For those of you who have sent me emails regarding my destash, I apologize for not getting back to you. For some reason, gmail was not forwarding me my messages so I did not see any of them until today when I loggged in. Many, many apologies and I am NOT ignoring you.

And all this time I thought my yarn wasn't good enough for you because I wasn't receiving any inquiries about them. Silly me!

I'll get back to each of you one by one. Thanks for being patient!

Again, many apologies for very untimely responses to my stash sale post last week. I seriously started whining and wondering why no one wanted my yarn. Don't believe me? Ask her and her. Anyways, any guesses as to what this means?

Yes, I have started new projects. And yes, they are the current Project Spectrum colors. But what does this really mean? ALL THE WIPs ARE NOW FOs (We'll almost. I'll explain more below)! But back to Project Spectrum, and new projects.. I have startitis. These yarns are so pretty together. I can't stop staring. And what did I spy at the farmers market this week?

Rainbow Chard! So beautiful, I had to buy it. Check out the leaves and the stalks. It's screaming PS just like that sock yarn if I do say so myself. Now what to cook with it? That's a good question that I don't have an answer to yet. If you have any recipe recommendations I'd love to hear them.

And would you look at what the fabric store coerced me to buy? I've got socks to knit and chard to cook! The nerve!

So the almost FOs, most of them have already been worn a few times and just need a photo shoot. But the last lingering one, I need your help on. The asymmetrical cardi needs buttons. These are the buttons I initially bought for the sweater at Stitches during the Great Button Haul of 2007.

Nice, yes? Big, right? Right. Luckily there was another selection from the great haul that could work.

The size is much better, but I'm really not feeling the color. I think it's too dark. What do you think? Any thoughts and suggestions on what would work better? I'm ready to wear this sweater already. This is the last step!

Nothing's worse than not being able to knit when you want to knit. This weekend I went on a camping trip with my triathlon club to be the club cheerleader and photographer for a race. Just because we were on a camping trip didn't mean that the Cinco de Mayo festivities would be left behind. Someone brought a pinata and I got conned into taking a few whacks at it. Well luckily for the person after me, I had some very good hits, which allowed him to break open the paper mache present of sweets in two one-handed, half-assed whacks. In the process of the pinata whacking, I unfortunately broke my thumbnail. Y'all saw how long my nails were in the last post, and they weren't that long. But yay for me and my nail, my pinata antics broke my thumbnail past the "quick" (that's where the pink part starts right?)! Ow is an understatement. Not only does my thumbnail look oddly short now, it prevented from knitting and using my thumb actively for a few days.

In addition to that, when we got back home from camping, we weren't welcomed by the blanket of fog that usually greets us when we approached South San Francisco and Daly City when we're heading home from the south. Not only was there no fog, but the temperature on my car read the SAME as it was where we were camping! Yes, freakishly hot for San Francisco for this time of the year. Now, I'm not complaining about the heat, but I'm complaining about the allergies that come with an extreme temperature change. The past three days, the sneezing and dripping were pretty horrible, but the eye itching? Holy cow, all I wanted was some sandpaper to sooth my irritated eyes!

The other thing that has been bothering me lately have been my PS socks. As much as I love the look of variagated yarn in the skein, you just don't know what you're going to get once you start knitting with it. So for me, usually that means I only stick to stockinette or ribbed socks, and the occasional patterned sock. But even that's not a guarantee.

Garter ribbed socks for the Yarn Pirate both results in self-striping despite the different stitch counts for both. And Cookie's yarn paired with her Monkey pattern, way too much going on. I'll admit the self-striping in the yarn pirate wasn't too bad, better than pooling, that's for sure. But I was so looking forward to the random pairings of the different colors next to each other that I just wasn't looking forward to knitting them.

So then what do you do? Try a new pattern.

