Pattern: Bláthnat by Irishgirlieknits

Yarn: Shi Bui Knits Sock Colorway Lily

Needle: 2.5mm, 40” circular ML 2AT

Filed under: Day to day ]]> http://immunosuppressedknitter.com/2012/02/18/mysterious-little-flower-socks/feed/ 2 lactosefree Janets socks3 compressed http://immunosuppressedknitter.com/2012/02/02/happy-groundhogs-day/ http://immunosuppressedknitter.com/2012/02/02/happy-groundhogs-day/#comments Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:50:45 +0000 Susan http://immunosuppressedknitter.com/?p=3126 ]]>

For those who actually care, Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow today; bring on Spring!

Discovered the slideshow function – had to try it out! 

Click to view slideshow.

You know the saying, “You are what you eat.”?  If this were true, my mother would turn into a sweet potato right before my eyes.  When I think of food and my mother in the same thought specific foods immediately come to mind: crabs, Korean grapes, eggs – esp. hard boiled, and the Korean sweet potato.

The other day, my mom came home with her favorite root vegetable.  The pastor at her church gifted her a box.  Apparently he knows someone who bought 40 boxes from a farm in Fresno.  If you haven’t had one before, the Korean sweet potato is smaller, with a yellowish inside and tastes sort of like chestnuts.

Typically we microwave them.  My mother’s formula is 2 minutes on one side, flip and one more minute on the other side.  The larger ones are two 2 minutes on each side.  She also makes goguma tang – candied sweet potatoes.  I personally like it when the sugar coating on the outside cools down and becomes hard and crispy.  My mother likes it more gooey.

Here are a few blogs I found that has the recipe:

• Burp and Slurp
• Aeri’s Kitchen
• Maangchi  (Includes regular sweet potato fries & candied Korean sweet potato.)

Sorry for the crappy photo; I took a quick shot with my phone. 

Today is my mother’s birthday.  I tried to make her a pair of socks, but she refused when she found out I had also gotten her a non-knit present. REFUSED.  Who refuses handmade socks?  I knew I should have cast-on before she opened the books.  The top three are self explanatory. The bottom three are the His Dark Materials [The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spy Glass] trilogy by Philip Pullman.

Carol and I have both read the Hunger Games trilogy so we’re waiting to debrief with her when she’s done.  I have His Dark Materials as audiobooks, but I’m waiting for my mother to get to them so we could, in theory, read them at the same time.

The other news of the day is that I no longer have to take Noxafil (posaconazole), the yucky liquid, fake cherry infused, anti-fungal medicine… AND …drumroll please… I get to lower my prednisone dosage!  If I do well on that, I get to lower the dosage again in another month. Yay for less prednisone!  Stupid steroid.

B-day Present for Carol

Pattern: Knucks by Pamela Grossman

Yarn: Knit Picks Swish in Amethyst Heather, Persimmon Heather, Moss, Twilight, and Cobblestone Heather

Needle: US 4 circular ML

How much would you pay for a bag my mother knit?  I know it’s really difficult to put a price on someone’s labor, but I’m asking because it has to be realistic.  In the ‘market’ it seems the general consensus is to sell a hand-crafted item for three times the cost of the materials.  No one in their right mind would pay $75 for a hand-knit bag unless it had some famous designer name tagged inside.

I’ve been asked by people to knit them various things if they bought the materials and paid for my labor.  The difficult part is that knitting, to me, is a labor of love.  A lot of it has to do with the fact that I’ve already gotten to experience working with the yarn and see the yarn go from string to a finished item.  Due to this, the end product is something I’m usually happy to gift to friends/family for birthdays and special occasions and holidays and generally whenever I’m in the mood.  So, taking all this into consideration, it is extremely difficult for me to assign a specific cost for my labor; I have yet to knit something for profit.

Anyone want to share their 2¢ ?

Note: These bags are not for sale; they are for only for show.

The other big news of 2011 was Carol’s engagement.  Fidel will officially be initiated into our family this year.  Here’s hoping I will be of sound body and mind to attend the wedding.

Upon reflection, it seems the bulk of my expenses boils down to 1. rent 2. medical bills 3. eating out/groceries and 4. knitting.  This year I was going to join only one sock club, but I found out about a fairy tale themed one and gave in.  Last year I made a commitment not to buy any new yarn or knitting related items and lasted 9 months.  Not too shabby.  I won’t make the same declaration again this year, but I will make a conscious effort not to buy anything unless I’m making a specific project that requires yarn I don’t already possess.  I can already hear the “yeah, yeah, yeah’s.”

After discovering that I completed 30 projects I have decided to start logging the time it takes to knit each project; it should be interesting.

On a completely unrelated note, I kicked Carol and Fidel’s butts in Scrabble! Best quote from the game, “What’s a gatone?”

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Christmas gift for Fidel

Pattern: Mind Reader (Tankeleser) by Tora Frøseth Design

Yarn: Wollmeise 100% Merino in Dora WD

Needle: 3.0mm 40″ circular ML

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I have to say one of my favorite Christmas gifts this year is a mannequin head from Fidel.  I have been wanting one to block and display hats.  We have named her Gertrude.