Gotta love ABBA, don’t you?! (Well, perhaps you don’t – but I do! Except that now I can’t get this tune out of my brain…)

Nina, pretty ballerina
Now she is the queen of the dancing floor
This is the moment she’s waited for
Just like Cinderella…

…(just like Cinderella!)

OK, OK – so I never actually did take ballet classes, as you might have guessed from the imperfect pose above. I was too busy going to $#^&$*@#^&$&*@#^$ Greek school, deprived child that I was!

However, I’ve made up for it by making myself a Nina Shawl fit for a princess! Or even a ballerina…oh no, here it comes again…

Nina, pretty ballerina Who would ever think she could be this way?

This is the part that she likes to play She would like to play it every day

(Help!!! I need to get this tune out of my brain!! Bjorn and Benny have a lot to answer for…But don’t the girls look fab in their silver boots? I want me a pair of those! And I’m jealous of their straight hair too…)

But, as ever, I digress.

Here are my specs/notes on the shawl:
Specs:
Pattern: Nina Shawl by Phyllis Howe (in the Mason-Dixon Knitting book)
Finished size: 22″ wide by 60″ long (almost as tall as me!)
Yarn: Kerzner Super 10 (mercerised cotton): 2 skeins #3944 (deep purple), one skein each of #3871 (lapis), #3407 (paprika), #3724 (lime), and pewter (lost the label so don’t know the #) Needles: 3.75 mm Addi Turbos
Started: 7 January 2008
Finished: 13 January 2008

Notes:

• I have loved this pattern since first I saw it when I bought the book in summer 2006, and had already doubled the pattern (minus the ruffle and plus i-cord edging) to make a blanket for my mother for Christmas 2006.
• Having said that, it seemed harder going this time around. I was not convinced of the colours shortly into knitting the project, which didn’t help. It seemed to take forever to finish this time – ironically far longer than it had to finish the blanket.
• Because my row gauge was shorter than that called for, I added a sequence in the middle of the blanket: 4 paprika rows, 24 pewter rows, 6 purple rows, 10 lime rows, 6 purple rows, 4 paprika rows:

• 

• I was very upset with the ruffle pre-washing/blocking but now I think it worked out just fine:

• I would recommend this as a very good TV knit for others, and I do love the Super 10 yarn as ever! The colour sequence in the original is quite fabulous and in retrospect I wish I had gone with that, though.

And, once I had stopped dancing around the house, I settled down and got a start on my new project, the Gathered Pullover from Interweave Knits Winter 2007:

The yarn is Rowan Handknit Cotton which I got in a swap. So far, so good!

Then, hungry after all my labours, I hit the chip cupboard:

Eeek!!! Holiday supplies are fast dwindling!! Who has been raiding all my chips?! I’ll blame JJ…and it’s a good thing I stopped on the way home for emergency provisions:

This purchase resulted in the following conversation:

JJ: Hey! You telt me to tell yew if you came in with any more crisps in the next month that I should confiscate them immediately and tek them to work wi’me!!! Gi’us the crisps!!

KB: (holding up bag and pointing at the label indignantly) They’re NOT CHIPS!!!

JJ: (after a pregnant pause) Bloody lawyers.

Indeed. I immediately ran and hid the rest of the after work purchases (which, I hasten to say, are not chips either!)

Not the girl you’d remember but she’s still something special
If you knew her I am sure you’d agree
‘Cause I know she’s got a little secret
Friday evening she turns out to be…

(chorus) Nina, pretty ballerina…

I need an ABBA exorcism!!! SIGH. Any suggestions, anyone?

Time to sign off, I think. There is still some dancing to be done, apparently.

Cheers,

Kristina

PS. Hey! Just realised it’s PayDay! Uh-oh…

Well, you likely won’t be surprised to hear that, throwing all good intentions to the cold, cold wind, I did not do any more cleaning on Sunday. Instead, I spent the day slogging away at my Nina Shawl.

I’m glad to report that it is now (finally!) blocking. JJ, however, was less glad when he came in from a long hard day at the Security Guard Spider Solitaire Challenge 2008… ahem, the coal mines… bearing crate upon crate of free food, only to ask what was for dinner.

KB: Dinner? Isn’t there something in one of those boxes that would do?

