I just came across the Interweave Knits summer preview - it's posted here. I like the Josephine Top, but the other patterns are not winning me over. It's a little hard to get a good impression from small pictures, so I'll give everything another chance when this issue arrives in my mailbox. I wish the pattern for the yoga bag had been published a little sooner - I was forced to design my own mat bag a few months ago! The horrors!

It's been about a month since I've introduced the math-based comment authorization, and I think it works like a charm! Whew. It took me a while to figure out the best way to regulate comments for this site, and I thought I'd share some of the techniques I considered before settling on the math-based option. Rejected option 1: Q: Which word in the following sentence is a gerund? The princess was knitting a cape. Rejected option 2: Q: Translate the following phrase into Latin: Livia brought a basket of field mice to the bacchinalia. Rejected option 3: Q: Solve for X where Y is an imaginary number: 2(0.3y + x) = 14. Rejected option 4: Q: What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow? Rejected option 5: Q: Rank the following cities from most to least populated, based on 1980 census data: Gary, Indiana; Eureka, California; Paris, Texas; Paris, France Rejected option 6: Q: What am I thinking, right now?

Has anyone else noticed the rampant inflation on television game shows? Remember when contestants were vying for the simple pleasures of a dinette set or perhaps a ceramic dalmatian? As much as I hate getting sucked into mainstream phenomena, every once in a while I find myself glued to an episode of Deal or No Deal. It's an amusing expose of commonly-held misconceptions about statistics, but what really sucks me in is the prospect of banking $100,000 (on a bad day) or so just by picking random numbers, jumping up and down, and hugging Howie Mandel. Nice work if you can get it. Now, those suckers on Survivor have to pine away in the jungle for up to 40 days, licking leaves for hydration and forgoing basic personal hygiene just for a 1/18 chance at grabbing a million. I think being a Survivor contestant is worth waaaay more than ten times the loot DOND contestants get for hugging Howie - even the losers score in the 6-figures! I think it's only a matter of time until the "jackpot" prizes are upped on game shows that have one winner per season. The ultimate prize is only a wee fraction of Survivor's budget, when you consider salaries for 350+ crew members, insurance, supplies, and all the behind-the-scenes expenditures. Not to mention the medical bills. I'll bet we're only 2 years away from seeing a 5 or 10 million top prize on Survivor. I'd lick leaves for that. But I'll hold my application until I know if the rumors about Survivor: Canada are true.

A few months back I was over at Amy's for snacks and drinks, and she had made a batch of Giada's White Bean Dip with Pita Chips. It was really yummy, and I had picked up a few cans of white kidney beans in anticipation of making a batch myself. Well, last night I had a hankering for something beany and dippy, so I looked up the recipe. Turns out, I had NOTHING called for in the recipe, except the white beans and garlic. Not to be foiled, I came up with a variation on Giada's dip that turned out very well. If you like things spicy, this dip is for you. Megan's Spicy Mexican Dip 1 14 oz can white beans, drained and rinsed 1 fresh jalapeno, seeds and ribs removed 1-2 cloves garlic 1/4 C olive oil 1-2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, plus additional adobo to taste 1 t lime juice salt & pepper to taste 8-12 corn tortillas or pitas Additional olive oil Method: Set oven to 400F. 1. Place all ingredients in blender and whip into a frenzy. (Except the tortillas, ya weirdo!) 2. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed. 3. Brush tortillas or pitas with oil, then stack and cut into eighths. Spread out on baking sheet and bake 12-15 mins (8-10 mins for pitas) until crisp, turning once. 4. Enjoy! This would probably be even better with the addition of fresh cilantro, but I didn't have any on hand. I think you can tell a lot about a person by what ingredients they consider "staples". I always have at least 3 kinds of hot chiles on hand.

Speaking of reduce, re-use, recycle (hah!) I'm trying to figure out the best way to spend the $60 that's stinking up my PayPal account. Since it's almost my birthday, I think I'm ready for a treat. Have any of you bought anything particularly fabulous recently? Y'all know what I'm into - knitting, eating, long walks on the beach... I'd love to support some crafty person, rather than a crafty conglomerate. And of course, they need to take PayPal. Leave your suggestions after the beep. *beep*

Hey, Earth, it's your birthday! Age is just a number, but you look mighty fine for 4.6 billion plus years old (or 6 thousand, depending on who you ask). A whole bunch of people are celebrating by bringing a reusable mug to Starbucks today, or maybe taking the bus. As for me, I'm celebrating Earth day by not making a gasoline bonfire on the sidewalk today. It's become a little tradition of ours, the Friday afternoon gasoline bonfire, but it's on hiatus in honor of the Earth. We'll just make the bonfire twice as big next week. It's another beautiful spring day in Seattle, and I know there are meaningful things humans can do to improve the health of our planet. I'm a little afraid that most of the things we do to "save" the Earth are actually ineffective, and may be harmful because they breed smugness. I'd love to buy a hybrid car, but building cars consume resources. Is it better for the environment to drive my Honda civic for 15 years until it dies, or trade it in for a new, more "efficient" car every 5 years? Is it better to use recyclable paper cups, or to buy ceramic mugs that consume far more resources to produce? According to the Nature Conservancy, a single ceramic mug must be used in place of styrofoam over 600 times before any environmental benefit is realized. Multiply that by all the ceramic mugs in your kitchen cabinet, and that's a lot of coffee to drink to break even, environmentally speaking. I don't know the answers. But I've seen and read some very illuminating pieces about the global community recently, such as the stunning documentary Thirst, about water privatization, and the fascinating NY Times article "How Susie Bayer's T-shirt ended up on Yusuf Mama's back". I'm totally unqualified to give advice on this issue, but I'd urge you to take a few minutes today to learn the true effect of something that you consider "environmentally friendly". The results may surprise you, or reassure you that the actions you take are actually helping the Earth. And you could also postpone any gasoline bonfire-related festivities you might be planning for tonight. I know, the hot dogs just won't taste the same.

I finished the first Manly Trekking sock, here it is on my girly foot with some even girlier daffodils. I don't think I'm going to jump on the Trekking bandwagon, but these socks are pretty nice looking. I think I just like a sock yarn to have a little more weight to it. Golly, I used to be a big Star Trek fan back in the day, and it kills me that I can't come up with a better Star Trek themed title for this post.

For future reference, some links to latte art tutorials: Latte art at I Need Coffee The Espresso Guide has a great illustrated guide to making leaf and hiney shapes. Oh wait, those are apples. Many, many examples at Rate My Rosetta Detailed frothing and art tutorials at Coffee Geek A Big ol' Flickr set of latte art Latte Art 101 and Latte Art 402 by Espresso Vivace's David Schomer They make it look so easy. Bitches.

Oy, have you seen David Lebovitz's recipe for Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream? He claims it's better than Berthillon, which I won't be able to confirm since the legendary ice cream cafe was closed last time I was in Paris. (OK, the only time I was in Paris) My only problem is that my freezer is chock-full of sourdough baguettes, so there's no room for my ice cream maker's chill chamber! I am really starting to understand why so many people have an extra freezer in the garage.

Spring in Seattle is just lovely. Here are some pictures from a recent visit to the Washington Park Arboretum, which I had never visited before in the 8+ years I've lived here. Sad.