Thanks to Miss I May Be Knitting a Ranch House's new sock pattern, I have something to look forward to now. Yes, the self-striping is still there, but I like how the colors are lining up here. And if you look closer, there are some parts where the yarn doesn't know if it still wants to stripe. Oddly, I actually like it like it. Now what to do with the other two..

So how did I make myself feel better with my allergies? Bake!

These are strawberry sour cream muffins from the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking. Made with mostly white whole wheat flour and some all purpose flour, these muffins weren't heavy at all. They're not too sweet, which is a good thing, because I want mama&papaFasu to enjoy them also. The fresh strawberries were good in them too. I want to tinker with this recipe a bit more to see if I can use all whole wheat flour without turning them into paperweights. I've got some whole wheat pastry flour in my freezer so I've got something to work with already. But next time though, I want to make sure I have some coarse sugar so that the shiny crystalized crust that forms when it bakes is a little more apparent. So pardon me for a moment, there's a muffin waiting for me.

Despite the zero blog coverage on this project, the Asymmetrical Cardigan has been on my mind for quite a while and not without any drama either. This project first hit the radar almost 11 months ago when i was complaining about my my gauge woes. Silly me misread and failed to see that the swatch was over the stitch pattern, not in stockinette. And with that, my original choice of yarn (Cascade 220) became inappropriate. When I finally found the right yarn, my next dilemma was size. Which size should I knit? By the time I picked and swatched my new yarn, a few knitters had already finished the sweater and I used their experiences to help me determine which size was right for me. Then the last and final bit of drama was with the pattern. The chart for one of the pieces just didn't seem to add up right. But once I figured it out, it was smooth sailing from there. And now she's finally ready for her unveling.

Pattern: Asymmetrical Cardigan by Norah Gaughn, Knitting Nature
Size: 44"
Yarn: Malabrigo in Blue Surf, 7 skeins
Needles: 5.5mm and 5.0mm Addi Turbo Naturas
Extras: 3 oblong plastic buttons, Dale Baby Ull color 5711 for seaming
Started: November 23, 2006
Finished: May 10, 2007

Here are some more photos for your viewing pleasure.

Closed

The Back

Slight bat wing sleeve construction

The collar down

The word that best describes this project for me is resolve. I had to make a lot of decisions for this project. Only one was pattern related and the rest were my own personal issues that I had with the project. The first issue was solved easily, yarn. I got the wrong gauge because I was using the wrong yarn. Picking the right yarn can definitely make or break a project. I didn't want to break my wallet with the suggested yarn, but I loved the color it was knit in (But if the cost of the yarn also included the dress, then I would have definitely bought it). Luckily for me, my dealer had just the right thing, in just the right color. I know Malabrigo is advertised as worsted yarn, but I've been able to knit it in chunkier gauges. After a few swatches, I got gauge and I was ready to get started.

The next thing holding me back was the size. The ease for this sweater seemed very generous, almost too generous for me to think that I needed that much. I really wanted a cozy sweater, something that I could throw on and feel instantly calm and relaxed. Most of the completed ones were knit with less ease than suggested in the pattern and they didn't just didn't have the cozy look like the one in the book. After seeing them and analyzing and comparing them to the pattern photos, I decided to go with the suggested ease.

Now I was ready to begin. So I cast on and off I went. Except that I didn't go very far. I completed the ribbing on the first piece and discovered that my piece didn't end at the spot indicated on the chart. This sweater is basically knit in one piece. Knit each front seperately (which includes the sleeves) and then join them together to continue onto the back. So the piece not ending at the point where the chart indicated meant that there was the potential that the pattern would not line up when the two fronts were joined together. So being the risk taker I am, I knit away. Do you really believe that? Seriously though, I sat there and counted each and every stitch for the left front, the right front, each sleeve, and the cast on stitches for back to make sure it lined up. And luckily it did. The mistake was the placement of the where the left front ended on the chart. Thanks goodness, because I really didn't want to rechart the entire sweater if it didn't line up. Much relieved, I was now free to knit on without anymore worries.