JJ: Ah’ve bin eatin’ this stuff all day, hen.

KB: Well, AH haven’t!

JJ: Are ye makin’ fun of the way I speak again?

KB: I’d never do that… anyway, I hadn’t thought about it. I’ve been busy.

JJ: (gesturing in a deprecatory fashion at the Nina Shawl which by this point extended half way across the living room floor) Ah can see that… so, where’s mah dinner?

KB: I suppose that Walkers Salt and Shake crisps wouldn’t do, eh?

Dead silence. I almost thought he had bought it, until three minutes later:

JJ: And since ye’ve bin here all day doing nothin’, I assume that there will be something better on offer than leftovers… AGAIN.

Sigh. He did have a point, though – so off I trotted to the kitchen to put on my Nigella Express hat and come up with something fabulous.

Now, I have a zombie-chasing Ogre friend who shall remain nameless who claims that she cannot cook anything without burning it (despite the fact that she has ventured into breadbaking – but I digress…). Well, Holly (oops, did I use your name? Sorry!), I think that you could well manage this without burning it. And – it’s tasty. And – it disguises leftovers!!! All of this in about the time it takes me to open a can of soup (admittedly only because I keep losing the can opener…)!

So, here is a recipe which will no doubt become famous, with step by step instructions:
Brouhaha’s Chicken Tortellini with Previously Enjoyed Food Soup

1. Get some chicken stock or broth.

I actually make my own stock most of the time… aren’t you impressed? (Don’t be… it’s only a matter of freezing chicken leftovers until I have enough to throw in a big pot and boil the hell out of it all for a few hours). No reason why you couldn’t use the packaged stuff as well.

Actually, most of the stock I make, funnily enough given that I am a dedicated carnivore, ends up being vegetarian. Why? Because most of the vegetables that enter the House of Brouhaha never end up getting onto a plate before they start to disintegrate.

Anyway, probably about a litre (or quart) of stock will do for four or so people plus leftovers. If using packaged stuff, put in whatever spices you want.

2. Extract the trusty cheese tortellini stash from the freezer.

I always have some of this stuff kicking around and buy it by the kilo at Loblaws:

A couple of handfuls will do for that amount of broth.

3. Cut up whatever leftover meat you have as long as it goes with chicken broth.

Yesterday’s selection: the remains of one of those prepackaged mini ham roasts. MMMM. I actually prefer ham to chicken in this soup for some reason. A cup of so of diced meat should work.

4. Bring the stock to a boil…

Then simmer all of the above for 5 minutes or so. When the tortellini are done they will float to the top. Turn off the heat.

5. I guess you’d better stick in some green stuff as well.

I know that not everyone wants to be the only North American with scurvy in the 21st century!! Since I don’t have any veg in the fridge at present, I had to settle for peas (which I like because they are easy to fish out of the soup!

If using frozen veg, just let them sit in the hot broth for a couple or three minutes.

6. Season to taste.
I like parmesan cheese grated on top of this. JJ, however, does not. Salt and pepper also go well with everything, I find!

7. Serve up with some homemade crackers which you have spent all day whipping up.

OK, OK… I didn’t make the crackers (I knew I should have taken them out of that plastic tray). But they’re still yummy…

… and don’t believe everything you read. They’re not only for cheese.

So, a quick, tasty soup meal from the House of Brouhaha. However, I should note that this is by far not the only chicken soup innovations going on in this household. Viz:

(the condition of the soy sauce bottle should about tell you just how much I enjoy this particular version!).

And then there’s this:
(Have you gathered yet that I really, really like chicken noodle soup? I eat this stuff with lashings of hot sesame chili sauce…).

And, when entertaining, I break out the expensive stuff:

Check out the noodleface bowl, by the way. I’m trying to picture JJs face if I got him one with his photo on it… hmm. Maybe I’ll just leave that one alone!

Oh… I almost forgot… bon appetit!

Well, yesterday the time had come to face reality – I was living in a complete and unmitigated pigsty. So, after a nourishing beverage and power bar for breakfast:

I tackled the living room. Doesn’t it look nice now?

I actually quite like the furniture, even though JJ picked it. I had just about forgotten what it looked like given that it is usually covered with coats, bags and JJs newspapers.

I even managed to locate the throw that is supposed to go on the couch in the winter…

(a freeform log cabin made with various Fleece Artist yarns).

