Rice Krispie Treats of Awesome.

Once again, this isn't knitting. But it sure tastes better.
So I invite you, to make some amazing snacks to accompany your knitting exploits. Just make sure you don't get gooey marshmallow on anything. (:

Lyssie's Rice Krispies (in treat form!)
(it had to rhyme. really. it did.)


You will need:
5 3/4 cups of Rice Krispies
5 cups of mini marshmallows
1 stick of butter (don't worry, it doesn't all go in!)
A splash of vanilla

A 9x13 baking pan
A saucepan
A large mixing bowl
A smaller bowl that can hold 5 cups of little marshmallows!
A spoon

Method:

1. Measure out 5 cups of marshmallows, and put them in the bowl meant for them and them alone!

2. Measure out 5 3/4 cups of Rice Krispies, and put them in the larger bowl to wait.

3. Cut the stick of butter in half (still in the wrapper), and place half of it aside for later.
Put the half you still have (4 tablespoons) into the saucepan, and turn on the heat to medium.

4. When the butter has completely melted (don't let it bubble! if it's almost done, pick up the pan and swirl it around until the butter melts), add in a few handfuls of marshmallows, and stir to coat with the butter.
marshmallow action shot!

5. Add in the splash of vanilla, and stir it in. If it doesn't stir in completely, don't worry. It will.

6. When the initial marshmallows are close to melted, add more. Continue in this manner until you've added all the marshmallows.

7. Stir until totally smooth. Turn off the heat.

8. Pour the marshmallow mixture into the big bowl with the cereal.

9. Begin the amazing task of trying to get the cereal completely coated in the gooey, sticky marshmallow goo. It's fun! I promise.


10. Retrieve that other half of the butter stick. Peel back the paper, and coat the bottom and sides of your pan with it. Do a good job, it pays off!

11. Using whatever means necessary, transfer the mixture into the buttery pan.

12. Using the spoon, and then both hands (unless you're like me, holding a camera in one hand), spread it around and compress it down, until it's all even and nice looking.

13. While you're waiting for the next 20 minutes for everything to set up and become delicious, don't forget you have a bowl of leftovers and a pan with buttery marshmallow to eat. Or wash, but probably just eat.

14. 20 minutes later, cut into pieces, and enjoy!

So there you have it. Delicious, gooey, not too dry, not too soft Rice Krispie Treats.
It isn't quite the recipe on the box -- it's better.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Pro tip : When you have to wash the pans, don't do it right away. You'll break your arm trying to deal with the gooey stuff.
Just fill them with water, and let them sit around for a while. I waited a whole day, cause I just hate dishes. When you go to wash them, everything will come out much better.
It also smells really yummy. :D

:D

Make that FANTASTIC Friday.

I'm dipping pieces of plum into melted chocolate.
That balances out, right?

F_____ Friday.

Unfortunately, I have been too busy wrestling with an architecture internship to do any knitting, and so I have nothing new on the knitting front to show you.
I also have no money for yarn, so I can't even show you pictures and force you to admire how yellow (though i will probably never buy yellow yarn) my new (fingering weight, i'm sure) wool-blend is.
Which is really a bummer, considering this is a knitting blog.

So I'm going to have to think of something else.
Like what adjective that starts with F to put in front of Friday.
I can only think of one, and it is an expletive. Of course. Because my charming self cannot think of anything more decent.

I'm considering turning this blog into a mostly-knitting-but-also-about-anything-i-make blog. Nothing over the top and stupid, but I do love to draw (and am working on a portfolio for college apps), and I'm going to start cooking things, just for the hell of it, and practicing food photography (i've always thought that was so cool).
So we'll see.

ps. I am a woman, and right now, I care a lot more about the chocolate next to me than my hungry kitty or my mother's rambling or the impending arrival of my darling boyfriend. It happens once every 28 days.

pps. Scratch that. I just remembered he's bringing me more chocolate. ♥

ppps. Don't worry, I'm going to feed the cat.

pppps. I never thought of an F word. ):

Please Understand..

... that I am really bad at remembering to post in blogs. On that note, HI! I'M POSTING NOW AREN'T YOU PROUD.
(I am speaking to no one, I realize that, and I love that, and it delights me to talk to empty internet space.) ♥

I don't exactly know what knitting blog protocol is, so I'm going to wing it.

