Weekend Fun

We had a great weekend, involving many things.  Saturday afternoon was spent at the Houston International Festival.  Specifically we went to see Los Lonely Boys.  What a great concert!  We were a bit surprised to see so many people waiting patiently, 40 minutes before the show began.  The mosh pit was already in place!  Once the concert began, there was no sitting down!  The band and the crowd were so energized!

 

 It was a beautiful and unseasonably cool day to be outside.

Sunday we put our cooking lessons from last week in place and grilled some fantastic steaks.

In the midst of all the fun, some charity knitting took place!

Friday the 13th Fun

One of my Christmas gifts from my boyfriend was a gift card to take a cooking class at Sur la Table. He said he'd take the class with me. So we had to find one that we were interested in and fit our schedules. We decided on a "date night" class this past Friday night. Here's the menu:

• Mini Crab Cakes with Lemon-Garlic Aioli


• Shiitake-Dusted Ribeye with Gorgonzola Butter


• Creamed Spinach with Shallots and Crispy Bacon


• Thyme-Roasted Potatoes


• Chocolate Napoleons with Port-Braised Pears

Sounds good, doesn't it? It was.

The class was completely hands-on. There's no pressure though and no one was going to get "Chopped". We basically worked in groups of four and everyone got to participate in preparing all the dishes. A lot of couples brought a bottle of wine to enjoy while cooking. Those that didn't, well, The Tasting Room is just across the street and has plenty available for purchase.

The kitchen in Sur la Table is fantastic! See the big TV up there--if Chef Robbie was demonstrating something you could gather round him or watch it on the TV. I think my boyfriend was hoping they'd put the Rockets basketball game on but no such luck.

At last, steaks are grilling!

Here is the main course. It was delicious! And I learned a lot.

We'll definitely take another class here. Maybe something Italian next time. Hm, I have an idea for a birthday gift for the boyfriend.

I went to an LYS and didn't buy yarn!

I'm starting to worry that the crew from Hoarders will show up at my door and want to feature my guest bedroom/yarn room on their show. Really, one does not need as much yarn as I own. But I can't not go to my favorite yarn store, Colorado Fiber Arts, when I am in town.
I spent lots of time looking at all the pretty yarns and the shop samples. I got a couple ideas for future projects. I managed not to buy yarn. But I did buy this. It's a basket, officially called a caddy, by Atenti.

You can't see inside from this angle, but there is a knitting project in there.

Shawlish Cowl

A while ago I saw a cowl/shawl combo that appealed to me. It's Zuzu's Petals by Carina Spencer. It's the idea and shape of a lace shawl but actually knit in the round as a cowl, thus staying in place without any problems. It seemed like a quick little project and a good way to use up some yarn. It was!

I would give this project about an 85% happiness rating. I really do like the project, but my yarn is a bit too busy for lace. I prefer my lace knitting to be done with a yarn that is has minimal color variation. However, I think it looks quite nice with this pink t-shirt.

I have been participating in two KALs, one spontaneous RAL (read-along), and just enjoying spring. I'll post the KAL projects next time.

Weekend in Austin

We recently spent a weekend in Austin. While there we ate barbecue.
Excellent ribs and brisket!

We saw the sights.

We spotted a celebrity, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, at the Snack Bar (see sign in lower left of above photo that says "I love happy bacon").

We shopped for yarn. Hill Country Weavers is quite possibly the best yarn store I have ever been in. The selection is incredible.

I purchased. Yes, I did. While I have been quite good at staying out of our local shops, I forgot to pack my discipline for our mini vacation.

• Journey tote bag by Chic-a in the black fleur colorway


• pattern for Paintbrush Lace Cowl published by Hill Country Weavers


• Freia Handpaints Lace yarn in Maple (because it's so pretty)


• Shibui Silk Cloud yarn in Storm to make the cowl (there is an option for a solid color cowl)


• Madelinetosh Prairie yarn in Whitewash (because it's such an unusual and beautiful color)


• Madelinetosh Tosh Sock yarn in Scarlet (because I can never have too much sock yarn and I don't even make socks)

It was a very good weekend.

Blue Capelet

A bit more catch-up:

Last summer I went (virtually) to Camp Loopy. While there I learned to knit cables. Turns out they are not difficult at all!

Last fall I kept seeing the Cranberry Capelet all over Ravelry. I decided put my newfound cable knowledge to work and make one. I used Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage in the Nikko Blue colorway. I got it at a discount from Loopy Ewe because I bought the yarn as part of their Fourth Quarter Challenge. That Sheri is a smart woman. She creates these fun and loose KALs, gives you a discount on the yarn, and it's hard to resist.

This capelet was a very fun thing to knit. I'm really happy with the results.



Crazy dog! Wow, she's really big, isn't she?

I liked the capelet so much I had to put one of my own personal labels in it.

December

More catch up:

The name of this scarf is December. That's also the month I got around to blocking it. When did I knit it? you ask. I'll tell you. Last February. February 2011. I did it as a KAL with the Mystery 220 group on Ravelry. I'm really not sure why ten months passed between knitting and blocking.

It's really light and airy and pretty. The yarn I used is Ella Rae Lace Merino which I liked a lot.

Yesterday Chan wrote about her blocking block. I bet none of her to-be-blocked items are ten months old.