Now onto my favorite parts of this sweater, the little details.

By keeping good notes as I knit, I was able to line up the stitch pattern at the side seams.

I also added two stitches to the button bands so I could put in slip stitch edging a la the Backyard Leaves scarf. So clean, don't you think?

There's tubular cast-on every where you look. And when I say tubular cast-on, I mean it. No where did I tubularly cast OFF. With 1x1 rib, I can do tubular cast off that pretty much mirrors the cast on. 2x2 tubular cast off is an entirely different story. So instead of tubularly casting off when I got to the back ribbing, I omitted it altogether by knitting the back ribbing seperately and grafting it on. And I did this for both the cuffs as well (instead of picking up stitches and then casting off) and the collar.

And as you can see, I used totally different buttons. I have Miss Pamela Wynne* of Flint Knits to thank for them. She was in town this week and we met up at the LYS where she found them in the cubbies'o'buttons. They're white and they're perfect. Their oblong/parallelogram shape complements the stitch pattern well and I decided to put them on at an angle.

So my thoughts? Does "I never want to take this sweater off," express it accurately? This sweater was everything I wanted and more (except I still don't have that dress in the pattern picture). At first I had doubts about the color because the blue surf came out more variagated than semi-solid. But in the end, I don't even notice it. And all the work I put into the details to make it right were all worth it! It's cozy. It's soft. It's divine! Like Pamela said, it's almost like a cloud. I do prefer to wear the sweater with the collar up. But unfortunately Malabrigo is too soft and not structured enough to hold itself up. One side stays up while the other side flops down. You can't win them all, but that battle won't prevent me from wearing this sweater all the time!

But one question for you. The buttons are still "temporarily" attatched. I sewed them on as if I were sewing buttons to a regular garment, but I'm unsure of how to "tie the knot." Right now it looks like this.

I was planning to double knot it and cut the ends short. Will that work? And is that even the right thing to do?

*And Miss Wynne is absolutely charming! It was nonstop chatting from the moment we met. I'm glad her BFF lives in SF because I can try to steal some more of her time the next time she finds herself over here.

Ms. Tres Chic Veronique is currently working on a super cute cardi to match a super cute summer dress. After drooling over it thinking how that's going to be such the perfect summer sweater, I thought to myself, "HEY! I have that pattern. I can make that. too!" So I whipped out Vintage style, found the pattern and stared. Wait just a darn minute. This is the same, but.. it's different. Checking V's blog again, she said she was knitting Agnes from Rowan 35. So I pulled out Rowan 35 and well what do you know..

Both sweaters were designed by Kim Hargreaves. Does this count as "recycling"? It's the same basic sweater but different embellishments and sleeve lengths. Okay, so it's not the same EXACT sweater, if you take away the beads and the french knots in the contrast color and make the sleeves the same length, it's the exact same sweater.

Agnes, Rowan 35

Joy, Vintage Style

Interesting, isn't it? Anyways, "recycling" aside, I'm planning on making this sweater (thanks for the inspiration V!). It's just a matter of which version I want to make and/or how I want to mix and match them. Joy requires a heck of a lot of beads, 5,300 to be exact. And I'm not sure at this point if that's something I want to deal with. It's a bit hard to tell from the photo, but there are rows of diagonal lines on the sweeater formed by the beads. Would I be able to get the same textural effect just by substituting those bead stitches with by purling them instead? Or should I follow the stitch pattern on Agnes? All good questions that need answers and I'm not sure if I'm ready yet to answer them yet. But until then, I'm still waiting for my yarn to arrive (some Yorkshire 4ply in a cream color) and I'll continue to work on my Turbulence U-Neck Pullover that I started a week and a half ago.

So far the back is done and I'm a few inches into the front. In other knitting news, I finished one Charade sock already and I still have 3 finished objects to show you. Why the delay? The perfectionist in me doesn't like the FO photos, so I will have to retake them.

