of our assignments (the final I think) was to create a game. I made Jalatek. Simialar to chess. There are all these pieces. Great pieces. A human side and a animal side. You can put trees up. Some of the animal have hair and everything. I am going to remake it. The pieces are all busted and moldy, but the idea was a great start. Needs a new box too. That broke almost before I got to turn it in. I never finished it, but I did such a better job than everyone else in the class I still got an A.
The final thing I got while I was up there that was equally as cool as the game, when I was 8 or 9, my aunt debbie had given me a drop spindle and some wool. Well, I found it. Now I can’t stop spinning. I have to rip myself away from the spinning so I can try to get this wrap done by this weekend! She gave me some plain wool, some blue wool, some brown wool, and something really soft. Maybe angora. (I also found a silk/angora sweater from when I was little that fits my curves better now than my straights when I was little. Black and wonderful. Just needs a wash.)
So I have spun up some great stuff already. Super fun. I have not decided whether to ply this first batch. I think I want to leave it in singles and make a kerchief for me head.
Unlucky Wrap - so very unlucky. I miscalculated. Stopped early (which is good since I miscalculated row gauge, too apparently). At armpits. 1st sleeve cast on. Was going to be a traditional wrap, but now I am thinking buttons and leave the first bit of the sleeves unsewn so splits and closes with button, too… Need to find some good buttons. See if I can’t get the first sleeve done tonight… (I tried to do it last night and failed. I only have to knit 13 inches of the sleeve and I have a few inches done already. I hope to finish them by Friday night and that give me Saturday and part of Sunday to knit the shoulder and the edging which will be shorter since I am doing buttons.)
Here is the back “on” me.
Here is the back up to the arm pits.
Here is where I am on the first sleeve.
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August 20th, 2008 angela
The rules of the meme: bold those you have tried, strikethrough those you wouldn’t eat on a bet.
1. Venison
2. Nettle Tea
3. Huevos Rancheros
4. Steak tartare (just don’t make me try horse…)
5. Crocodile
6. Black Pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht (I would try it, but I very much doubt I would like it)
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari (yum)
12. Pho (ew. Tastes like feet)
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi (sounds good though)
15. Hot dog from street cart vendor (but I did from ball games and I got some sweet baked almonds from a street vendor in NY. Delish)
16. Epoisses (sounds good)
17. Black Truffle
18. Fruit Wine made with something other than grapes.
19. Steamed Pork Buns
10. Pistachio Ice Cream (I think this was my grandma’s fave for a while)
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh Wild Berries - I have tried black berries straight off the bush, but I hate them. So only one or two.
23. Foie Gras (sounds gross, but I would try it)
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese (I would try it on a bet, but I doubt I would like it)
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper (I think that would be a bit too much for me
27. Dulce de Leche (just as an ice cream flavor. I don’t think I have ever had the real thing)
28. Oysters (ew)
29. Baklava (yum!)
30. Bagna cauda (sounds pretty good though)
31. Wasabi peas (ew)
32. Clam chowder in a sour dough bowl
33. salted lassi (but I have had mango lassi which is mighty fine.
34. Sauerkraut (ew)
35. Rootbeer float (ew)
36. Cognac with a fat cigar (ew)
37. clotted cream tea
38. vodka jelly (from the descriptions I am finding, this would be a jello shot)
39. gumbo
40. oxtail
41. curried goat
42. whole insects
43. phaal (I would try it as long as there was a soda handy)
44. goat’s milk (fresh from the teat. I can’t remember if it was good or not, but there was hay in it)
45. malt whiskey from a bottle costing $120 or more
46. Fugu (only from a very professional chef who had made it many many times)
47. Chicken Tiki Masala (sounds good though)
48. eel
49. Krispy creme glazed donut (so goooood… maybe Abe will go get some today…)
50. sea urchin
51. prickly pear (it was in some homemade salsa my mom made)
52. Umeboshi (i would try it but I am almost positive I would not like it)
53. abalone (but I have a big shell)
54. paneer (this would be a hard one, but I would try it)
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal (I would do it on a bet, but that is the only reason)
56. Spaetzle
57. dirty gin martini (I would probably throw up. I had a bad experience or two with gin and now I can’t drink it)
58. Beer above 8% APV
59. Poutine (would like to though)
60. carob chips (ick. chocolate my ass)
61. S’mores
62. sweetbreads (sounds weird)
63. kaolin (I can only find that kaolinite is a mineral)
64. Currywurst
65. durian
66. Frogs legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears, or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried Plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouilette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie (love these. I haven’t had one in forever though)
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini (sounds good though)
81. Tom Yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky (yummy)
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star resturant (I don’t really know what that means)
85. Kobe Beef (one day)
86. Hare (well it was domesticated rabbit, but close.
87. Goulash
88. Flowers (both in salad and I sucked on clovers and some other flower whose name I can never remember as a kid)
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft Shell Crab
93. Rose harissa (I’d try it, but I hate caraway seeds)
94. Catfish (yummy - I had a burger at Tony’s cafe in Bellingham.)
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox (not as good as lox cream cheese.)
