In the Kitchen | I'm Inspiralized

Last spring I got a new kitchen toy, the Inspiralizer - I love it! If you're wondering what the heck this is... it's basically a vertical mandolin with a crank that turns veggies into noodles and it's AWESOME. Why do I love it? Well, as you know, I cook a lot and this little gadget makes my life so much easier - especially on late nights. 

I posted this picture a little over a week ago and I got a lot of questions. Want the details?

Swoodles with Vodka Sauce and Shrimp

So, (as I like to say) here's the deal... This supper was after a late night when I got home after our Open Knitting on Wednesday night at Firefly Fibers. At knitting, some of us are hungry and, as a foodie, the conversation usually goes to food at some point when I get to sit and knit. As the night goes on, the conversation goes to how delicious Culver's would be and then I realize how tired I am and it's hard to resist. But, when I do resist, my belly is much happier and this meal took me a total of 15-20 minutes to put together. Seriously, that's how long it would take me to get fast food. 

Here's the recipe... first, I always have fresh parsley, sweet potatoes, frozen shrimp, and jarred sauce on hand - really, we all should. For this meal I selected the super-fancy Vodka Sauce from Aldi (it's really delicious), got 8 shrimp from the freezer to quick-thaw and got to peeling and spiralizing the sweet potato while the pan was heating up. Sautee the swoodles (we'll get to that term in a second) with a bit of coconut oil for about 8 minutes, sautee the shrimp in another pan and heat the sauce in the microwave (remember, we're late-nighting it). When the swoodles are done (again, we'll get to that in a moment), plate the swoodles and top with sauce, shrimp and a healthy amount of parsley. E. A. S. Y. 

So... tonight we recorded our 4th episode of the Alisa the Yarnista podcast *gulp* and due to a technical difficulty (thanks Windows) we had an intermission and I got these lovelies ready for our French Dip sandwiches. 

The peppers and onions (with no tears) are sliced super fast with the Inspiralizer. But wait... there's more... tee hee... so, Mr. Yarnista and I are trying to decide - really, we're not arguing, although both of us want to win - on the correct term for the sweet potato noodles and we are letting you choose. It's all in fun and we've got a little voting going on over on our Episode 4 post and we hope you'll give us your input - click over here to tell us what you think (but do it before this coming Friday)... 

So, there ya go. I love veggies (no surprise) and I love the Inspiralizer so much that I'm now an affiliate for this super-fantabulous product - it's such a great way to get some amazing food into your belly. So, if you want to get one, pop on over via this link or the awesome photo to the right - Rollo and Logan will thank you. 

Cheers!

Alisa

Simple Knits | Awesome August

I've been having so much fun over the last few months finding the wee projects for our Simple Knits Knitalong and this month is no exception. I emailed this month's designer, Andrea Mowry, awhile back about another one of her designs for a class project (you'll see that project in the very near future) and I've been wanting to knit another since then. Last month, she released a new hat pattern and I knew as soon as I saw it that it would jump onto my needles. And, this month, it will! 

Our August Simple Knits project is Go! by Drea Renee Knits:

Image © Andrea Mowry

A quick, reversible hat to knit with fun textured arrows around the brim to push you forward! Perfect for pulling on and heading into the woods for a trail run under the leaves.

The inspiration for this hat came to me during a crisp, evening run. I wanted a lightweight, comfortable beanie to throw on when heading out for a run or hike. I chose the arrow motif as a friendly reminder to push on. With the perfect amount of slouch and unique texture this is a great little hat to throw on anytime and looks great on both men and women!

The instructions for the textured brim are both written and charted.

I love that Go! is reversible - two different looks from one knit is awesome in my book - and I love that she uses the German Twisted Cast On for a beautiful cast on edge. Never used the German Twisted Cast On? Don't worry and trust me... if you can do the Long Tail Cast On, just follow the link in Andrea's pattern for the tutorial and you'll do splendidly. 

