Bored and thinking about food, food, food

I admit, I feel very bored lately. I feel like my life consists of sitting in front of this computer entering photos of yarn into one planet. I feel like I need a break and to expand out a bit. I have been taking this weekend off as much as possible. I do have to spend a few hours entering the rest of the sheep shop yarns-all 100 plus colors or whatever it is! I admit they are incredibly gorgeous and I like that we now have every color. And I am also knitting flair in between things and I have to say it is quite an enjoyable knit and I love knitting with a semi-solid yarn...

But, I am bored so I need to try to expand out and do a few other things. The first is to get back into cooking a bit more. Here is a fun fact about me-i actually went to an east coast culinary school and graduated and worked as a chef for quite awhile. my job was as a private chef in various peoples homes. I met quite some interesting people.....

right now I am very into anything asian and I just bought these two new cookbooks.....
Quick & Easy Vietnamese: Home Cooking for Everyone and Authentic Japanese Cuisine for Beginners: A Step-by-Step Guide
Note that both of these books say "beginners" and/or "quick and easy" which is kind of funny for someone who actually is a chef. But I am into fast these days. Fast, healthy and yummy......
The goal is to make just a few items over the next few weeks that are healthy and not too high calorie......
1. Udon Noodle Soup-
2. Japanese seaweed salad--this has lots of B12, did you know that?
3. Vietnamese-spring rolls-the fresh ones-with peanut sauce-these are actually easy I just need the right ingredients and
4. Vietnamese Bun with grilled steak and shrimp


I am getting hungry writing this. I have a collection of close to 250 cookbooks and I swore I would not buy anymore but I think I need to start adding to my Vietnamese and Japanese collections especially..... I hope to get to our huge Asian market this week to buy some ingredients and I'll try to post some photos of my culinary adventures.....

I am supposed to be on weight watchers core plan by the way (anyone do this diet??) and instead I am making ingredient lists here. The other thing I can't stop thinking about is having an In and Out Burger this weekend. Do you have this place where you live? I had one the other day and I have to tell you these burgers are just too fantastic. I couldn't figure out why there was such a long line of cars for this place when it opened but now I know. A hamburger and frenchfries are under 4 bucks I think (?) I really have to have a double double cheeseburger (with grilled onions) and fries before I get back on the diet and I think I'll even throw on a milkshake (what is this meal-4000 calories?) Who can eat like this and not get obese??? Now I realize why I don't cook anymore. I used to cook almost every week, picking out an introducing dish to try, until I started gaining weight around the age of 35. It isn't fair. So I'll have my double double tomorrow but then I better be on a mission to find some good low fat things to cook.

Time for sleep.......


PS I just looked up the nutritional info out of curiosity! HAHA A double double cheeseburger (my favorite) is 670 calories! Leave off the bun (Atkins style) with lettuce and it is only 590 calories. The fries are 400 calories and the shake 690 calories. No wonder that burger tastes so good........

busy busy busy busy.......and some yarn porn!

Yep, I have been super busy. Busy is not even the word for it. I am also surrounded by tons and tons of yarn. And fiber! The yarn has to all be photographed and then listed on the site and this is no easy task...! Plus I have company here from out of town this week and a lot of personal stuff going on. My poor little baby boy was at the vet this morning for a simple teeth cleaning. It turned out to be much worse and he had to have four extractions and now he is very miserable sitting at my feet with a bleeding mouth. There is not much I can do but comfort him and I have some anti-inflammatory medicine for him...the poor baby......
So I am sitting here posting and listing one yarn after another hoping I am not making some kind of mistake. And also thinking about all the things I want to knit, but can't, because I am sitting here posting and writing about yarns.

I am in love with this yarn we just got all the way from Australia. I met Michelle through her ETSY shop Wooldancer. Her yarn is so gorgeous and so soft and squishy, I don't have the right words for it. I learned this new word "scrummy" from someone in Wales recently though and that is exactly what this yarn is SCRUMMY. I am guessing that is a combo of scrumptous and yummy! See photos of the Wooldancer yarn below and it is also listed in our store now. I can't stop petting it and squishing it and staring at it...It is really gorgeous and I see a ton of yarn!! And the names she gives are too cool. This first one is called Sting of the Thai Orchid (what a great name!! And the second one is called Splash!! HAHA It does make me want to splash! If you like sock yarn or superwash fingering yarn period, you have to try one of these. You can tell the fiber is different from what we have here. It is made of pure 100% Australian superwash merino.