97. Lobster thermador (please bet me to eat that and pay for it.)
98. Polenta (It is not thanksgiving without it anymore)
99. Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee
100. Snake
I have also had Kangaroo, which I was a little surprised was not on the list. And I usually just eat weird bt delicious combinations of food (weird to other people): apricot jam and cream cheese on sourdough bread, gerber baby rice with milk and sugar on cheerios. My Chinese Lasagna and all spinoffs.
I have eaten much less on that list than I thought I would have. Maybe Abe and I will have to start working our way through that list–not the whole thing. Just stuff we can get without risk of death or severe displeasure.
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August 15th, 2008 angela
So so busy. I think my head is busier than I actually am. There are just so many things I want to do. I need to keep working on my Unlucky wrap. I have bound of the front edges and have started decrease at the neck edges. I think this is going to look really great. I really hope it looks really great. Either way it will be better than the previous version this yarn took. Which would have fit two and me and that is not useful unless I plan to subsist only on cupcakes and ice cream for the rest of my life. And since I am eating no more than one cookie a day, I don’t think that is going to happen. (Ooh, speaking of food. I had Abe’s Stew Bread for lunch today and it was divine. My last bite had a HUGE chunk of delicious crispy–that is from toasting the delicious bread–meat!)
Anyways, I also wanted to send in some pictures to the Knitty contest, but it turns out I took them at the wrong size so I am an idiot. Oh well, once I decided not to try and to wait for next year (hopefully), I felt a lot better.
I felt even better after Abe and I looked for my passport and have definitively decided that it is missing. It has to be somewhere really weird for me not to be able to find it now. It is somewhere. It has to be, but I don’t have anymore time to put off looking for it. I have to get my birth certificate ($20) and once I get that I can go to the passport office and get a new passport. It is $45 for the horrible passport card and $100 for the lovely passport book that is so romantic. Unfortunately I do not have the disposable income to waste on a passport book, so I will be getting a new passport card. 
Oh well. At least the decision has been made.
I also had to make a couple payments, which should be in the mail today if Abe is as on top of things as he likes to think he is. And that leaves two more payments of something or other in November when I get my “extra” paycheck (since I get paid every other week instead of by date).
Tonight I have some homework for visiting my mom tomorrow so she can teach me to use water colors. (And Abe has to make a loaf of bread so I can bring a half up tomorrow to share.) I have to draw three still lifes(same or different) withdirect and intense lighting coming from different angles. I am not sure how to do this since I don’t have any very movable light sources. Not strong and movable anyways. Maybe Abe will loan me his desk lamp. I think that might be perfect. Maybe even too strong. We’ll see. I will post what I come up with. I need to bring up paper if I can find any (I think I found some when we were looking for my passport), and some brushes (also found while looking for the dratted passport).
I really really really want to finish a little tatting pattern to submit to The AntiCraft for their October issuem which is themed day of the dead. I think I have a great little pattern if no one else has written it up yet. It still needs tweaking though and it is due Sept 2.
Twist Collective has their due date for their spring issue (ideas, not full patterns) on Aug 30. I have a great idea. I just need to put together a nice proposal. Well, a cute idea. I don’t know how great it is. That weekend is a long weekend for Labor Day, but that is also expensive Bumbershoot weekend, and I want to go check it out to see if I would want to sell arachknits stuff there next year. It is a bit pricey so I want to sell at a Farmer’s Market first.
So that is another thing I want to do, sell at a Farmers market by the end of September. Hopefully before it is all rainy and awful to spend outside all day. I love love love the rain, but I love love love getting inside from being sopping wet and changing into dry clothes and sitting on the couch. Especially after something exhaustive, like a hike.
Also on the 2 of September is the pattern deadline for the Knitty Winter submissions. I don’t even have an idea for that one. The only reason I already have an idea for the Twist Collective one is that you can sign up to receive their mood board so you can see the theme of the issue. I think that is an absolutely brilliant idea and I love it.
Not done, yet. On the 9th of September is a writing contest my friend told me about. Only 1500 words about a day that affected your life and the winner gets $3000. Not bad. I have a couple ideas but I think you can only send in one. Not sure though. The wording is a little tricky about that.
And on the 30th, we might (I think we are) be having another tatting party at grandmas. Seriously. I need more to do.
