Chickenlips Knitting

Here's the "Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono" from MDK, and it's really, really tiny. Sure, it wasn't much knitting, so I'm OK with the fact that the newborn it was made for will have about a two-week window of time in which it will fit her. (Take lotsa pictures, please, new mom!) The kimono took just one ball of Rowan Calmer, which is rapidly becoming my favorite yarn of all time to knit with (as opposed to my favorite yarn to just sit and admire). But seriously, Calmer is the sex. The softest, cuddliest stuff in the universe. This is the ball I was left with after making a camisole last summer, and that cami still feels and looks good after many washings and wearings.

Oh, and the little cap is from the first Not Just Socks book--I used a bit less than half a skein of Koigu. Now that I look at it, it's probably a bit too dark for baby wear--it's just that the colorway complemented the shade of Calmer, I've had it in my stash for over a year, and--and it's, well, it's Koigu.

Knitting baby stuff may not be the quickest way to use up stash, but it sure is addicting! I've got another little cap on the needles using sock yarn. And I found a little coat pattern which will use up a leftover skein of Cascade. My big projects continue to languish--they sit in the corner and judge me--but here's how I figure it: there's only a short time in which a baby can wear something you knit for him or her. An adult size sweater, shawl or blanket can be worn/used year in, year out, and it hardly ever gets covered in strained squash or spit-up.

This is one of those nights where I've already done the mental composition of a hysterically funny (at least it cracked me up at the time) blog post, but as soon as I sat down to write it, I couldn't remember any of it. So instead, let me give you my recipe for fried rice. I've been making this stuff for the past quarter century, and it is the ultimate quick meal or snack:

2 cups cold cooked rice

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 green onions, sliced

1/2 cup diced ham or chicken

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 egg

Heat oil in nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add rice and stir until hot and mixed with oil. Stir in green onion and ham, cook and stir briefly. Add soy sauce and mix well. Push mixture to sides of pan. Break the egg in the center, and stir until egg is almost set. Remove pan from heat and mix egg into rice.

Serves 1 as a main dish or 2 as a side dish.