A friend of ours from Cleveland was coming through the area on a roadtrip this week and spent a night with us. He brought us a great little selection of Cleveland products including a mixed six pack from Great Lakes Brewing Company. I love trying new craft brews especially ones that I can't easily get, and I don't think this is one that I could find on the shelves around here, so I'm pretty excited about it. Plus I'm a sucker for creative beer names and fun label designs. Each beer has a Cleveland related name which is explained on the side of the label. There is also more information about each beer over on their website.
Included in the six pack is the Dortmunder Gold Lager, the Eliot Ness Amber Lager, the Commodore Perry IPA, the Conway's Irish Ale, the Burning River Pale Ale, and the Edmond Fitzgerald Porter. I'm looking forward to drinking each and every one of them.
I have been looking for a bag to carry my knitting in for a while now. My problem is that I'm both cheap and picky. I found a Timbuk2 bag that I really liked (and may still get someday), but it was pretty spendy, so I couldn't bring myself to order it. I found this bag today at the Cracker Barrel giftstore. I got the bag plus the little make-up/pencil bag thing to store needles and notions for just over $20. I'm very pleased with myself.
Noche Chocolate from Cooper Vineyards and purchased at the 2007 Wine Down the Music Trail.
I didn't think I would get these done so quickly, but after my weekly knitting and British television watching night with my friend S. I had less than two repeats of the pattern left. I couldn't help myself. I was so close to being done that I took advantage of a Saturday afternoon with no plans and spent the entire afternoon finishing them up. I'm very pleased with the finished product. Also I'm totally in love with the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino yarn now as well.
In case you are interested the pattern can be found here: http://www.christinaslattery.com/rosepattern.pdf. Bless those who have the time, motivation, and talent enough to come up with the patterns for the fabulous knitted wear that they see on television so that I can engage in fan girl knitting. I used Debbie Bliss Cashmerino dk in colour #18021 and size 4 double point needles for the project. These take a lot of concentration and counting, but the pattern is clear and easy to follow. The only noticeable mistake that I made is that I accidently made one of the thumbs one row longer than the other. I guess I'll just have to hide my thumbs in my pocket or something.
Since it's been all about knitting this week, I thought I would add a beer post. This is the last beer that I brewed before the holidays. I haven't had much brewing time since then. This beer was from a recipe (from The Homebrewer's Recipe Guide) rather than a kit beer. The originial gravity was 1.061 and final gravity 1.021. The beer stayed in the primary fermenter for about two weeks and then I let it bottle condition for about 4-5 weeks. It was a little hot at first (I think my fermentation temperatures might have been a bit too high), but has gotten progressively better over the last month or so. The roasty flavors are coming out more, though still not as much as I'd like. It has a tangy sweetness that I could do without and that I'm assuming is from the buckwheat honey that was included in the boil. Overall, a decent beer, but I think I'll keep experimenting with stout recipes or kits rather than make this one again.
When I was first learning to knit, I heard a lot about yarn stashes. I decided that due to lack of room and lack of funds, that I would only buy yarn that I had a specific project in mind for. At first I would find a project that I wanted to make and then I would find a yarn to make it with. A couple of weeks ago I went into my local yarn store and discovered this yarn:
It wasn't right for the project that I was getting ready to make, but I had fallen in love with it. I stood by my resolution and left the store without the yarn. I then spent the next two weeks looking for a project to make that would justify buying the yarn. Over the weekend I found a pattern for some easy wristwarmers that I can make with one skein. Ignoring the fact that I already have two other projects and the yarn for them in the queue, I booked it over to the yarn store this afternoon and bought the yarn. I have been assured that this is a natural part of the process of becoming a true knitter.
Okay, so not really, but I felt like one last night. I finished the first of my Rose Tyler (from Dr. Who) wrist warmers. The pattern isn't that hard (just really tedious), but looks really impressive when done.
When I started knitting this one, I started knitting on the backside of circle when knitting in the round. So basically I knitted the wrist warmer inside out so that the pattern wasn't visible until I finished and turned it right side out. It made for a big exciting reveal, which contributed to my feeling of knitting rockstardom.
I have to admit that I'm a little burnt out on the pattern, but I'm also very excited about the possiblity of finishing the second one and getting to wear them. I can't decide whether to take a break and knit the simple hat that I have in the queue or keep pushing on through with the second wrist warmer.
My brother gave me a nut brown ale kit for Christmas that I've been trying to find the opportunity to brew. The weather this week has been cold, rainy, and icy, so I didn't even consider brewing it this weekend. I should have checked the weather forcast and whipped up a yeast starter yesterday though because today turned out sunny with high temperatures approaching 50F, the perfect day to spend on the patio brewing a batch of beer. The last time I decided to wing it and go without a yeast starter, disaster struck, so I'm hesitant to do that again. I think tomorrow is supposed to be even nicer, but we already have plans. I may still get my yeast starter going tonight and do a late afternoon brew tomorrow.