Finally, (no due date, thank goodness), I need to figure out how to make circular needles because I have been asked about them at least three times. And that is just the people willing to spend the time to contact me about it. So I am hoping to do that by the end of September. Plus, next weekend I need to spend SOME time playing EQ2 with Abe. I love the game. I am just so busy. Should get better in September though. Then I don’t have anything really to do until Nov when I go to the Fall Fiber Arts Retreat! And then the holidays! Shoot. I better start knitting people’s presents now. We’ll see how many I do. Abe will make bread for my co-workers.
What?! I do not plan too far ahead….
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August 13th, 2008 Abe
So I’ve been baking a lot lately and yesterday Angela and I were talking about experiments I should try. We decided that my first one should be “Beef Stew Bread”. So that’s what I’m making today. Here are some pics of the stew and potatos and a loaf of bread I made yesterday.
The stew is in the oven and once it’s cooked down to a chunky paste I’m going to mix it in to the bread dough and make loaves out of it.
I’ve been writing all my steps and ingredients down too so if it turns out delicious I’ll post the recipe here.
Abe
UPDATE:
Doesn’t that look good? It’s almost ready to come out of the oven now.
Here are a few shots of the dough for the first loaf. It’s sitting in the bowl rising. Theoretically.
The yellow bowl really makes it look weird.
Here are some pics after it has risen the first time. It’s in the baking pan now and looks fantastic.
I can’t wait to eat a slice of this stuff
Here are two shots of the first loaf in the oven. It’s been in there for about 20 minutes and has about 20 minutes left till it’s done.
The house smells SO DAMN GOOD!
Oh it’s done! Taste’s so good.
It’s nothing at all like I imagined it would be. The crust is crispy and has a sprinkling of kosher sea salt on it. The bread is very moist and there are both big chunks of meat and veggies and small ubiquitous pieces.
Recipe will be posted in a few hours.
Abe
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August 12th, 2008 angela
I watch a lot of movies this weekend while I was knitting away at my Feux Argyle Wrap.
Friday night was our anniversary and I actually didn’t knit. We watched some Buffy and Beerfest which was pretty dang funny. Funny enough that we each drank a beer. I had some delicious Pumpkin Ale from Buffalo Bill’s Brewery. So yummy. Abe had a giant Dragonstooth Stout from the Elysian. I am a sucker for a pumpkin beer. They are always so delicious. I want Abe to learn to make beer so he can make me some home made pumpkin beer. Doesn’t that sound good? Between Buffy and Beerfest, I watched some of the Opening Ceremony for the Olympics. And from what Abe has said, NBC screwed with the footage of that a lot. Changing the order of the countries and adding in more fireworks. So dumb.
Then on Saturday, I watched Calendar Girls, Death Becomes Her, High Fidelity, and started to watch Girl with a Pearl Earring, but that got put off until Sunday so I could watch Farscape with Abe. He likes that show way more than I would have suspected.
Anyways. I enjoyed Calendar Girls. It was fun. I don’t know how much it followed the true life stories, though. Wikipedia has the “true story.” There were a couple plot holes and spots that made me want to change the channel, but overall, it was enjoyable. I just hope I look as good as those ladies when I am that age.
Death Becomes Her was okay. Not even great for a dumb comedy, but fun enough to watch. I liked the story and found the idea interesting, especially the end. That cracked me up. Very appropriate. And I will never have a true bad thing to say about a movie tha Bruce Willis is in. He is the best. This was good enough to knit to. Lovely overacting and pretty funny story. This is the second movie I have seen in a couple weeks with Meryl Streep overacting. I have seen her in other movies where she doesn’t overact so I am pretty sure that it is just the two movie styles I was watching (the other was Lemony Snickett…).
High Fidelity was a bit dull. And whiny. I enjoyed it for what it was though. And I am not that big a fan of John Cusack. But I really like Jack Black and the younger daughter on Roseanne, so it works out in the end. Not too many scenes that were so awkward I wanted to leave the room.
And Girl with a Pearl Earring on Sunday was okay, but I felt like they cut out half the story. It seemed to skip scenes with no transition and no association. Fun to watch, but awkward and helpless, both which make me want to change the channel. I don’t really like when people are in a helpless situation because there is no worse feeling than being helpless. Very pretty movie though. Just the shots, not Colin Firth. He looks strange to me. Though he is always a little cuter by the end of Bridget Jones’ Diary.
So here is how far I am on the Wrap for the Ravelympics.
Friday night ( basically cast on using the knitted cast on and may knit a single row):
The knitted cast on says (in the Knitting Answers book) that is should be stretchier, but it doesn’t seem stretchier to me.