As for yarn options... I'm torn between a few of my all time favorites from the shop (1 skein of any of these is enough for Go!): Tosh DK (Andrea knit her Go! with this), Julie Asselin Leizu DK, and The Fibre Company Acadia. Any of these would be gorgeous, but an order of Tosh DK just arrived at Firefly Fibers yesterday, so maybe this is a sign that I should use this for mine? We'll see... I can't wait to see what yarn you use for your Go!

If you want to try one of the yarns that's tempting me, they're all available at Firefly Fibers in person & online and you can get the Go! pattern is available here on Ravelry - psst... Andrea's offering a 32% discount on her patterns through tomorrow, August 2nd, just take a look at the pattern details for the code to enter. 

I hope you'll be knitting along this month! Ready. Set. Go!

Cheers!

PS - Mr. Yarnista and I have been planning our next podcast and we hope to have that for you soon. If you missed our first episode, you can find it on our PODCAST page and NOW also on iTunes. 

Off the Needles | Settler and some news...

I have an FO and something else fun to share with you today... First, as you may know, I adore Truly Myrtle and after featuring her design Reminisce as our June Simple Knits Knitalong project, I couldn't stop thinking about casting on one of her shawls. I didn't know if I would actually find time to cast on in the near future since things have been a little hectic, but then Libby decided to host a Knitalong featuring her designs in July. It was obviously meant to be, so I cast on. 

I chose Settler as my shawl to knit for the KAL and used Julie Asselin's Milis in the Feathers colorway, it's a gorgeous yarn from Firefly Fibers that I've really been wanting to knit with. I think it was a good pairing...

I cast on during our vacation in Door County earlier this month (I know, I know... I still owe you details on that) and started binding off on Saturday night in the car on our way to see Dave Matthews (more on that toward the end of this post). 

I used flexible lace wires for blocking because of Settler's horseshoe shape and I highly recommend them. I'm a long time supporter of blocking in general and blocking wires make a huge difference with some projects - this is definitely one of them. Just look at how much I was able to stretch this puppy and open up those criss-cross sections...

I'm frequently asked if blocking makes "that much" of a difference and my answer is always emphatically, "YES"! Blocking matters. A lot. Just think about it... your project is shoved into, and pulled out of a project bag numerous times during the HOURS you're knitting on it. After that, any project is going to have some 'bed head' and need to be refreshed. *wink*

If you've never washed or blocked a shawl, Libby has a 2 part 'how to' on her blog (Part 1 & Part 2) that walks you through each step of the process. She also shows another way to block Settler for a slightly different finished edge and it's also really pretty. If you're intimidated by blocking, just remember that you can always re-block if something turns out wonky the first time. It's kind of like just washing and restyling your hair. 

I've got my mind set on casting on another Truly Myrtle shawl and using one of these lovely Julie Asselin Gradient Sets:

If you participated in the Truly Myrtle Knitalong, there are some pretty fabulous prizes that Libby will be giving away, including one of these lovelies courtesy of Firefly Fibers. Maybe we can cast on together?

So, that's my big FO news for the week. I'm almost done finalizing the Fall Class Schedule for the shop and I can't wait to share what's on there - it should be ready in the next week or two. 

In the meantime... I have something else that's pretty fun. Mr. Yarnista has been wanting to do a podcast for quite some time. Really, he's been not-so-subtly hinting for what's been a year or more (maybe two) and in a moment of weakness, I gave in and it's finally happened... there is now an Alisa the Yarnista Podcast! In episode 1 we chat a bit about some fun stuff, including our weekend adventure to Alpine Valley to see one of my all time faves, Dave Matthews (it's really quite the story).

So, we hope you'll enjoy our maiden voyage and we'll let you know as soon as Apple approves things in iTunes and it's available there. *squee* I've never done anything like this and it was actually pretty fun, so stay tuned because I think we'll do it again soon. 

Cheers!