You know how people (especially old people) like to have a little dish of peanuts or candy or something sitting on their coffee table? Well cherry tomatoes are the candy dish filler of the future. Just think about it: they are bite sized, and tasty, and fun to eat since they sort of explode in your mouth. Plus they are low in carbs. And they don't make you thirsty. And as an added bonus you probably don't really need teeth to eat them :). I heard a disgusting story in high school chapel once where this old guy had a dish of peanuts for people to snack on. Nice huh? Turns out they used to be chocolate covered peanuts until he sucked the chocolate off. My tomatoes are looking better all the time aren't they?

While we're at it tea is the new coffee, sock yarn is the new novelty yarn, and pens are the new pencil (for those of you who may have heard about my pencil habit I'm completely over smudge-able writing utensils).

Well it's done. I pretty much followed the pattern except I lengthened the arms a bit. I also made one arm a bit longer than the other but I fixed it with blocking :). I used almost 1400 yards of yarn for this project and I had about 20 inches left over when I was done. Fortunately I didn't weave in the end when I picked up to knit around the neck so I was able to cut off the extra and stick it on to my last row of the buttonhole band so that I could finish binding off. Here are some photos:

This project has been finished for a while. It came out ok, nothing very exciting. I'll try to post a photo soon. The yarn is sort of cottony feeling as promised on the wrapper but I ended up with two whole balls left over. I spoke with a woman in my local yarn shop who made me worried that I was going to run out and as it turns out I had plenty left over and I could have made a longer cardigan like I originally planned. Oh well, maybe I can make a vest.

I have a blue dress that I want to wear to a wedding but I'm afraid it is a bit too bridesmaid blue so I'm making this wrap to add some extra color. It's taking much longer than I thought it would. The size 10 needles seemed really bit when I started but now they seem not big enough. I'm also excited about this wrap because it has some sleeve cuffs and I'm interested to see if that makes it generally more cooperative.

My mom is going on a trip and she wanted a wine colored hat so here it is. I had to fudge it a bit since my gauge wasn't quite right. It was supposed to be a bit slouchy and I think instead it is more of a standard hat shape but it is a pretty quick knit (which is good since i only had 2 days to make it before her trip).

Well it took two tries to dye the yarn for this project and although it still doesn't look the way I had envisioned it I'm warming up to my actual results. I started with some knitpicks bare worsted wool and a jar of Jacquard chestnut dye and after my first attempt I ended up with some really unevenly dyed yarn.

I didn't like the way it came out after that first try so I ordered some more dye and had another go. It's still more uneven than I would have liked but the lighter patches are darker now.

I realized after the first dyeing attempt that I had not used the correct amount of vinegar and I was hoping that my second dyeing attempt would come out more evenly when I did use the correct amount but unfortunately the lack of vinegar does not seem to have made much of a difference.

This coat has a bit of a slit in the back for ones tail. Ok probably not. I think the slit is actually to make the sweater fit over one's hips better without requiring much extra shaping. Anyway, here is a photo of my progress so far.