32nd International Street Food Bazaar

Every year MSU hosts the International Street Food Bazaar in Bozeman, MT. It is held on campus, and this year it seemed like they had record numbers of people attending. Last year was my first visit - I went as part of an assignment for one of my classes. This year Matt was able to go along with me! (And I was there to enjoy the food, not to do a class assignment!) I wanted to get pictures of the food we ate, and of the students making the food...but I got a little too excited about the food...and ended up without any pictures of the actual event. Whoops! Maybe next year :) I did however, bring home the brochure...and took pictures of that!

We enjoyed ourselves immensely. We went with $40, and came home with $1. We went with empty bellies, and came home overstuffed! It was all in all, a fantastic event! We were able to eat from 11 different countries, from Africa to China to Peru. We tried two different curries, (and could have tried more!) had four different types of rice, and four different beverages. We had chicken and beef and fried plantains!

I think my favorite booth was Saudi Arabia's curry, although I didn't like the veggies - okra and green beans. I also loved the sticky rice from Peru's booth, that came with their version of stir fried beef, complete with onions and tomato chunks. I also loved Burma's pumpkin ginger cupcakes, and Malaysia's Pink Lady beverage. Matt thoroughly enjoyed Indonesia's Chicken Sate with Chili and Garlic Peanut Sauce, and India's spicy Samosa (like a pasty!) and curried chicken. He also cleaned the plate filled at the African Society's booth - fried plantains, rice, and spicy chicken sauce. We were glad we also grabbed Aruk from Iraq, because as a biscuit-y pastry filled with meat, it was not spicy and helped cool our mouths between bites of seriously spicy curry. The American Indian Council's fry bread with honey and powdered sugar really capped the night off for us, in a doughy sweet treat.

We can't wait to go back again next year!! What do you think you would have tried?

 

How to Make an I-Cord

In our knitting, we use i-cords a lot. Every mouse, every snake toy, purse strings, cowl/ponytail hat ties, hat ties...the list goes on and on. They are super handy little buggers, and you can use them for anything imaginable. You can use two double point needles, a circular needle, or even handy dandy little i-cord making tools. It all depends on what you need, what you have, and how you make it. For the mice and snake toys I go 'old school'. I make the mice and snake toys on size 11 double point Brittany needles, I only have two on hand - not sure where the rest of the set is. I start the mice toys at the nose, and end with the i-cord tail. First you need to cast on, or decrease down, to the amount of stitches you are going to use for your i-cord. I always use four, but you can test out different numbers for yourself. Knit across the four stitches as usual:

Then just slide them to the end of your needle, so the first stitch you knit in the last row is now the first stitch you knit in your second row. (The yarn is still attached to the far left stitch, but is pulled across the back so you can knit the far right stitch.)

It's as simple as that. You just keep knitting across the four stitches, never turning the i-cord around. Basically, the yarn comes across the back (you need to keep it fairly tight) and the first and the last stitches come together on the back side.

Sorry for the blurry picture! This is the backside, you can see the purl stitches from the last row, but then how the knit stitches come together below.

For the ball and string toys however, I use the Embellish Knit. I used a different hand held device for a long time, and that worked pretty well too, but the Embellish Knit has a hand crank:

The only trouble with the Embellish Knit is that it doesn't technically do heavy yarns. The cotton I use for my ball and string toys is just a bit heavy - and eventually I will break my Embellish Knit. But - it's better (and faster!) than hand knitting a six foot long i-cord. No matter how fast I can knit, this little crank device can knit a lot faster. I even found a video online that showed a lady who had pulled the crank out, and inserted a drill....then the i-cord knits up really fast!!! :)

What do you use i-cords for? Have you ever made one, or were you intimidated by the lack of turning? Let us know in the comments!

Etsy Weekends - Natural Yarn

I know I share a lot of yarn here, but gosh I just can't help it! This yarn is so pretty! I just want to hug it and hold it and love it forever!

Gray Cotswold from ACL HandWeaver 

White Finnish Wool from Just a Day Dream

Come on by next time to see what other finds we have for you!

Box Kitties

You know you've got one too, a cat who loves a cardboard box! Spike used to climb into Pepsi Cubes, and then she would try to fit into 12 packs. Goofy kitties! Here are a couple of oldies but goodies!