Out with the Old

Sometimes it is the only worthwhile product
you can salvage from a day: what you make to eat. . . .
Cooking, therefore, can keep a person who tries sane.
-John Irving

Today is a momentous day - I actually cooked dinner for the first time in at least, oh, a month. Unless, of course, you count Cheerios or grilled cheese cooking. In all fairness, I did get to eat fabulous home-cooked meals courtesy of the beau's mother when they were in town. Still, it's been mostly hospital cafeterias recently. So in honor of this, and of the new year, and of the fact that I received a great package (see below) recently, here's a tribute to kitchen knitting (and crochet).

Felted Mitt and Trivet
Pattern: from Felted Knits by Bev Galeskas
Yarn: Cross a line off the spreadsheet! This is 100g of a bulky purple wool I bought in Canada about, oh, 5 years ago and some leftover Lamb's Pride Bulky I had lying around. They felted at different rates, but ultimately I got them to the same size
Needles: US 13s
Notes: I am rather delinquent in posting this, as it was the project I started in my sixth month of internship - per the plan - (and now we're rather close to finishing the seventh), but it's a great, fun, quick project. Perfect for knitting while studying. I made zero alterations.
Best Thing About This Project: They actually work. I baked cookies (baking is different than cooking) and my hands were safe!

And now I that I've blogged the old, I can thematically link it to a new awesome gift I received: JayJay sent me these fabulous crocheted potholders. You can't see in the photo, but the center is actually two squares then crocheted together with the scalloped edging. Awesome. In cotton I can only presume is Sugar and Cream, and wonderful patriotic colors. I had admired the ones she'd made herself and her brother. Looks like she got the hint . . . Maybe now that I've received them, she'll give us more details on her blog. (And if you haven't, go check out her blog. JayJay is a crafter extraordinaire. Instead of the Knitting Olympics, she was talking about the Ironcraft Triathalon. She does not mess around. Plus, if you become her friend, maybe she'll make you potholders. Hey - it could happen.)