Still here!?

What the heck are you doing? Get on over here - www.pieknits.com ;)

New digs!

I'm very happy to announce the new site is UP!
After much coding, tinkering, and sporadic development my new website and blog are now here:

• ° pieKnits.com ° •

To celebrate- a little contest! Head on over to the new blog to see how to play and possibly win this yummy yarn.


Clicky to update your subscription too.

Surfacing

Finally, a chance to take a little gasp of air. Last couple of weeks have been one of those times where Everything happens at once. There has been lots of knitterly things going on too though. I actually have two FO's to report on soon, more patterns in the works with a couple almost completed, a blog relaunch very soon, a contest (yep, that's right), Amazing Lace entry, oh- and my pattern was accepted and will be in the upcoming Extremities Summer issue of Knitty. Phew! Now, if all that other real life stuff would just get out of the way.

In the meantime, sneak peaks.

Project Spectrum Surprise

Looky what I got from my spectacular Project Spectrum Postcard Swap Pal!!


What a sweet surprise package! Not just a beautiful hand stamped card, she wrote a lovely note and included a very nice poem along with cute cute socks(!) and a package marigold seeds. I have the perfect little window pot for them (since my curry leaf plant didn't survive the 2 week out of country drought). Now I can look forward to more yellow and orange for months to come!
A big thank you to my pal Adelle of Hankering for Yarn! Go check out her site- she writes for b5 Media and has all kinds of interesting knitterly and crochet things on her blog.

We have green

First off thanks to everyone for the Blogiversary wishes!

So as we all know, with the start of May brings Project Spectrum Green. I did have a bit of "When the hell did it get to be May already?" going on here as I still have March and April items that are started but not completed. However, green - green we can do! I'm a sucker for a good green and currently have three projects in the works. So maybe I can finally get some stuff finished up this month.

To inaugurate Project Spectrum May (and get your Cinco de Mayo party going) we have a green recipe.

Guacamole!

The stuff you need:

• 1 large avocado (Note: ripe avocados vary in color but should give slightly when squeezed)


• 2 Tbs. sour cream


• 1 tsp. salsa


• 1 garlic clove, pressed


• 1 Tbs. sweet onions, finely diced


• 1 tsp. cilantro or parsley (optional)


• 3 Tbs. tomatoes, finely diced


• 2 tsp. black olives, minced


• 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice or lime juice


• salt, use less if you'll refrigerate (you shouldn't need much)

What to do with it:
Cut the avocado around the pit into halves and remove pit. With a spoon, mash 3/4 of the flesh and chop the remaining 1/4 coarsely. This is easily accomplished in the avocado shell itself before scooping it out.
Mix mashed and chopped avocado with the rest of the ingredients.
Serve immediately, or cover with plastic wrap pressing wrap firmly to surface of guacamole (or it will turn brownish) and refrigerate up to 4 hours before serving. Serves 2.

In other news

I've just joined the highly amusing The Amazing Lace Knitalong. Me and my "teammate", the Peacock Feathers Shawl will be competing.
Go check it out for the Hosts have explained the concept far better than I could. Seeing as I've started on a serious lace kick and the hubby and I have just booked a Caribbean cruise for our 1 year anniversary this June (woot!) it seemed like just the perfect thing.
The lace choker is aaalmost finished and so I'm looking forward to casting on for the shawl. If I get ambitious I'd like to start the lace scarf design in the new cashmere and I've decided what the rest of the huge cone of purple lace weight will be - the new Paisley Long Shawl. This one is rated as "Experienced lace" so we'll see, but I do like to wrestle with my knitting.

Blogiversary!

There is also a yummy recipe at the bottom- think of it as motivation...

My 1 year blogiverary is here! I know everyone says this but I really can't believe it's been a year. I think it's kinda funny that a blog is what let me to discover knitting in the first place.
I was just bored and browsing through some random blogs one day and happened upon a post by a girl bitching about her ex-boyfriend (on a blog? really!?). She was pissed off that he had taken her Stitch n' Bitch book upon moving out just to irritate her. It was the one book she really wanted apparently. Well with a book review like that how can one not be intrigued? I mean seriously.
At the time I was in the middle of planning our wedding(s) and my head felt constantly full of all these wedding related details. I wished I could just empty it once in awhile and when I saw these knitting books I just knew- I Want To Do This! Lucky for me I had a bookstore gift card and picked myself up a copy of Stitch n' Bitch, some Red Heart and Susan Bates needles at Wal-mart and quickly discovered the world of knitting blogs. (Hey- we were saving for a wedding- cheap entertainment is totally what I was about.)
So being a web geek myself it wasn't long until I signed myself up for my own blog. Now with the wedding over I've been able to more actively knit and blog in the last 6 months. The community on here just continues to inspire, humor and challenge me like nothing else has before. I'm really looking forward to the upcoming year! Unfortunately, I had planned for a couple of things to be launched today in celebration but alas, it was not meant to be. There will be some new stuff happening around here soon however.

While were on blog meta, is anyone else amused that blogger tries to change "blogging" to "flogging" in spellcheck? Just me? ehm- ok.

Now if you've actually gotten this far- dessert!

Salted Nut Roll Bars


This was my favorite item I used to get at a little bakery in a historic section of my hometown. I searched the internet high and low along with some experimenting to come up with a recipe to match my memories. These little bites o' heaven have a buttery, crumbly crust layered with marshmallows and topped with a sweet and salty crunchy top. It's the perfect combination in my mind anyway. I brought these to the Dallas Hand Knitters Guild meeting last night so by popular request, here's the recipe!

Crust:
Modern Day Women Version:
1 pkg. yellow cake mix
1/3 c. softened butter
1 egg

or

Domestic Superstar Version (from scratch)
1 1/2 c. flour
2/3 c. brown sugar
1.2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. softened butter
1 tsp. vanilla
2 egg yolks

Topping:
3 c. miniature marshmallows
2/3 c. white corn syrup
1/4 c. butter
1 (12 oz.) pkg. peanut butter chips
2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. Rice Krispies
2 c. salted peanuts

Preheat oven to 350° F. Combine all crust ingredientss of your version choice, mixture will be crumbly. Press into a 9" x 13" pan and bake for 10-15 min.
Immediately sprinkle with marshmallows and return to oven for 1-2 minutes until the marshmallows begin to puff. Remove from oven and cool.
In large pan, heat corn syrup, butter, peanut butter chips and vanilla until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in the peanuts and Rice Krispies. Spread over the marshmallows. Cover and chill, or start eating from the pan - your choice.