And… I finally managed to get some of the stuff I’d done in the autumn out on display!!

To the top left is my Serendipity at Sunset and to the far right is my No Mirrors in My House!.

So, feeling very virtuous indeed, I traipsed off to the spare room. Remember this?

It now looks like this:

At least (for awhile, anyway) I will not face any trip hazards when going in to get my computer!

I also came across the following lost treasures:

If you haven’t read this book, go out and buy it. Akbar and Jeff are hilarious.

And a greeting card from Natalie which I had meant to frame:
In case you can’t read the bottom line, it says “Who’s going to kick your ass?” Heh. Heh.

And, speaking of knitting: here is Part 1 of the stash:

This tote (which I originally thought would be more than large enough to hold the whole stash when I bought it last year. Silly me!) contains such goodies as Rowan Calmer (11 balls), Twilley’s Denim Cotton (12 balls), Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (four skeins), Rowan ASC (about eight balls), another Rowan cotton (obtained in a swap – enough for a medium-sized sweater), all kinds of Fleece Artist and Super 10 part-balls and…

23 balls of Knitpicks Cotlin. Almost enough for the Bespoke Jacket from No Sheep For You! Does anyone have 3 balls of CotLin they’d like to gift me? Ahem, I mean, swap me for?

And here is Part 1(a) of the stash (because I can’t admit to myself that this also will not fit in the big tote):

This is what is left of a box sent to me in a swap by Natalie. The real treasure here for me is the seven blue skeins of Berocco Suede! The book has a pattern for sweaters to make out of the Twilley’s denim cotton whenever I get around to it.

But that will probably be difficult, given the beautiful promises contained within Part 2 of the stash:

(and yes, all three drawers are crammed full of yarn. Did you really need to ask?)

The first drawer holds my burgeoning Super 10 stash:

23 skeins in various colours! That, at 230 metres/251.5 yards per skein, amounts to 5.29 km or 5784.5 yards (I don’t know how many miles that is, but it must be a few!) of Super 10 – not including all of the scrap balls from other projects. Sigh. I really must stop buying it for a while.

The bottom drawer actually yielded some forgotton treasures: eight balls of this…

(Not my usual colour, but I fell in love with it back in the summertime. I was going to make the Safari from Stitch Diva with it. Now, I don’t know…)

…and six of these (plus two more in black).

This is Eden Madil DK weight bamboo. It is addictive.

And then there are 12 balls of this:

Dale Svale cotton. I can’t remember what I bought this for, even! But I love it.

In addition to this, the drawer contains Blue Sky Alpacas cotton, Needful Kelly, the Mados cotton I bought the other day, 3 skeins of Berocco Suede for a Stitch Diva cap, and a few balls of Cascade Fixation.

But now onto the real treasures: my Handmaiden/Fleece Artist drawer!

(Inexplicably here, I found this photo of myself from a time long before I even knew that yarn shops existed…
Please note that the hairstyle has not really changed in 37 years.)

Anyway, I feel the need to catalogue the Handmaiden and Fleece Artist stuff in an attempt to prevent myself from buying any more in the near future. (I suspect the landlord will not accept yarn, even luxury silk yarn, in satisfaction of the rent!)
Handmaiden

• Sea Silk: seven skeins (400m each) – two Ocean, two purple, two Popsicle
• Silken: two skeins (250m each) – Sangria
• Flaxen: two skeins (250m each) – periwinkle
• Camelspun: two skeins (300m each) – one Monarch, one Vintage
• Lace Silk: two skeins (600m each) – one blue/green, one pink/purple/brown
• Mini Maiden: one skein (500m) – buttercream
• Silk Spun: two skeins (150m each) – one blue/turquoise, one lime green

total metres: 5,700 (even more than the Super 10! Gasp!). 5.7 clicks or 3.6 miles – almost exactly the distance I travel to work every day (which takes 40 minutes by transit on a good day). I won’t calculate the cost for fear of coming down from the virtuous little high I’ve got going right now).

Fleece Artist

• Suri Blue: two skeins (600m each) – both Burgundy
• Italian Silk: three skeins (350m each) – two Rainforest, one moss-green (but actually chautreuse, funnily enough)
• Rumplestilskin: one skein (600m) – Polar Sea
• Goldielocks: one skein (500m) – Aegean

total metres = 3,350. Not quite as far as it would take me to get to Lettuce Knit, my “only on a rainy day” LYS.

