Riot and Frolic

My Hat is Rad

Yes.  Rad.

I was cruising the interwebs the other day and came across this lady's cute crochet coffee cozy pattern (alliteration is awesome).  I kept poking around her blog and found out she makes, like, a million hats a month and has cute patterns available for purchase.  And she gives out 50% off coupons.  Maybe, she even gives them out in this very blog post...  *gasp*

I'm in.   

I'd been trying this other crocheted hat pattern for a few years now that never came out the way it looked in the picture.  But I'm stubborn and thought it would work out eventually.  Eight times later, I'm pretty sure it just won't turn out the way I think it should.  

So!

Check it out...

Jayna's neat little hat.

My neat little hat.  Terrible picture, sorry.  But it really does look just like her picture!

I used Lamb's Pride Bulky yarn in Violet Fields (totally my color) for the majority of the hat (one of my favo yarns) and a little Full o' Sheep yarn (doubled up) in Little Lamb for the accents.

You are all getting one for Christmas.  

It's so easy!  I think it took me three hours total to complete (with children under hook "helping me yarn," coffee breaks, and watching Season 7 of The Office) and the pattern was generally easy to follow.  I didn't see fit to make any "improvements" (AKA, mistakes) along the way.  I even checked the gauge as suggested!

Turns out I can follow directions, Ma!

I'm definitely going to make a few more of these just for kicks with different yarns.  I think it'd be a good project for a yarny-type get-together.  *clears throat*  If someone were going to yarny-type gathering that is.  *more throat clearing*  Or hosting one.  

...

Yeah, when I host my stitch 'n' bitch party in a couple weeks, once someone clues me in on how to knit, I think I'll crank out one of these babies to soak up my tears of boredom.  (Yes, I'm insinuating that knitting is boring.)

Here's the best part of this whole post (you thought the best part was the ellipsis, I know):

And as implied earlier, she's throwing you guys a 50% off coupon for this very hat pattern!  Woop woop!  Just click on this here link, crochet hat pattern, and enter the code RIOTPATTERN50 at checkout.  Yeah, that's right.  It's nearly free.  Come on! 

 

He is not bad looking.

Internet Cookin'

This year, I hosted Thanksgiving, and much to my ma's surprise, I can cook okay.  

I give her a pass on her amount of amazement since I haven't been known to follow directions or have the greatest common sense in the past.  Note: years ago, I thought I could get to Duluth by heading west from St. Paul.  It wasn't until I was past St. Cloud that I thought something might be amiss.

Ah, youth.

Anyhoo, Turkey Day...

I got all my recipes from the interwebs, because other than the Joy of Cooking, that's how I roll.  (Now I just found the JOC website.  What?!)

From the Delicious Dish, errr, Splendid Table website, I found my turkey recipe.  Um, hello, pureed bacon.  

 

I really wanted to try this "40 cloves of garlic" business for the bird since I'd been seeing a similar recipe for chicken all over the Pinterest and how it made the best chicken and it was so tender.   And a turkey is just a big chicken, right?

No.

You have to pull the neck out of a turkey.  

Oh Lord.

 

Really.  I need a minute, just...

Ew. 

 

And yet...  Strangely satisfying.

 

Okay.

The turkey was awesome.  Here it is all rubbed down with goodness the night before its big day.  

 
See that bag of garlic cloves it's chillin' with?  Pain in the arse.  Thankfully, America was around to help whack the heads of garlic with a "sturdy saucepan" to loosen the skins (then hunt down the rogue cloves that shot across the kitchen) and peel all those bad boys.  Oy.

Sweet potaters got this treatment, but with a whole stick of butter.  Because, come on, they're sweet potatoes.  

I used the classic Campbell's recipe for green bean casserole because that's what you do.  Except I used sour cream instead of milk and added crumbled bacon on top.  Because that's what I do.  

Then, the damn pie.  

I make chocolate pecan pie and I love it and it's easy and everyone else loves it even if they don't think they will (because nuts in your dessert is generally lame, but not lame in this case).   I used the recipe from the Ye Olde Joy of Cooking.  

It took my four tries to get an edible pie.

1. You are supposed to "warm the crust" in the oven before filling it.  I rather felt like "burning the crust" before filling it.  Good thing I had extra crusts.

2. You are supposed to bake the pie in an oven at 375 degrees.  I had mine at 450 degrees.  Result: burnt top layer, gooey (in a bad way) inside.  Apparently, pecan pie is a "custard" that is "heat-sensitive," which I read after burning it.

3. As the G was reminding me to melt the chocolate slowly, I was turning it into little crusty chunks.  Seriously.  Simultaneously.  

4. Crust warmed, oven at correct temp, chocolate creamy, pie finished.  

My folks brought over the mashed potatoes (which were awesome), ice cream for the pie, and canned cranberry sauce (because the real kind is frowned upon in these parts).  My grandma brought her wicked gravy-making skills and proceeded to make some wicked gravy.

Dinner complete.  Completely eaten.  I felt like we should have leftovers for two weeks, but they are basically gone.  We are pigs.

How was your Thanksgiving?  Did you host it?  Run a 5k?  Get amazing food for free at your relatives'?  Get crappy food at your relatives?  Dish, people!

