Bread, Butter, and Crochet

Howdy! HomesteadHooker here is filling in for SubwayHooker today. A wild hair up my butt encouraged a bit of DIY in the food department, encouraged of course by the relative ease of the tasks at hand versus the wildly superior results.

So above you see the oh-so-cute and oh-so-tasty results of my first foray into the dairy world of buttermaking, using the handy ramekins left over from some lovely St. Marcellin cheese. Three of the above are now in the freezer, one in the butter compartment of the fridge. For those of you anal enough to be keeping score, I do know the photo reveals some buttermilk which I neglected to extricate from the results. Whatever.

As I write this, I am about 1 1/2 hours into the resting phase of the whole-wheat bread, which is slumbering on my kitchen counter. Here's hoping it ends up being good enough for hubsy's and my sammiches for the week. I used demi-god Mark Bittman's recipe for Speedy Whole-Wheat Bread.
Unfortunately, I didn't understand the difference between instant and active dry yeast, so I ended up with the below:

It barely rose at all. Though it tasted good, all whole wheaty and corn mealy and rye-y, it is not the loaf of my dreams, and the sammich cannot be made from this that would satisfy the average human. Unless you were a model and were gonna purge it later anyway. In which case, I go for something far more extravagant.

I did mention crochet in the title, and I am sticking to the promise. Here is the cape now, in all its glory:
Okay, I have to interject something here. Many of you know of my hate relationship with Continental Airlines. Many's the time I've bitched about them for one thing or another. But suddenly, owing to all the travel my job's been sending me on, I am Silver Elite. This means that when I travel, I have the option of a free upgrade to First Class, space and the luck of the draw permitting. Well wouldn't you know that the very first time I clicked this option, I'd be upgraded to First Class. Yes I was! Oh, sweet mother of crap, what a way to travel! Comfortable seats, an edible meal, and all the wine you can swill! SO much nicer than cattle class!

And while I was in this oh-so-enviable position, my very nice seatmate engaged me in conversation about the above cape, which was a very nice way to spend a very comfortable flight, indeed. Said seatmate even had the presence of mind to tap my shoulder to share the extraordinary sunset visible out our window with me! Sunsets are among the Hooker's favorite things, not that this woman would have known that, so I was touched that she had the inclination to share it with me.

Change of topic before I park my ass and crochet the rest of tonight away: As you know, this is our anniversary weekend, so hubsy and I kicked up our heels with a visit yesterday to Brit artist Banky's Pet Shop and Charcoal Grill at 89 7th Avenue South. Thanks to rockpoolcandy for the heads-up on this amazing exhibit! Below, a couple of shots of the shop.
The chimp above is animatronic, and is watching a tv showing two monkeys having sex -- repeatedly. He occasionally touches himself, his eyes blink, follow the action on the screen, and his lips move. His foot is on a crushed beer can, and there is a well-thumbed copy of National Geographic nearby.
Here is Tweety Bird showing the effects of caged living:

And finally, here are two Chicken McNuggets dipping themselves in sauce:

Cranky in Seattle

I'll admit it -- I am in a cranky mood. My favorite airline (to see burn in hell), Continental, started me off on the wrong foot by having one of their snotty-assed check-in attendants be surly with me for no freaking reason. Then the security line in Newark was the longest and slowest I've ever seen, anywhere. Then Continental's obviously soul-deadened flight attendants phoned in their performance on the (late) flight. Oh, and this being a business trip, I worked until my battery died (why should there be power for laptops?), but because the guy in front of me rightfully wanted to recline his seat a full 5 inches, I had to type on the computer with the bottom of it wedged under my boobs and the "v" balanced precariously on the tray table. I swear to god, I hate that airline to the very depths of my soul. Did I mention that the air (when it actually circulated) smelled like feces? Their demise would thrill me to no end.

The one flicker of light in these 6 hours of my life that are lost forever is the lovely woman in the aisle seat who watched as I made genuine headway into finishing the bouton d'blow sweater. She mentioned that she thought she was the last person crocheting, and I assured her she most definitely was not! She also said that she was now tempted to take up the hook! So sweet baby jeebus, the hooking ministry works! I hope she does crochet again and more power to her! All snarkiness aside, I love love love getting people on the crochet wagon. Actually, it doesn't matter if it's crochet, knitting, or any creative endeavor. I just want to see people do more soul-satisfying, creative work -- whether they pursue it every day or once a year. I think we'd all be better for it.

That, and seeing Continental cease operations. Oh, man, that would be sweet.

SkyHooker

So Subway Hooker has taken her act to the cramped and filthy skies! Funny how Continental Airlines, with their excruciating lack of leg room and non-existent airspace, makes it virtually impossible to do work on a business trip. As soon as we level out, the passenger in front of me knocks his seat back into my face, and my laptop is rendered incapable of opening to where I can see the screen. Way to go, Continental! This seemingly frustrating situation narrows my on-board activities to the following: reading (check), sleeping (check), eating (check, since I get the vegetarian option), and hooking (doubleplusgood Check!). So I took the opportunity to grab some lovely chocolate sportweight alpaca and got started on the above sweater. This pattern is available either from Bouton d'Or's pattern book Collection Printemps-été n° 84, or in the 2008 Crochet-a-Day Calendar, January 11-13 pages.

Truth be told, their instructions suck, big time. But perseverance pays off bigger time, and I am on my way to having this lovely lacey froth for my very own. As soon as my internal clock is back on East Coast time, I'll post pics on the progress.

By the way, if any of you work for Continental, please feel free to forward my comments on their appalling lack of space to anyone there who pretends to give a crap. Perhaps they'll figure out a way to spin it to their advantage ("I fly Continental whenever I just want to forget about work and relax!....")