I had an MRI yesterday.
Magnetic resonance Imaging.
Metal = bad

The day started out with a frustrating “treasure hunt”. I had to search and find clothing that had no metal on it. I’ll do almost anything to be able to avoid wearing a johnny. Which meant it was a giant search through all my clothing to find something that fit let alone had no metal. I seem to have an affinity for clothing that has some metal on it.
Metal snaps.
Metal Eyelets
Metal Doodads.
Doodads? I have clothing with doodads on them?!?!

I thought I was a pretty plain dresser. Black, jeans, tshirts with skulls. Getting dressed every morning is easy. Put on my jeans, a long sleeve shirt, and a regular tshirt ove it and we’re good to go. If I have to leave the house sometimes I’ll ditch the tshirt for a summer dress over it all (I know, I make quite the fashion statement). Find an outfit that has nothing to do with jeans or Husbeast’s hand-me-down tshirts and it sends me in a tailspin. Eventually I got past my little clothing dilema. Well, I got past it enough that I could leave the house.

I get into the MRI room and I’m laid out on the morgue drawer. I’ll admit, it’s a little nicer than a morgue drawer and it is warm in there. The hospitals seem to be all up on the heating thing, no thermostat set at 60F in there. It’s not long before they slide you into a tiny little tunnel that’s making a thump, thump, thumping noise. While in there all you see is white tunnel. Clean white tunnel and listening to thumping.

I’m laying there wishing I had smuggled in a Sharpee. I wanted in the worst way to tag the tunnel “Boogie Wuz here”. I mean, how cool would it be to be slid into one of those things and see all this graffiti from everyone that had been there before. At least it would have been something to do. They don’t let you take your knitting in with you, even if you are using plastic and wood needles.

I know you’re shocked, no knitting.
I asked.
No knitting allowed inside the MRI tunnel.
If I ever have to do another one, I’m taking a Sharpee.

It didn’t last long and so I left my morgue drawer to go to Joann’s. I needed to get a zipper for the new cardigan. Staring me right in the face was a fabric sale. I knew the spring dresses are out in the patterns too. I decided on the spot I needed to make myself some clothing that fits and has no metal doodads.

I’m particularly fond of this little beauty:

Which in case you couldn’t tell by the small photo up there, I have it in red and in black. The black will be a summer dress, the red will be a button down shirt. Big dreams for a girl with no time, eh?

I will hope that miracles beyond miracles, I get my work done today and I can sew a new frock.

Yup
TWO
It only took 2 skeins of the Big Ball Chunky Yarn.

$35 for a sweater.
Not too bad.
It’s just blocking now, I’ll try and get some action shots when it’s dry and I have installed the zipper. Yes, it’s getting a zipper. If I wanted button bands I would need a third skein. Button bands aren’t worth a third skein. I almost never close the cardigans so closure isn’t super important.

I do close my sweaters with zippers more often then I do the ones with buttons. There has to be something psychological in that. Something like why I need a big spoon to eat cereal and a small spoon to eat ice cream. I can’t seem to ever close a cardi with buttons and I’d have to be hard up for a spoon to use a big one on ice cream. There are other oddities or idiocincracies that I have. We don’t want to expose the crazy all in one day.

A little crazy each day keeps the boobie hatch at bay.

If you wanted to see a bigger photo of the Stockinette ladies, I’ve adjusted the post so if you click on it, the photo is nice and big - you can see all the projects they did.

Remember that hat pattern I did?
The one that was in November’s Magknits?
This one:

A guild in Sacramento California decided to all make the hat as a group project. Some made more than one hat and there are a few other items in there done in a similar fashion to the hat - socks! I need socks now from this pattern.

Click to see the picture super huge.
The Camillia City Stockinettes from Sacramento, CA have a program they do as a challenge each month. It’s get them all doing things together as a group. I think it’s a great idea and I hope they’re able to keep up the challenges.

To Lorna and the stockinettes - thank you for making me smile and for the inspiration. All your projects look amazing.

In other news
I finished my sweater last night
More on that tomorrow

And you’re all invited. It’s ok if you forgot to bring a gift, next time I see you I’ll hit you up for a bottle of wine. I’ve been baking bread. Warm baking bread is one of the most inviting smells. I didn’t want this new home to smell like plastic and circuits, fresh bread is way better. Today I’m giving up the recipes to 3 of my favorite breads.

If you have a bread machine, it makes it so easy to bake these too. I have one of the really old models that’s round. I use the machine to do the heavy work then I take it out fo rthe final rise and cook it all in a pan. It’s especially nice that way because I can bake several loaves of different bread at the same time.

Left to right - Ginger Raisin, Everyday White, Sourdough Rye

All recipes are for 2lb loafs.
I mix the warm water or with the yeast to get it going (If I’m using yeast.) I let it sit for 5 minutes while I get the rest of the ingredients together.

Ginger Raisin
1.5 tsp yeast
1/2 cup warm water
12 cup milk
4 Tbs Margarine
2 cups wheat flour
2 cups bread flour
1 tsp each cinnamon, ginger, salt
.5 tsp cloves
1 cup raisins.
3 tbs Barley malt

Everyday White
2 tsp yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup milk
2 Tbs Butter or Margarine
1 tsp Salt
4 cups bread flour

Sourdough Rye
1 tsp yeast (only necessary if you want an extra fluffy bread)
1.5 cups sourdough starter
1 cup Rye flour
2 cups wheat flour
1 cup white bread flour
4 tsp Olive oil
4 tsp Caraway seeds

If you don’t have a bread machine:

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until golden.

Knitting Happened
I swear I didn’t spend my whole weekend messing with the new blog. I took much of Sunday off to work on my sweater. I’m about 2 inches from finishing the neck. Since it’s a raglan, that’s about 2 inches from finishing the sweater. I do still need to knit on button bands. I really like the band knit on afterwards as opposed to the ones knit on while working on the garment. I think they look better.

Please excuse the horrid photo. I was threatened by crazy dogs and screaming children. I’m lucky to get a photo at all.

*fingers crossed that the feeds are finally working

I always find myself looking to the skies…and looking onward.

The new blog is up and running.

I’m still learning tons about php and making the necessary changes.
If it looks drastically different in a day or even in the next 5 minutes, don’t worry, I’m just having a bout of indecision.

I wanted to make this post and give a warning, I need to do some major maneuvering to get the archives over at their new home. I might lose them all in the process or do something to kill the blogspot blog. I know it’s unlikely but you never know with me.

So change update your bloglines with http://www.spunkyeclectic.com/wp

If you’re a livejournal reader then I’ve syndicated the new blog there at Boogie Knitting Remember with LJ that if you comment there, I can’t read your comments.