kitty companiona

kitty companiona

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Oh, What a Night!

We had a delightful New Year's Eve.

Zip and I have never been big celebrants of N-Y-E.  We are stay home and have a nice dinner and watch TV types.  Who wants to be on the road after midnight???
Then about ten years ago, our friends Chuck and Willa asked us if we would go out to eat with them.  Of course we said YES!  We went to a local Japanese restaurant.  It was fun and somehow sushi seemed just the thing for the celebration.  So after that we went every year, sometimes with their children and ours joining the fun.

Afterward there was the option of going downtown in Shippensburg and watching the anchor drop.  SHIP-ensburg.  Far from the ocean and certainly not named for the nautical, but I guess you have to drop something.  Being a farming community, I would have suggested a cow (not a real one, of course!  I'm an animal lover!) but it would be more interesting than an anchor.
Well, there is no way in h-e-double-hockey-sticks  that this woman would be caught downtown after dark anyhow.  Not in winter, not in the cold, not after 8 p.m.  No amount of music and dancing in the streets and fireworks could make me do that!

Chuck and Willa have since moved to Missouri, and last night we expecially missed them.

But not to be dismayed, we went to a new Japanese and Thai restaurant with Brad and Kami.
The food was delicious!!!  We had such a wonderful time that I forgot to take pictures until the meal was half over.  Not cool showing partially eaten food!  I had the least disturbed plate so will show it

This is Chicken Pattaya, with fresh pineapple, green peppers, mango and onion in a hot sweet chili mango sauce.  Yummy!  Isn't the flower made from daikon radish pretty?.


We all shared a scrumptious smoked salmon and mango sushi roll.

Before Kami and Brad met, she had never eaten Oriental or Mexican food.  In the four years they have been together, she's become quite adventurous.  I guess you have to be to go out to dinner with us.
We ended the meal by sharing an order of fried banana topped with whipped cream and chocolate sauce.
We all had plenty of food left to bring home and enjoy again today.

Willa and Chuck, I wish you could have been here with us!

                                      *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *

With my sweater knitting finished, it was time to do the blocking, the part I HATE most about making a sweater.  I've been stewing over this for a week, dreading this crummy chore.  Then I had an idea.  One that would hopefully be fast and easy and not require a zillion pins and those darn blocking wires.  A method I could use and not need a large uncluttered space which is very hard to find in my junky messy house.

I had Zip go to Lowes and get me a piece of 1/2-inch foam insulation board and on it I drew a full-sized schematic of the sweater body.   I made two separate sleeves, leaving enough excess so they could butt together at the center front.  I cut all these out..


I soaked and spun dry my sweater and 'dressed' the Maxi-Me cut-out, sticking the arms in last and securing it all with t-pins.  As an afterthought, I added a twisted coat hanger so I could hang it from the rafters near the woodstove to speed the drying.  The only extra pinning needed was down the front band to keep it straight.  Voila!!!  Sweater blocking made easy and reusable!


My yarn for the next project came yesterday.  I will be test knitting a vest that Julie Matthews of Knitting at Large (check my sidebar) has designed and will be offering as a pattern on Ravelry.
I am so excited to have been chosen to do the test knit!  Pictures of the yarn will be in my next post.

Speaking of which, my camera seems to be out of adjustment lately.  Without the flash everything seems to be too dark and then when I use the flash, everything is too bright and washed out.  Guess the instruction book will have to come out of hiding.

And....Blogger seems to be having a brain furt again.  I load pictures and then they disappear before I'm able to add them.  So I've been loading them one at a time as needed. Is anyone else having this problem???

Hope your year is off to a great start!
Happy 2012., everyone!!!



14 comments:

  1. Happy New Year Pat! Hope to see more of you this year! Great idea for the sweater! Now it would have been a funnier picture had one of the kitties stuck there head about the sweater! LOL I'm surprised they weren't "helping"! Have a great day!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Pat ~
    So glad you were able to enjoy NYE even without Chuck and Willa. Your dessert sounded heavenly.
    Very clever idea for blocking the sweater. It is lovely.
    May you and Zip be blessed with health and happiness in 2012.
    Pug hugs :)
    Lauren

    ReplyDelete
  3. Happy New Year! What a great invention you have for blocking a sweater! Now, the next one will be so much easier as the "blocker" is already made! The Japanese food looks scrumptious! One of the things I like most about Chinese and Japanese cuisine is it's use of many crunchy veggies! YUM!

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a clever clogs you are Pat, you should patent that idea, might catch on.
    I also hate the blocking bit but mine is usually for tapestry, I love the making of things but not the finishing.
    A bit like when I had a motor scooter, I loved riding it but left the filling up and maintenence to Tom. lol
    Good luck with the new knitting project.
    Pouring with rain here today.
    Briony
    x

    ReplyDelete
  5. Pat,
    That is a very clever device you made for blocking!! Hopefully you won't need to dread that process so much for future lovely sweaters you knit! There must have been some very curious little eyes watching you while you made that!! LOL!
    Your NYE sounded delightful! I'll bet Willa and Chuck were missing you as well!!
    Congrats on being chosen for trial knitting a pattern! You really know your stuff..... ever think about starting a knitting class? I'd have to move out there if you ever did..... I'd want to learn from the best!!:-)
    Hope your 2012 is full of Health, Happiness and Success!!
    Hugs!
    Cathy G

    ReplyDelete
  6. That's a great idea! I love your sweater, hope the next one goes just as well. Happy New Year to you & Zip!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I think dropping the anchor in SHIP-ensburg is so cool. But Pat, I snorted out loud when I read you wouldn't be caught downtown after dark. (you being a "hooker" and all.....). Kidding!
    I'm adding one more thing to my bucket list - to go have dinner with you someday. Your plate always looks so good.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sounds as though you had a great NYE....wonderful food. Ours was quiet really but we let the boys stay up and we nibbled on bits. I thought they would fall a sleep or be naughty but they were so good and at midnight the TV was on showing the piper at Edinburgh castle and all five of us clinked glasses and brought the new year in.
    Happy New Year again xx

    ReplyDelete
  9. Happy New Year Pat and Zip and all the kids!

    hugs
    cyndi,greg, oni and brit

    ReplyDelete
  10. Glad to see you have a yummy new years eve! Im heading to G street during the day tomorrow, come see me!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I feel that I must thank you for your blog. It has been such an interesting read for me and I have browsed back quite a way. I too am a crafter but I pursue many different craft to you so it was interesting to read about your craft life and see all your wonderful photos.
    Love seeing your gorgeous cats and love their mischief stories too. I miss my 2 late beauties and my dog too but with frequent visits to family so far away we cannot commit to more.
    It's a far different life here in England so thank you for sharing your experiences.
    Happy New Year from JoZarty in Liverpool (home of the Beatles)

    ReplyDelete
  12. I meant to add that I came across your blog via Angie's shozziesplace!
    Best wishes
    JoZarty

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks Pat for your comment. I'll be back on your blog too!
    Jo x

    ReplyDelete
  14. Great idea for blocking, I'll use in the future. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for visiting!