Ann Rushton

A Picture a Day - Feb 24, 2012

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 08:06:27 -0600

Fluffy Snow

A Picture a Day - Feb 23, 2012

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 09:34:49 -0600

Have we talked about the crockpot?

I kind of have a love/ambivalent relationship with my crockpot. It runs hot, so I have to adjust recipes, and that can be tricky. There are no “put it in and leave it for eight hours” recipes for this bad boy. Chicken gets dry and meats get tough. Pasta dries out. Ann cries. Girls scatter. Mark attempts to claim the food still tastes good, if only to placate his wife, who never believes him.

However, I’ve had enough successes with it where I think it’s still a useful kitchen tool. For example, today I’m trying red beans and rice, because I thought it looked pretty good over here.

I’ve never really made anything with dried beans in it, so we’ll see how it turns out. The recipe calls for it to be on high for 7.5 hours. Instead, I put it on low and it’ll be in there for over 8 hours.

Wishing luck is welcomed.

A Picture a Day - Feb 22, 2012

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:32:43 -0600

It’s Ash Wednesday! And that means one thing.

Time for all the Fish Fry Buffets to pop up!

A Picture a Day - Feb 21, 2012

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:11:58 -0600

We had some leftover rice from Chinese takeout the other night. So I decided to make chicken with rice soup.

I love this kind of thing. Makes me feel thrifty, or at least thrifty enough to off-put the fact we ordered take out for dinner. I used homemade broth and chicken from the freezer. Had a bowl for lunch and it was delish. Yay!

A Picture a Day - Feb 20, 2012

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:43:22 -0600

Riverside Dairy Queen

A Picture a Day - Feb 19, 2012

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 15:53:14 -0600

Although I finished this on Friday, I could not gift it until today, so I’m calling this:

The Twelfth Finished Object of 2012

Pattern: Honey Cowl

Yarn: Sublime Yarns Baby Cashmere Silk Merino

Needle: 8

For: Ellen

Ravelry Page

A Picture a Day - Feb 18, 2012

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 17:58:00 -0600

And also, the eleventh finished object of 2012:

Pattern: Muckle Mitts

Yarn: Cascade 220

Needle: 5

For: Me

Ravelry Page

Not much to say here, although I love the tutorials on the pattern page, and also, I would have knit the cuffs and tops in a smaller needle if I were to do it again.

A Picture a Day - Feb 17, 2012

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:31:47 -0600

Gifts from the dentist:

Note they were out of toothpaste.

I have bad teeth. I have to see the dentist every three months. If you have bad teeth, you should see the dentist every three months. I don’t regret it.

A Picture a Day - Feb 16, 2012

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 09:21:23 -0600

French Toast for breakfast:

A Picture a Day - Feb 15, 2012

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:19:04 -0600

Not my best day for writing.

Bound Off Short Story Podcast: Issue 73 Released February 15,...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 09:07:43 -0600

Bound Off Short Story Podcast: Issue 73
Released February 15, 2012
(15 minutes. File size: 14MB. 128kb-encoded MP3.)

“Waiting Room” written by Hobie Anthony. Read by Ann Rushton (3 minutes long, starts at 00:50). Hobie Anthony received his MFA in fiction from Queens University of Charlotte, NC. When he’s not writing he can be found at one of Portland’s disc golf courses.
“No Quarter” written and read by Laurence Davies (9.5 minutes long, starts at 4:15). Laurence Davies lives in Scotland, where he writes, hunts mushrooms, cooks, edits Joseph Conrad’s letters, and fondly remembers his days in New England and New York. He’s also done a spot of acting.

A Picture a Day - Feb 14, 2012

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:51:05 -0600

A cupcake from my friend Karen!

A Happy Valentine’s Day, indeed! :)

A Picture a Day - Feb 13, 2012

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:37:56 -0600

Lone bird at the feeder:

A Picture a Day - Feb 12, 2012

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 18:13:42 -0600

The view from the back of our house:

Night sky.

A Picture a Day - Feb 11, 2012

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:38:00 -0600

Saturday night hot plans.

A Picture a Day - Feb 10, 2012

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:15:07 -0600

Remember my post about the mittens?

Well, they’re done!

And are currently being blocked.

The smallest needles worked. I don’t know how, I don’t know why, but it appears as if I needed to go down a size and a half to make gauge on the second mitten.

