kdlb-pad

Picking my next projects

I''m trying to think ahead to the early-summer birthdays and things I want to knit for me.  Of course, my afghan squares will be a constant throughout, I've got probably 40 of them 96 now, woo!

Beyond that, I'd really like to make a few things:

• Some sort of dishclothes or potholders for my sister-in-law's birthday (April 19) to go with her present (easy, out of cotton which I may already have enough of)
  
• A shawl or lacy scarf for my mom's birthday or Mother's day (end of May)
• I'm leaning towards this kit (Morpheus Scarf) because it's light and  airy and would knit up quick with 10.5 needles, and plus my mom loves black and white... even if she didn't wear it often, it would look pretty in her room.
  
• Something neato for Leah's birthday (mid-June)
• I'm thinking right now I'd really like to try for a pinwheel sweater (pattern, knitalong with pics)  I think I have enough time between now and then to work on this, it seems like it's within my skill level, I *think*.  Probably out of Knit Picks Wool of the Andes because it's a little cheaper than the Elann, and I like the color selection more.
  
• Maybe something fun for Baby Leonard while he's still little (socks and/or a bib?)
• Socks for me - I'd like to do one simple pair out of a varigated yarn, and another pair with a small fair-isle heart detail on it - both using patterns from Socks, Socks, Socks, which I re-checked out of the library last week.
• Maybe a sweater or top for me.  There are two I have in mind - one is the Bergamo Cache-Couer from Weekend Knitting.  The other is Poppy from Yarnplay (authors's blog, knit-along).  I'm not sure I'm talented enough to make either yet, truthfully.  The C-C has the added benefit of not being long enough to hit my tummy, so I wouldn't have as much shaping worry.  But the Poppy obviously appeals to me more, it's SO beautiful, and if I could get it done by fall, I'd have a lovely homemade sweater to wear then.

So those are my thoughts.  I may be too ambitious, but I really won't know until I try.  I want to learn, I'm craving trying new things, and worse come to worse, I start something and end up having to frog it until I get better.  At least I'm trying something! 

Does anybody have any opinions on any of these projects? :)

Organized knitting

My afghan squares and yarn and supplies are all neat now in two containers. And for the first time in a while, all my needles are empty, but i'll start on the next sq later.

Organized knitting

Strawberry shortcake

First one of the year at burgerville w/my dad on tuesday. Seems so early, but delicious!

Strawberry shortcake

This is a knitting video...

This is a knitting video:

Cool huh?

15 top channels

Reading an interesting piece from TV Squad this afternoon about how most people gets 100 or more channels on their tv, but only watch about 15 of them.

So I did some looking at my TiVo to see what my top 15 channels were:

• ABC
• FOX
• NBC
• CBS
• TNT
  
• SciFi
• Discovery
• TLC
• Food Network
• HGTV
• Comedy Central
• Cartoon Network
• FX

That represents all of the channels we have season passes for something on.  That's relatively in order, although some of the shows are things I half-way watch while doing other things like laundry or knitting during the evenings, and so it's harder to put those channels (like Comedy/Toon, E watches that when I'm not really paying attention, and TNT, I watch reruns of Angel in my spare time or during lunch, but it's not close watching like I do for new shows).   Also, these things shift depending on the time of the year.  Like SciFi is sometimes much more watched than it is right now with just one show we are seeing.

Is this true for you?  Or do you watch a wider array of channels?

If we were to upgrade to digital cable, I would probably watch DIY, SoapNET (although it's not here yet, seems like it's only time till ABC covers all it's markets with this), and G4.  TBS and USA are other channels that we have that I watch periodically, but nothing that I'm watching on a recurring basis.  Spike would fall in that boat too, sometimes an ep of Star Trek: TNG will be on while I'm cooking downstairs (ie, no TiVo downstairs, so it's whatever is on at the time!)

Anyhow, I always have fun analyzing my tv-watching habits, so this was a nice diversion while I was supposed to be getting ready to go out :D

Vox Hunt: TV on DVD

Video: Show us a TV series you own or watched on DVD.

I own 3 different seasons of TV shows:

Roswell - The Complete First Season

Roswell - The Complete Second Season

Firefly - The Complete Series

We are towards the end of re-watching the first season of Roswell now (just saw Tess, Lies and Videotape on Tuesday night). 
Of course, I've seen all the Roswell episodes when they were on the first time, and here and there since.  I just recently got the second season with my last Amazon order when it was only $20, and we'll do that next. 

Firefly, we just watched last summer/fall all the way through.

Now the next ones I would consider buying are the full series of Angel, I've been enjoying the reruns on TNT.  Maybe even Buffy, but that's a lot of season to buy!  I'd also like the second season of Tru Calling, because there are eps on there I never saw.

Lasagna

Beautiful presentation on our lunch.

Lasagna

Books

Recent books i've read just waiting to be added to Vox! What a pile. :)

Books

QotD: I Dunno, Where Do You Want To Go?

When you go out to eat, how do you pick where to go?
Submitted by Kristine.

This is always a tough one.  E and I tend to go out once or twice a week, and so we sometimes have a harder time picking than others.  I was trying to think of somewhere to eat when I submitted the question idea :D

Unless I'm craving something... then it's easy ;)  Like the other day, I wanted a goldfinger sundae so bad I could taste the bananas.  That made it very clear that I had to go to Boppin' Bo's.

Other times, it's based on other things we want to do while we are out - if we are headed to the big library, eating downtown makes sense.  If we are headed to grocery shop, there's fast food near Safeway.

Sometimes, it's related to an event.  I'm very much for tradition, and so if I realize I went somewhere on a specific day the previous year, I just might want to go there again just for the sake of keeping the same patterns :)

Our favorite standby is always Red Robin - we go there a couple times a month probably.  It's right in front of the mall (and we live behind the mall), so it's convenient.  Olive Garden is equally close, but it tends to be harder to get in.  E always is suggesting Mexican food (Azteca is on the same corner) but I'm just not a big fan very often.  Old Spaghetti Factory is a little further, but worth the drive every time.

We've also been trying to expand our horizons and go to some new places.  Just recently, we found a second Thai restaurant downtown Vancouver that was really good (Thai Orchid is our normal one, the new one we tried is Tiger's Garden).  And in the last year, we've ventured to downtown Portland after finding that not only P.F.Changs is down in the Pearl district, but Macaroni Grill is down by Pioneer Place (before, we'd been going to Tualatin to our favorite outdoor mall for either of those).

Another way to expand our horizons has been to read the weekend section of the newspaper, where they spotlight restaurants.  We've seen some interesting stuff this way, and look forward to trying some of these, although we haven't been to many yet.  I've also browsed through CHOWHOUND's boards for the pacific NW on occasion, which gives some interesting ideas and reasons.

And I've been writing this post off and on all day, and I think I could write a book about my food dining behaviors, truly.  So I'll cut it off here before I get carried away!!!

Pink trees

It's just the right part of spring for the pink trees to be all gorgeous. I <3 it!

Pink trees