Knit-Nerd-Rant

Keep in mind, that this was totally designed on the fly, and I'm going back and re-constructing what I did, so please forgive me for and alert me to any errors you see! Luckily, many years of experience sewing long before I even picked up my first knitting needles helped me confidently make my set-in sleeves.  They may not be the prettiest buttonholes, but dammit, that's who I figured it out. Translations: CO - cast on K - knit P - purl M1 - make one K2tog - knit 2 together P2tog - purl 2 together Equipment: 1 size 6 circular needle (24" long at the very least), 4 size 6 double-pointed needles, some scrap yarn, and a yarn needle for sewing in the loose ends. Making buttonholes: I totally stumbled on this method, so I don't know if it's got a name somewhere, but here is the way I did it Knit full length of body for the particular stage in the pattern, until the last 6 stitches K1, chain bind off next 3 stitches, leaving 2 remaining P2 This is the ...

A small shop near the hotel with an amazing Mardi Gras display So I just recently returned from a business trip to New Orleans, and I am officially a convert!  The city at the time was in the early throes of Mardi Gras, and also preparing itself for the upcoming Superbowl.  The French Quarter was covered with police, who justifiably expected a lot of crowd to control between Mardi Gras celebrants and Superbowl partiers.  It was a bit of a head trip.  Jackson Square and the river front area were covered with different stages where the CBS folks were filming interviews and talking heads.  Despite the growing insanity, I had an amazing time, and made sure to keep a food journal. It was such an amazing culinary adventure.  Some of the highlights include Crawfish etoufée Coconut custard bread pudding, chocolate bread pudding, and Mother's bread pudding Poboys: Sammy's - roast beef poboy Red Fish Grill - bbq fried oyster poboy Mother's - turkey, roas...

I'm happy to share a new pattern, it's pretty basic, and it's my first ever pair of toe-up socks. I've made them specifically for my boyfriend, making the pattern up as I went to fit his feet - haute couture socks :-) These instructions are the way that I think of them, so, as someone discovering toe-up and short-row heels, experts should feel free to skip some of the details. For yarn, I used yarn that I salvaged from an old sweater that had run into the end of its life. Lots and lots of yarn from that puppy! But I liked the color, figured lots of it still had good life left in it. It's green! (It's also cheap) I also was eager to take advantage of some techniques in my new copy of Stitch 'n Bitch: Superstar Knitting   (a Christmas present to myself). So, that's a good place to look up any details of techniques described in this pattern. Gear up: (I used the following for this project) 5 double-pointed needles, US size 4 1 stitch h...