Oh, and this doesn’t take into account the six skeins of Alchemy Silk, two skeins of Noro Silk Garden and two skeins of Noro Kureyon which are also currently making their home in this drawer.

So, there really is no reason for me to go near a yarn store for the next year or so, right??

Anyway, so now I feel much better and far more organized. And, I came across this photo as well, which reminded me of a happier and warmer season:

Me and JJ going on the Thousand Islands boat cruise from Kingston this past summer.

Stay warm and I do hope you enjoy your Sunday. For me, more cleaning. Argh.

Well, that Joan went and tagged me while I was away (typical lawyer! LOL). In my inimitable passive-aggressive fashion I’ve left off responding until now (kidding – actually, I forgot about it) – but it seems like a decent way to pass part of a Friday afternoon while awaiting the 457th Tenant Advocates’ Summit at the Bar Wellington!

I know that this is one of those tag things, but I’m not going to tag anyone else if only because I’m getting this so late I imagine people have seen it already. If interested, please lift it and maybe you can drop me a line if you post on your blog about it!

Crazy Eights Tag

Eight Things I’m passionate about

(aside from knitting? this one is going to be hard)

(a) Dancing – of all types except hiphop (and probably I’d like that too if I could stand the music). My style is rather freeform and I have not responded well to lessons. In this regard, a coworker and I recently choreographed a mambo.

(b) Mosaic art – check out the sidebar under “Mosaic and other crafts” if you need proof of this. It’s fun – and you get to smash plates!

(c) Treasure hunting – whether it be at the thrift shop, the dollar store or in the shared laundry room in my building. I have other friends who share this love, and so frequently head out with one or more of them.

(d) Freeform Knitting and Crochet – being a long-term pattern slave, I would never have told you two years ago that I would be into this. But it’s fun, especially when I try to combine it with mosaic! And a great stashbuster to boot.

(e) Silk Yarn – well, I’d better say I’m passionate about that, given the increasing collection of it I keep flaunting!!

(f) Politics – or, rather, bitching about politics. In my view, not enough people concern themselves with politics and what their leaders and politicians are (or aren’t) doing. I won’t get into my personal politics here but a glance at the sidebar will likely give you a sense where I’m at.

(g) Neckties – I’ve been collecting them (used, from Goodwill or Value Village) for some time now. Any day, I’m going to start making pretty vests, skirts, quilts etc. with them and hopefully some of it will look as nice as the stuff posted on Woof Nanny’s blog (post dated 10 December). I just need to buy a sewing machine.

(h) Law and Order – not in real life… the television series. One of my deepest darkest secrets is that I am completely addicted to Law and Order in all its flavours. I really don’t know why. Good to knit in front of, though.

Eight Things I want to do before I die

(a) Learn to speak French properly

(b) Go to Scotland and Ireland with JJ.

(c) Go to Australia and meet Susie and Jenny

(d) Go on a yarn road trip with Holly Ogre and Amy.

(e) Learn to knit as quickly as Wannietta

(f) Get accepted by the Ontario Crafts Council.

(g) Get a Master’s degree of some description, and preferably not by mail order.

(h) Once I have learned French properly, get a very high-paying job in Paris and move there.

Eight Things I often say

(a) What a chickenhead.

(b) Wanna go for a smoke, Jennifer?

(c) …eh?

(d) We really must stop watching the CTV evening news, JJ.

(e) A pint of Keith’s and a glass of water, please!

(f) Is it 4:30 yet?

(g) Well, that’s the last time I’m going to buy yarn this [week/month/year], for sure!

(h) aman.