Isn't it funny the twists and turns your life takes? Take myself for example, 6 years ago, the thought of me wanting to be a stay at home mom would have elicited the biggest laugh out of me, never in a million years. Ask me know, and I'll tell you about the plan I'm devising to convince B that his salary will support the both of us as I stay at home to craft, cook and a play with the kiddies all day long. Then there's my grad school classmate/roommate. When I met her, her specialty at the time was chicken cooked with cream of mushroom soup (Before I get stoned for being a food snob let me say that there's totally nothing wrong with things cooked with canned soup. I've ooh'd and ahh'd over many a things cooked with canned soup in my day.) Now she's miss foodie extraordinaire, reviewing So Cal eateries, whipping up healthful Filipino faves, challenging classmates to find their inner foodie by starting the Tuesday Lunch Crew and being commissioned to bake cupcakes for friends and family. She's always been a very crafty and party girl, loving all things paper and entertaining friends and family. Now she's got another skill to add to her ever growing C.V. and a new item to hang up next to her potholders.

Pattern: Butterick 4945 view E
Started: February 2007
Finished: February 2007
Recipient: Maarte Stewart

I made this for her birthday. I started AND finished early for once. However my trip to the post office kept getting pushed back and she got it 2 weeks past. I had some cues from her what to get her for her birthday when she came to visit in October. She was flipping through the Amy Butler book and stopped at the apron and exclaimed that she wanted a cute apron like that. *light bulb moment* (unless she did that on purpose). I used some cute retro looking cherry fabric and practically zipped through the project in a night. It was actually two days considering that I started fairly late that night.

Now go forth, pay her a visit and tell her to do her dishes! ;)

For those of you who have never had a Vietnamese sandwich (formally known as banh mi), you are surely missing out. I've had these sandwiches since I was young and have loved them since. It's really simple sandwich with only a few ingredients, french roll, meat of choice (usually bbq pork, chicken, hams and pate), cilantro, pickled carrots and daikons, peppers, and a bit of mayo. Now that I don't eat meat anymore, I've been searching for good non-meat banh mi. Usually, they have deep fried tofu ones. But the ones I had are drowning in this sweet sauce that doesn't jive with me. I've also had a sardine version in New York from Nicky's in the Lower Eastside which was probably the best non-meat banh mi I've had (Ah, that ellusive New York trip that I still haven't blogged about. All blame goes to B since he was scheduled as a guest blogger to talk about the happs on that trip).

This weekend B wanted to make banh mi for dinner. So off to the store I went to grab some ingredients. The only thing missing was the "meat". Luckily I had some frozen shrimp at home and decided to saute it with some garlic and I added some curry powder for flavor.

Shrimp with their tails off, of course, and we added some S'n'P as well.

The french rolls I got were a bit on the soft side so we toasted them a bit, added some Vegenaise and the shrimp.

Next we added sliced serrano peppers and the pickled carrot and daikon mixture. We followed this recipe for the pickling mixture which was where we also got the idea in the first place. Then we added the cilantro and sprinkled a little S'n'P and we were ready to eat!

Verdict? I would have upped the curry powder a bit just to get a little more flavor in there, but otherwise it was good. I'm definitely going to try to experiment a bit more to find other yummy non-meat fillings. If you ever get the chance to try one, you definitely should. It's the perfect blend of sweet, savory and crunch all rolled up in to a sandwich! And you want to know why else these sandwiches rock? They cost anywhere from $2-4!!

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Need help in finding banh mi near you? You may be in luck! Other than the mom and pop sandwich shops you'd find in the asian district in your locale, I just discovered a chain store that serves banh mi as well as other sandwiches and vietnamese desserts, Lee's Sandwiches! Unfortunately they're mostly located in California, but there are some locations in Arizona, Oklahoma and Texas. I had tried Lee's recently on a trip down to the South Bay, but it definitely can't beat my local faves, Saigon Sandwich in the Tenderloin and Little Vietnam Cafe in the Richmond.