reviews and opinions

Posted by marne on February 24, 2010 in cook, knit, other things | 4 comments

Good grief it's been gloomy and dark around here. I attempted to take some photos of knitting projects Monday morning and this was the best I could do:

I know I have my Ravelympics project, and I have been working on it, but it's laceweight yarn, and I needed a break. This is the opposite of laceweight, it's two strands of yarn held together and knit on giant (size 17) needles. Plus, it's a blanket, so it kept me warm while I was knitting it. This pattern is from Lion Brand, it's called Cascading Colors blanket, and it's made with Lion Brand Jiffy and Cotton Ease. I love the colors. It's pretty small, but just perfect for a stroller or car seat, or for a toddler to drag around. I blocked it by throwing it in the washer and then in the drier, and the Jiffy yarn got pretty fuzzy and pill-y. Also, every single end that I had carefully woven in popped through to the front side. I trimmed everything neatly, and now it looks pretty good, If I do say so. 

And now I have some opinions and reviews for you, whether you want them or not. I splurged on a set of Zephyr knitting needles from Knit Picks, since they are on sale right now. They're clear acrylic, and I think I rather like them. They're slick, although not as slick as nickel-plated needles. I switched my Featherweight cardigan from a pair of plastic needles to these, and it's going much more smoothly. The yarn slides nicely, and the tips are nice and pointy, so they're especially nice for this very fine yarn.

I watched Bright Star this week. My goodness, it was boring, but so very beautiful. I'm not really one for wimpy poets, and Fannie was kind of bratty, but her clothes were wonderful and every scene was like a painting. I could look at it over and over. How's that for the oddest review ever? I loved it, even though the story was slow. Maybe I'll just let it play without sound next time, and enjoy the eye candy.

I went to the Asian grocery store and bought ingredients for Tom Yum soup, which is very easy when you use the paste mix from a jar. I got a big bag of shiitake mushrooms for just $2.99 a pound. When I was at Vons a few days later, I noticed their price for shiitake mushrooms was $15.99 a pound. That's just crazy, how can they do that? My cheap mushrooms were delicious in the soup, they absorbed all that sweet and sour broth and just melted in your mouth. I don't think they would have done that if I had paid $15.99 for them.