List of Last Week's Labors of Love

- a full week with my posts on the scheduled days and subjects.  Score.

- Whaaaa?  Have you forgotten?  I'm totally on a schedule...

• Monday- what you're reading.  I like to refer it as the LLLL post.  
• Tuesday- foooooooood.  Nom.  Let's go eat.  Hopefully a recipe.  Or a disater.  Or a success. 
• Wednesday- Crafty Crafterton.  I even have this week's post in the chute.  So excited.  
• Thursday- The Pinterest Project.  Often mixing my mediocre crafting and mediocre kitchening skills.
• Friday- my ballroom dance posts.  Let's call them "dance rants."  

- realization that my properly labeling an image "fushcia" has directed a lot of people to my website.  Hi, new peeps!  For fun, go to here.  See that first image?  Yeah, that's me. 

- a chilly, but exhilarating ride on my scooter.  Um, how awesome is it?  Real Awesome.  That's right, capital "A."  Can.  Not.  Wait.  For.  Spring.  

Only.  Six.  Months.  Away.  

Love you, Minnesota!

- my first Thanksgiving.  This picture does not accurately depict the amount of food we had.  There was tons.

   

It was good.  My turkey rocked.  The sweet potatoes were cake [easy].  There was a prevalence of bacon.  However, the pie, my pie (the easiest thing, in my mind, to make) took me four tries.  But it was a winner in the end.  Let's talk about that tomorrow.  I'm still a little upset.  

- a family trip to the Minnesota Zoo.  We finally cashed in the gift certificate we had gotten last Christmas and bought a family membership.  EEEEEEEEE!  CAN I TELL YOU HOW EXCITED I AM?

I'm excited.  

A) The girls freaking love the zoo.

B) There is a little play area for ONE TO THREE YEAR OLDS!

C) I freaking love the zoo.

What else do I need?  Well, there are lots of benefits.  I'm p-syched.  (Does anyone else have to say that while they're typing the word "psyched"?  Clearly, I do.)

He might be crazy, but he's still pretty handsome.

If You Are Not A Beginner...

After many discussions with many people, experts (well, me) agree that Bronze dancers should know these things...

• the basic timing for each dance
• when to start a dance in time with the music
• how to continue dancing in time to the music

Please, please do that.  Or return to Go and do not collect $200.

• how to step sideways, forward, and backward in a particular order to make up a pattern of a dance
• the basic footwork of a dance  
• how to dance a basic figure on your own
• the directions of movement on the floor (line of dance [LOD], diagonal wall [DW], diagonal center [DC])

I'm surprised how many people cannot tell which direction they're stepping.  Maybe people should look at their feet more often.  Men, you especially.  It's sideways.  Straight.  To.  The.  Side.

Ladies, you too need to be able to dance a basic figure on your own.  Saying that you "just follow" is pleading ignorance.  Us ladies don't "just do" anything.  

• standing "straight" and providing tone through your frame
• introducing use of rise and fall and latin motion in the respective dances

Don't make your partner hold you up.  Don't just do "moves."  Have some technique.

Bonus points include...

• knowing what dance(s) you can use to a particular song 
• having great posture and solid frame

If this seems a little short or brusque, it's so the idea is clear.  Note that these ideas should be in place before you are doing Bronze figures or attending Bronze classes.  Of course, you will continue to improve upon your use of them as you progress.  

Mostly, I'm looking for What (clear movement from foot to foot, correct use of feet) and When (timing, timing, and more timing) at the Bronze level.  

Want to know what Silver dancers should be doing?  Stayed tuned for next week's installment!

He's chilly.

The Pinterest Project- Thanks for the Sock Hair

This week is another installment of Sock Hair, or heat-free styling.  Whatever.  Many of you know about my love affair with the sock bun (not the difficult, rolling kind, but the lazy, made-for-the uncoordinated kind) and now I'm going to start cheating on my bun with this hairstyle...

 

Yes, this girl is adorable and her tutorial is simple.  And it works.  I might have to send her a thank-you basket.  

After cooking and prepping for hosting my first family Thanksgiving (more about that next week), I made my way up my creaky stairs, feeling half-drunk with sleep deprivation and smelling strongly of garlic, and I still remembered to take pictures of this process.  

BTW, the wave in my hair is from the top knot I had in all day.  

Why I chose to use knee-high socks, I'm not sure.  I would suggest something shorter.  Duh.

My shirt is from Calhoun Bike Rental and is hilarious.  One of my "suggestive shirts."  I have a small collection.  Click on the link to see their slogan.  

Six hours later, I woke up to prepare for the Turkey Day 5k and unrolled my new 'do.  You can't tell by the photo, but it was sweet.

I do recommend making sure your ends are rolled under or they'll get all sticky outy.  On one side, I wasn't so careful.  On the other side, I was.  

I kind of ruined my sweet curls by doing this...

Which made me look like this...

But it was fun.  We were 8 minutes under our goal!  

No, I will not tell you what our goal was. 

And finally, today, let's give thanks for things like...

- the last 6 seconds of this clip:

 

[click here to see it if it's not embedded]

And to all a good night.