KnittedFox

Multitasking- I LOVE to multitask. In the morning, I will eat my breakfast and surf the web, read a book, or play my DS. When I knit, I will be reading a book, watching a movie, listening to music/podcasts, or watch Aaron play through a video game. When we’re playing Final Fantasy XI I will knit during down time. At work, I help customers, answer the phone, Twitter, clean discs, knit, and use the register.

Prioritizing is a big part of multitasking. When it is work related, it is easy for me to figure out what I need to do first and in what order to do the rest. But when it is not work related, when it is just “me” related, I can sometimes have a hard time. There is so much I want to knit, write, games I want to play, patterns to search through, I just really wish I had an extra set of hands so I could do all of it and multitask more efficiently.

Like right now, for instance, what I want to be doing is continue working on the second half of the tank I’ve been knitting. Instead, I’m surfing Ravelry patterns looking for the next tank to knit, only to find myself ogling over lace stoles that I have no desire to ever wear, but have a HUGE desire to knit. There is just something about easy repeatable lace knitted in beautiful bold colors that I am drawn to. Why would I wear a stole though? Anyone who knows me knows that when I need a little extra warmth I pull out my favorite gray American Apparel zip-up and my favorite yellow hat (and then probably my knitted slipper socks and a blanket… or two).

Anyways, over the course of the 4 hours it has taken me to write this post I have intermittently got some knitting done- a happy 6-ish inches. In between writing a few words, knitting a few stitches, and glancing back and forth from the monitor to my tank, I have decided I am glad I am using Cascade Yarns Luna. This project is starting to remind me of this one knitted tank my Mom had for years and years. It was a creamy white with a few gray stripes going across and a line or two of cables going up the front. I don’t remember if the yarn hers was made out of was like this yarn, but the feeling I get is that it was similar. (Do you remember which tank I’m think of Mom?) So now when I look at this project, I think of my Mom and her tank, which is making this project even more nice to knit.

Enough multitasking for me. I’m going to focus on knitting for a while. *^_^*

I happen to think trilobites are pretty cool. So cool, in fact, I want to knit this hat. Eventually anyways. In the mean time I am going to rework a tank that I ran out of yarn for:

Sadly, they discontinued the yarn I used so I’m going to reknit it in stripes with this tan color:

Fingers crossed I did the math correctly, and I’ll have enough tan yarn to do this!

Look what just came in the mail:

It’s a Mothra Tamagotchi. You know, Mothra from the Godzilla movies? Oh yeah. I have one! I can’t wait to open this baby and see what hatches!

Everyone, meet Kuro:

A store in the Uptown shopping center where I work has been giving baby kitties away and when we found out, Aaron said I should go get one. Kuro was the very last one there which makes me so happy because he’s so perfect! Well, mostly perfect, he doesn’t recognize OUR bedtime yet, he thinks it’s playtime and the bed is his jungle gym. Other than that, he’s been great. Rinoa even likes him. First think she did after sniffing his face was lick his bum. o.O; This was a better reaction than we were expecting. She since established her dominance of the household, which he seems to understand so everything is pretty peaceful. And by peaceful, I mean, there has been no kitty tantrums (from Rinoa) and while he loves to attack legs/skin/shoes/yarn/anything that moves/etc, everyone is happy.

In the morning, he wants nothing more than to sit on Aaron’s lap while he’s on the computer. It took a few days, but he’ll cuddle with me a bit now. (Maybe it’s a male bonding thing?) Last night we went to bed and I started playing my DS, he wanted to play and after a bit of struggling to get him to stop we compromised by him lying on my chest or in my armpit. <3

In other baby kitty news, this is what I saw when I looked out my sliding glass door this morning:

These are two of three babies from a pair of strays that hang in the area where we live. Super cute huh? We actually tried bringing home the little Siamese looking one in the front, but being a stray, he wasn’t going to have that.

I can’t wait to get home tonight and play with my two awesome cats!