There’s a sense of accomplishment here, one I cannot deny.

So, with this, may I present:

The Tenth Finished Object of 2012

Pattern: Snowbird Mittens

Yarn: Knit Picks Palette

Needle: 1s and then 0s

For: Me

Ravelry Page

A Picture a Day - Feb 9, 2012

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:14:45 -0600

Too cruel, almost beyond words, is this:

A Daylight Donut.

Once a week my daughter has an appointment across the street from a Daylight Donut shop. Since the appointments are usually in the morning, we stop by and pick up a donut for her to enjoy before her meeting.

Why? Why did I start this habit? I’ve ~~been on a diet~~ made a lifestyle change since last summer and have so far successfully avoided temptation when we stop in. “Just the one donut!” I reply when asked if we want anything else.

But today. Today I allowed myself to peek a little closer into the glass-front counter. Usually I avoid this by staring out the window or pinching myself in the crook of my thumb and forefinger. But today, as I gave into visual temptation, I spied a chocolate donut with toasted coconut.

My God. My God. My favorite of all donuts.

How. Dare. They.

“Anything else?” the girl asked, after my daughter had chosen the Valentine sprinkle vanilla cake donut.

“Um,” I said. “Um.”

Everyone stared at me, the counter girl, my daughter, even, it seemed, the table of old-timers across the room.

“Remember all those miles you ran, those miles you biked!” My good angel screamed. “Remember all the salmon dinners with steamed broccoli? Don’t let all your hard work go to waste.”

The dark angel replied, “Aw screw it. It’s just a donut.”

I bit a thumbnail and said, “No, thanks,” my voice weak.

But when we got to the appointment I made my daughter give me a bite.

Take that, conscience.

A Picture a Day - Feb 8, 2012

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:00:39 -0600

Well, this is a little unsettling.

This is from a handout sent home from my daughter’s school. It comes directly from the company that provides materials for the unit.

I mean, I can understand human error and all, but come on.

Of course, the best part is that my daughter noticed it immediately and circled it to show me. I suppose I can chalk it up to a bonding experience.

A Picture a Day - Feb 7, 2012

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:31:00 -0600

A Tale of Two Mittens

(I can’t believe I used that title. And I call myself a writer.)

So. Last fall I taught a class on Fair Isle knitting and used this pattern as an example. It’s knit with fingering weight, and I used a size 2.5mm needle. For all you non-knitters out there, this proves that I have the skillz, baby.

I finished one, put the whole kit and kaboodle into a bag and threw it on a shelf in my office, figuring that one day I’d finish them up.

Last week I was feeling under the weatherish and decided, with no logic, that I desperately needed to finish the mittens. Right then. Right there. So I pulled out the whole kit and kaboodle and knit up mitten two.

And at the very top I realized. Oh shit. My gauge is way off. As in, one mitten would fit me and one would fit LeBron James. (Okay. Maybe not LeBron. Maybe Tom Brady.) (By the way, no matter that he lost. Tom is still pretty.)

Warning. The remainder of this post will be uninteresting to non-knitters.

So, in a fit of frustration, I threw them back on the shelf, figuring my gauge was way off for whatever reason. Maybe it was off because I was sick (possible), or my tension had changed in four months (not nearly as possible), or I had thrown the wrong needles in the kit and kaboodle (seems unlikely).

But those mittens, oh how they haunted me. It was like they were calling me from my little office downstairs. Annnnnnnnnnnn………..Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnn…………you fail. YOU FAIL.

I couldn’t take it anymore. I hate failures in knitting, although they happen to me more often than, as a professional, I want to admit.

So I ripped out the Tom Brady mitten and started over, this time with a smaller needle. The ones in the kit and kaboodle were 2.5mm, so I went with a 2.25mm. And guess what. Still too big. I mean, what the beeeeeeeeeeeep? So now I’m casting on with the smallest of the smalls. That means. Yes, you guessed it. Dah duh DUUUUUUH! 2.0.

I know, right?

I’ll keep you posted. All none of you who read my blog.

A Picture a Day - Feb 6, 2012

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:27:41 -0600

No one ever wants to see this in the bottom of the Clementine box, do they?

Sorry for the blurriness of the photo. I just wanted to take the picture as quickly as I could and then toss the m-fer. Ugh.