8 Books I’ve recently read or am currently reading

(a) The 100-mile diet: a year of local eating (Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon)

(b) Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (Barbara Kingsolver)

(c) The Tin Roof Blowdown (James Lee Burke)

(d) Fleshmarket Close (Ian Rankin)

(e) Holidays on Ice (David Sedaris)

(f) Tescopoly (Andrew Simms)

(g) The Wal-Mart Effect (Charles Fishman)

(h) Cod (Mark Kurlanski)

8 Songs I could listen to over and over

(a) Shape of My Heart (Sting)

(b) Marrakesh Market (Loreena McKennitt)

(c) Tango to Evora (Loreena McKennitt) and the greek version Tango tis Nefelis (Haris Alexiou)

(d) I’m Gonna Live Until I Die (Frank Sinatra)

(e) Ain’t Love a Kick in the Head (Dean Martin)

(f) anything by George Dalaras (greek singer)

(g) Sound of Silence (Simon and Garfunkel)

(h) Loch Lomond (Runrig)

Eight Things that attract me to my best friends

(a) Intelligence

(b) Self-reflection

(c) Openness to discussing politics without kneejerk reactionism (whether left, right or centre)

(d) Love of dancing

(e) Caring

(f) Wicked and somewhat sarcastic sense of humour, without however bitterness.

(g) Flexibility in thought

(h) Ability to keep wits around themselves when partying.

Well, although I have not been to the LYS for about 3 1/2 weeks (some kind of record!), that does not mean I have not been spending. Quelle surprise.

In this regard, I went to John Fluevog on Queen Street yesterday to check out the Boxing Day sale!

Well, guess what – no deals left for me, given that it was 7 January (almost two weeks after the sale started!) and I do not have size 12 feet. Alas.

But don’t feel too sorry for me. I did manage to acquire two sets of beauties (at the full price):

These are the Saint Michael loafers.

These – I forget the name. They’re so new, apparently, that they are not yet on the website! Hee hee hee.

My rationalisation – I did not spend anywhere near all the money I had allocated myself for the trip. Of course, I did manage to spend some of it, mostly on books. I don’t know what it is about travelling that makes me purchase books en masse. I needed one extra suitcase for books coming back (and one, of course, for British crisps and chocolates as you will remember if you’ve already read this post).

Here is one of my new purchases:

I thought the title was very appropriate. I’m hoping to acquire a sewing machine in the near future.

To balance this off, a book by a true Domestic Goddess:
She rocks! And meals in 30 minutes? I like. Anyone who can midnight snack all the time and look as sexy as her is a true hero in my book.

Another purchase for the workplace:

Handy for staff meetings, I thought.

And, being the ever generous person that I am, I did not leave JJ out of the bounty:

with such gems of wisdom as:

Don’t drop cigarette-ash all over the living room carpet. Some people will tell you that it improves the colours…

Huh?!? Why didn’t JJ buy that excuse when I gave it to him after the last Tenant Advocate Summit at the pub (“Oh aye?!?  Last time ah was at the paint shop ah didnae see the colour ‘ashtray’, hen.  Two and a half million colours, mind ye, and no ‘ashtray’.  Mebbe ye should write all the paint companies.  Ye could make millions and ah cuid retire…”)???

…but your wife won’t care to try that recipe.

Oh. I see.

Don’t refuse to eat cold meat once in a way (sic) if you are home to that meal. Unless you keep a large staff or domestics, you can’t always have a hot meal both at midday and in the evening.

Dang tootin’!!!

Don’t expect to understand every detail of the workings of your wife’s mind. A woman arrives at things in diffferent ways, and it is useless to worry her with “Why?” does she think this or that.

Hmm… how many self help books have I seen on the shelves with that theme?

Don’t “talk down” to your wife. She has as much intelligence as your colleague at the office; she lacks only opportunity.

Seems pretty progressive, actually, for the time period – let’s have a look at the conclusion of this paragraph:

Talk to her (explaining when necessary) of anything you would talk of to a man, and you will be surprised to find how she expands.

(…in the fields of sports, peeler bars and gossip?!?)

Actually, not all that bad considering the time period in which it was written. I’ve seen Oprah and Dr. Phil come out with worse stuff. Who wrote this, anyway?

Blanche Ebbutt

Well – that explains a lot.

But lest you think that I’m picking on JJ by buying this book, I did buy something similar for myself as well:

I’ll save the nuggets of wisdom from that one for a future post, I think. This one is getting a tad out of control.

In parting, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish a very happy birthday to Shirley Bassey, one of my favourite singers. Her name may not spring to mind, but doubtless you remember the theme song from James Bond Goldfinger? That was her. And if you don’t remember that, perhaps this will refresh your memory:

Please have a couple for me, Ms Bassey!