Saturday night (3.25 inches):
Sunday night (4.75 inches):
Monday night (I didn’t measure, but I have used 2.5 balls of yarn out of the 10 or so I will use total):
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August 8th, 2008 Abe
So I made the most awesomest peach cobbler yet yesterday. I’ve started tweaking the recipe from the joy of cooking. I used fresh peaches (from the store not the farmers market, unfortunately) and I cut them in to slices and after they were in the dish I sprinkled brown sugar and cinnamon on them. Then I let them sit while I made the crust which takes about 25 minutes. I just make the biscuit crust. It’s simple and tastes really good. I’ve finally started to get the biscuit dough right! It’s supposed to be flaky but the first few times I made it the dough turned in to one big loaf. It’s strange casue I could tell that it was going to turn out right before I put it on the peaches because it felt different in my hands.
I’ve been writing a lot lately. I’ve been cleaning up and reworking a few old stories and a few new ones as well. I feel like I’ve finally grasped something about writing a story that I never got before. I can’t really explain it though. I guess that the most obvious change in my writing is that it’s 200% simpler. It’s more direct and to the point which makes it easier to read and understand. I’m quite happy with this and I wish I could post one of the stories but I intend to send them all out to publishers so I can’t put ‘em up on the web.
Angela wanted me to post this picture she drew yesterday.
Awesome huh?
Abe
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August 7th, 2008 angela
Isaac finally came over to watch all the Harry Potter movies. We had a great time. He was here all weekend. We picked him up at 10 on Friday night and brought him straight home to watch the first movie. Then we watched the next four on Saturday.
Here is how I found him in the morning one day:
[I will have to add this later, as you cannot add pictures to posts in IE7 - well, at least I can’t.]
Here’s one of the decorations I made.
Harry Potter world plants. I bought that fake plant trio and stand and then used some stamps to write out the “name” of the plant. Like one is labeled Mandragora, one is labeled Alihotsy and the other is Screechsnap. I also made some books from the First Year book list and put owls all over the living room. I am not sure how much Isaac noticed, but at one point he did say this looked like a great living room to watch Harry Potter in. I even made curtains to keep the glare down while we watched during the day.
Here I am making Pumpkin Pasties. (That would be pastie as in patty, not as in cake. That is how they say it in the movie, but I thought it was just their accents. Like how they skip the ‘r’ in expelliarmus. Except Cho Chang.)
They look like poop. Or dog vomit. Yum.
I cut the tops with some scars (backwards), a letter for each house. I made one look like Snape, a troll, Hagrid, and each of the three. The didn’t look so great, but Abe and Isaac really liked them. I only made half. The rest are in the fridge waiting to be made. I would like them better with less ginger.
And yes I am stupid that I did not get pictures of them cooked. They looked really good. Well, delicious. They looked like crap. Edges were a little burnt and stuff. Abe also made Isaac a loaf of bread with the word POOP slightly etched in the crust. Isaac laughed and laughed and then ate half the loaf.
I taught Isaac how to knit a toe for a socks while he was here, so I also started a sock with the yarn I used on the tez cozy. I am just doing my basic sock with no frills because the stripey yarn is so frilly it doesn’t want anything else. I am going up to mom’s in two weekends (to learn how to do watercolors), so I should write up how to knit socks by then so he can do the second one too. He only just got past the toe. He has pretty big feet, so it is going to take him a while.
Actually, this weekend, I also finished a baby hat for my cousin Jenny who is pregnant again. So cute. It is a pattern I got from the LYS Tour at NW Handspun Yarns in Bellingham.
Her daughter is turning two at the beginning of September, so I should make her something and mail it to her. I think I even have their mailing address.
I think I might pop in NW Handspun Yarns next time I have money when I am in Bellingham because they seemed to have a lot of spinning stuff and I am really looking forward to learning to spin. People on Etsy sell the most beautiful drop spindles and roving. My aunt Debbie knows how to spin, but I haven’t seen her in years. Everyone says she would love it if one of us showed up willing to absorb her knowledge. Probably, but I am not going alone. When Isaac is ready to start learning to spin, we can go over together. She is two doors down from my mom, so we can easily walk over. She has been knitting and spinning and weaving for as long as I can remember, so she should be an incredible source of knowledge.
We even had time to get some picture of him and his kilt hose. There are some really funny ones, but the good ones I will be sending to Knitty (surprise, another knitting magazine) for their calendar contest. You can send in up to three pictures of something you knit from a pattern in Knitty and the winners get in their 2009 calendar. All the winners get the calendar for free, but the grand prize winner gets a box of yarnie schtuff. I would love to win a box of yarnie schtuff.
For Ravelympics, I have the basic pattern written out. It is a wrap cardigan knit in one piece and will be a raglan. I hope it turns out nice looking. I will be pretty pissed if it looks like crap. Especially after it was so hard to make the pattern. I would just do the Luck pattern from Stitch n’ Bitch Nation, but I lost the book somewhere in the house. Blerg. I used The Knitter’s Handy Book of Sweater Patterns to come up with the framework for the pattern and then adjusted it.
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