Knitting Pattern Geekery

Okay, so I'm on Stitch Diva's mailing list, because I love some of their patterns. They do the top-down thing, but not everything looks baseball-shirt raglan-y, and what's not to love about an easy-to-knit sexy sweater?

But what - WHAT - is their thing with Tili Thomas yarns? It's like they're actually bankrolled by the yarn manufacturer. And sorry - I am not making sweaters that require seven skeins of $28 yarn. Or six of $28, and one $35 skein of beaded accent yarn. I am not laboring under the impression that making my own sweaters is a cheap way to acquire clothes (because, just by the value of my own time, it is *so* not), but nor am I particularly up for paying ~$200 in materials for one project. Listing "any DK weight yarn" as a sub is just not on - not all same-weight yarns are created equal. If they absolutely must design everything using overpriced materials, they could at least give real thought to the substitution issues.

(no subject)

In my ongoing series of attempts to feel reasonably prepared to start working full time, I spent part of this afternoon going through back issues of Cooks Illustrated, flagging recipes that I thought might be interesting to try, particularly those that can be partly or entirely made ahead, and those that look simple. Now, this is Cooks Illustrated, and they have a tendency to think that some pretty bizarre things are simple, but I'm finding more promising material in our 5-6 years of back issues than I expected. Thai chicken soup. Sichuan green beans. Eight million ways to roast a chicken. I'm not all the way through the stack yet. I keep getting hung up on the notes from the editor. Man, those things are trippy. I ran into the mushroom lasagna recipe again. Has anyone tried that thing? How'd it come out? I'm curious, but it seems like such an investment in terms of time.

danceboy is putting Danger Lad! to bed, and DL! is making noises indicating his intention to stay awake for a very long time. The really dangerous noise, the one that means we're in for an awful night, is not crying (although he's cutting that one last lingering molar, and there is some of that), it's "Hi!" Our child is saying hello to us a lot tonight.