The other day, on the way home from dog sitting, my darling boyfriend suggested that we go to the knitting store I have been absolutely dying to go to : Loop and Leaf [link].
It was absolutely amazing, because I'd never really been to a JUST yarn store before..? Yeah, I was like a kid in a candy store, only all of the candy was soft and squishy and just divine. I can safely say I pretty much touched everything in that store at least twice.

DERAILMENT FOR THE SAKE OF NOT FORGETTING : Yesterday I was doing this crossword puzzle, right? And the clue was "South American animal, it's wool"... I was so impressed by my speed in coming up with "ALPACA!" (which yes, I shouted to an empty house and a very surprised kitty) it was just fantastic. (:

So after wandering around the small-yet-bigger-than-I-thought Loop and Leaf (they sell tea, hence the leaf), I finally settled on the yarn I would buy.
Because you know, I couldn't go in there and NOT buy anything, that would be criminal. Especially after I touched everything in the damn store.

So I got this :


Some delicious Ella Rae Lace Merino, which is, go figure, 100% Merino wool. (I know, it's shocking!)
It's really, really soft. Really. And pretty. And as you can (I hope) see, fingering weight. Which for some reason I'm really liking, even though the small-ish needle tips it's knitted with hurt my fingertips, and I have to wear a bandaid on my left pointer finger as a totally lame thimble.

So anyway, at the time of buying the yarn, I had no idea what I was going to make with it. Which led to :

"So. What are you going to make with this yarn?"
"I actually have no idea."
"I have a lot of yarn I don't know what to do with."
"Oh, me too. An entire basket."

I was so blissed out by the whole experience I could think of nothing else to say, and so I stood in a slightly uncomfortable-but-not-quite-because-yarn-stores-are-awesome silence while she wound the two 460 yard hanks into balls, so I didn't have to whip out my state of the art diningroom chair system and scare my cat with all the yarn.

Blah blah blah, talk talk talk.

So I decided I was going to make this : Goddess, by Stitch Diva. (I would post you a picture, but it's being feisty, and I don't want a picture that is that large, thank you very much.)
And this is what I have so far :


I think it is turning out very well. Just... Pay no attention to the fact that needle is quite obviously far too short for the piece right now. It looks ridiculous, but I don't care. It will look better later. :D
The pattern calls for some silky yarn, for the drape and all, and I know that. But. I am quite happy with the choice I made, because the knitted fabric is so lovely and comfortable and amazingly soft that it will be nice either way. I'll just have to fiddle around with the cowl neck a bit.
Which I am totally willing to do, because, like I said, THE FABRIC IS SO SOFT. ♥

Anyway.
I have an art portfolio for architecture school that I have supposed to have been working on all summer that I, of course, have not been working on all summer.
And I just now realized this.
So I'm off to draw pictures of god-knows-what. Adieu!

Here We Go!

Post number one, and my excitement is tangible!
I suppose an introduction is in order.

I've been knitting since I was a little, little girl, when my grandmother taught me how to do basic knitting and purling, and I tried to make clothes for my barbies with basic, worsted-weight acrylic yarn and something like size 8 needles. Needless to say, it was all very rough, and my attention span was so short that my knitting was never more than maybe 10 - 20 rows.
I'd like to think I have significantly progressed from that point in my life, though I am still victim to a short attention span to a project I don't love.

I went through a long period of non-knitting, and only recently started up again, for reasons I cannot remember. I jumped right into the deep end, bought a 35 dollar skein of Handmaiden Sea Silk, and knitted up a beautiful lace scarf. I took it to school, I knitted in class... And I was hooked.
I discovered Ravelry through some obsessive knitting-related web searching, and have been hooked ever since. (:

Since that first scarf, I haven't been all that productive. I've been trying to knit socks out of some Araucania Ranco Solid that I have, and have already gone through two patterns. (I'm in the process of frogging the second attempt this very moment. A half ripped sock is in my lap.)

But I do love knitting, and have big plans to knit a couple of sweaters... A nice, light one for myself, and then a heavier one for my daddy for Christmas... It will take me a while, so I've started thinking about it now! :D

I'm off to keep ripping, now.
Ciao.