[EDIT: Last night I remembered about Pierrot Yarns website and they are having a sale on cotton yarn. I priced out about how much yarn I would need for the Hermione tank it would run me about $24 + shipping. That's a LOT more affordable. I just might place the order this weekend.]

While browsing through knitting forums the other day, I found a gal who knitted up Hermione’s sweater from Order of the Phoenix, and remembered just how cute that sweater was.

I saved the pattern because I think I would like to knit one up for myself. After thinking on it a while, I decided there is absolutely no reason to knit this since it is summer time. BUT why not mod it and make a tank top out of it? Why not lower the neck line, take off the sleeves, then add a small rib around it. It would be adorable! Of course I would make it out of cotton. Knitty Gritty Yarn has the loveliest cotton yarn right now, and I’m pretty sure they have all the right colors. The thing is, it’s $10 a hank and there are eight different colors, I think… so that would be a pretty expensive tank. So I’ll have to think on it some more.

In the mean time, new news:

1. We got a kitten. His name is Kuro.
2. I just broke the new lvl cap in FFXI and hit lvl 76 with my black mage.
3. Have a great night!!!

While I am writing this I am knitting my Grammy a chemo hat. Aaron and I discussed the term “chemo hat” and we decided we did not like it- it is not the most positive sounding name. We thought just plain old “beanie” is better. My Grammy, a strong and awesome woman, is going through it now and seeing how it effects her an eye opener.

All throughout my life, she has always been one of my most favorite people, and it hurts me to see her in pain. That is why I want to knit her a beanie. So she has something from me made with bunches of love. I want her to think I am actually hugging her head all the time she is wearing it. That’s a funny thought- my grabbing her by the head and giving her a big squeeze. *^_^* Hehe!

Earlier this week I ordered Boutique Knits so I can knit her this and this. Both of these hats remind me of her even though she likes more simple styles, but if I knit them in soft/warm colors I think she’ll like them.
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I just got off the phone with Aaron and I was telling him how I was knitting Grammy a beanie and he said, “OH! You should call it a ‘cutie hat’!” I think that is a GREAT name! So that, I think, will be the new name for Grammy’s hats.

This blog post has taken me over an hour to write since I am at work and am knitting a hat at the same time. My first cutie hat is now done and I love it! It’s a yellow broken rib stitch beanie.

Like this only yellow

On a totally random note, I started playing with the Tamagotchi that Aaron bought me. So far I have a little boy Ringotchi:

His name is “Maru”. It has been a lot of fun playing with him! Last night Aaron bought me a Mothra Tamagotchi, in celebration of us watching the movie Mothra vs. Godzilla. Mothra, as of a few days ago, is my most favorite monster EVER and I cannot wait to have my own little Mothra. If you raise Mothra to be a good mannered/behaved Mothra, it can evolve into something cool like “Rainbow Mothra” and if you raise to be ill tempered it can evolve into Godzilla. AMAZING! xD I should get that in the mail in a week or so. Yay!

Oh my! It’s almost time to close the store- the day has flown by so unbelievably fast today! *waves*

At family dinner night my Dad gave us presents of heirlooms that were his parents- beautiful beautiful heirlooms!

First off, this beautiful locket that was my Nana’s and her mom’s before her:

This pretty and large necklace:

Also (which I didn’t take pictures of) he gave me a set of “glove stretchers” which are awesome, and we each got a four-leaf clover my Papa picked when he was alive. OH YEAH, my dad also gave me a blue glass Hershey Kiss with a note that said “Hugs and kisses always”. HOW SWEET! Most awesome gifts tonight.

I mentioned wings in the heading because I really do have them. Yellow ones in fact. Check them out:

Pretty awesome huh? They are working headphones and headset. So perfect for my iPod for music and my laptop for LAN parties. I’m SO HAPPY with them. They are beautiful and I can’t wait to use them!

So it’s time to head to the bed and watch Godzilla movies until I fall asleep! Nite nite!