Now, here is a test. How many people even read these posts? And should I keep writing them? If you read this post and want to buy something at One Planet, enter the discount code BLOG in the post and then I'll know that someone REALLY read my entries here. I see tons of people cruising through here on a daily basis and I have statcounter, but I don't get too many comments. I used to get quite a bit more. So if you do read, and want something, go ahead and use the BLOG discount code for 10% off. By the way, what is with the online yarn stores that advertise 40-70% off yarns. There is something wrong there readers! None of the commercial company yarns are really marked up that much discount like that, from what I can see. There has to be some kind of gimic somewhere, or I am really missing something.. By the way, did you know that many yarn and related companies won't even sell to online only stores? That was an interesting thing to learn about.... Their reasons are many...not competing with the LYS which is silly to me. Any LYS can open an online shop too. Umm, others are massive discounting on the part of online stores only, which I agree with. The people who do that kind of ruin it for the others and how can they be making money anyhow doing that... OH another reason I learned this week was apparently some online only stores want to only order 5 or 10.00 orders. I don't know who those people are but that was a reason given to us this week when we tried to buy something......

I got off subject. Is that why I get so few comments on my blog? Rambling? OK back to yarn porn, the other thing I am listing on the site that is taking days and days are all the new Sheep Shop Yarn company colors. I am amazed how many colors the owner has added to this yarn line. It is AMAZING. We now will have every single color they have once I get them all listed!
I made this little photo montage so you could see some of the new ones. They are truly gorgeous!! I love this yarn!! And Sheep Three will be here soon....watch the other blog for that, the one planet one. Here is a montage of some of the colors, but there are so many more! OH gosh I have so much more to list, and I feel like I need a nap, BADLY!!



I am doing some knitting. I try to knit every day but lately it is like an instant sleeping pill. Sometimes I can't even finish a row and I fall asleep. I don't know if it is because of the boring garter stitch on the log cabin blanket I am trying to do or because all I can think about is how many yarns I have yet to list....maybe thinking about that is like counting sheep!
Did you see Wendy Bernard's new pattern Flair? I love it. So I cast on for it last night. Of course I had to use Lanas Puras Melosa and I was so excited she listed it as a yarn alternative. I am a green nut so my sister convinced me to use the Fern Green color and I have to say I absolutely love it. I love this yarn. I love knitting with a worsted single like this. The Sheep Shop One is the same way. For some reason, it adds a lot of character. I thought the Fern Green was a solid but really it has some slight color variation which I just love.......... Here is a peek.....

See the slight color variations? It is so pretty and soft and really enjoyable to knit with.... I am going to try to find some unusual buttons for the coat too..... It looks like a quick knit so if I can stay awake, I'll post my progress.....

Ahh, one more exciting thing. Do you get Interweave Knits magazine? When you get it, go peek at page 53! :)

Yes I have been busy and tired

I feel like I don't post much anymore. I am SUPER TIRED and I feel I say that all the time. And wow, I have awful PMS right now. I am also trying to figure out the benefits of this new blogger. So far....I see labels that I can put by each post. So is that like categories for the posts? Well mine are mostly the same so how boring that will be......

I have been knitting. I cast on some of the Lanas Puras Melosa in the fingering weight for some socks and I love it . I figure I should knit with some of our own yarn instead of that encore stuff I am using for baby blankets now!:) This yarn is a spun single and I love the colors. It is really soft. I am knitting with fingering weight opal and when I compare the two it is amazing. I love Opal too but it feels scratchy scratchy by comparison. Of course it is machine washable and so that superwash treatment makes a difference......

Here is a photo of the colorway I am using, called Sangria.... It basically has a light pink, a coral and a mahogony color. It is just gorgeous......



Here is my gauge swatch.....




I have spent many hours researching various yarns and mills around the world. Quite interesting. Today I received this package in the mail of these lovely yarns that have been dyed naturally with walnuts, teas, cochineal and other things. I tried to take a photo and let's see how they show up! The colors to me are simply lovely, very soft . I just ordered some more organic yarn that is dyed with natural dyestuffs by another company and I can't wait to see the samples... I need to win the lottery though more than anything....

From left to right here, we have walnut, something from the rose family, tea, cochineal and thena plant that is a species of the acacia tree. Cochineal as you might know, comes from insects. The tea coloring is from several varieties of tea. The thing is so far this yarn is available only in a bulky wool, although the spin of the wool is gorgeous (see this boucle and then there is another unusual one). Soon there will be regular bulky wool. When they add the lace weight in these colors, then maybe we'll get it. Maybe its me or maybe it is just our online place but I don't see that much bulky being sold so far.. I think though it is because I am used to the ETSY world and duh, I live in the desert!


We are having a little contest this month at One Planet. I haven't put it on the blog yet but maybe I will, we'll see...

I have to say the photo thing works better on this new blogger... It will be interesting to see what else is new...........or improved........