My sister had a baby! Here is baby Poppy:

She’s so sweet! ♥♥♥ I loves her! ♥♥♥

Hey everyone! This is going to be a pretty picture heavy post! Yesterday, Aaron and I got back from an awesome trip to Seattle for a Mariner’s game and some well deserved time off. (That’s right, I got more than ONE day off- THREE sweet days baby!) Aaron got some excellent pics while we were at the game:

We just found our seats in center field and we’re so excited to be there!

Mmm… baseball grub of champions

A close up of my DS with my danglies I got in Japan.

We got to see some of our fave players: Torii Hunter (Angels), Ichiro, and Franklin Gutierrez.

The M’s aren’t doing so hot right now

The beautiful sunset during the game. BEAUTIFUL!

The M’s ended up loosing this game, but it was close- we lost in the 10th inning. It was a great game and I’m SO happy we were able to go. It was sooo nice to have more than one day off. I feel rejuvenated and ready for work!

Also, Aaron took pictures of some items I knitted:

Kaede neckwarmer for Rachel

Kaede for Mom

Mitts for Justin

Big basketweave cowl for Rachel

Blanket for Rinoa since she wouldn’t leave the yarn alone when I was knitting the Hemlock Ring blanket.

Hemlock Ring by Brooklyn Tweed

Right now I am currently working on a shawl with pretty purple/grayish yarn.

That’s all for now. I actually need to get back to work! xD

BENTOS! Today’s post is all about bentos- those little cute and healthy Japanese style lunches. I am definitely a beginner when it comes to this so mine aren’t perfect and all that, but I love them.

The tradition bentos use one basic guideline: a food ratio of 1:1:2 (carb:protein:vegetable). I find this hard to follow so I just do my best in getting something from all the food groups in there. Aaron and I aren’t super great when it comes to veggies, but we’re getting better. Bento boxes are smaller than American lunch boxes, so you cram a lot into small space making it easy to sneak in a tiny bit of a new veggie or something we don’t like as much as another veggie.

Here are some pictures of bento’s I have made recently for Aaron and myself:

Upper left hand corner-pea salad (my favorite new food, super easy recipe to follow). Lower left hand side- chunks of grapefruit and apples. Right side- crackers, a small rice ball, and sliced cheddar cheese.

Pea Salad Recipe:
(Note- I just eye ball everything)
Peas -frozen or fresh. About 1 1/2 to 2 cups. If frozen, boil until thawed.
Cheese – about one cup cut into little cubes
Bacon – about 4 slices of microwavable bacon, crumbled and cooled.
Onion – about 1/8th cup finely chopped
Mayo – couple tablespoons
Salt and pepper – to taste

In a bowl add peas, cheese, bacon, and onion. Stir. Add just enough mayo to make everything stick together. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve or store in the fridge.

One day I was making this and found out I didn’t have any peas but I did have edamames, so I used them instead. They are a great substitution. This recipe is something you can play around with until you find something you like. Add other ingredients or omit some from my recipe.

Left box is Aaron’s lunch- stromboli (a baked sandwich type thing), mini rice balls, carrots, and celery. Right box is my lunch – stromboli, carrots, olives, and a strawberry. While the lunch looks small, the stromboli is surprisingly filling! I got the recipe for stromboli here.

This was a quick one I made up for Aaron one day. He had an instant ramen bowl he wanted to take to work so I made a small bento with ramen toppings: green onions & leeks, sliced peppered turkey, carrots, cabbage & spinach, and bean sprouts. It looked so yummy his coworkers all commented on it. d(^_^)b

Writing this post makes me wish I had made bentos for lunch today… I might go home and whip up a quick gyoza & rice one once my coworker gets here.

There are a few really awesome resources for getting familiar with making bentos which I find very helpful and visit on a regular basis. Just Bento is probably my favorite. She has a great Bento Basics post that is worth checking out if you are interested in learning a bit more about making bentos.

Other awesome bento sites/blogs:
Not Exactly Bento
What’s For Lunch At Our House
Krajee Bento Mom
Soy and Pepper

Have a happy lunch everyone!!