Preparing for the Superbowl Party!!

So it's time to start thinking about what to serve at my rather small (does two make a party?) Superbowl Party.  Since it won't be much of a shindig I thought about cutting back, perhaps all I need is a bit of beer and some sort of chips.  And, of course, since this is me, they will be knit.

Here's my take for beer:



A fuzzy bottle of beer, must be aged on the outside!

 Perhaps this wasn't one of my most successful efforts.  I used the following pattern.  Should you click on the pattern you'll see the photos show a bottle that is much less furry and more realistic looking.  Since I didn't have quite the right colour of brown (or green for that matter) in stock when the urge to make this hit me, I used some stash that was the right colour, but not the right texture.  Thus the aged look with, let's call it moss, on the bottle.  I hadn't figured out I could shave off that fuzz when this bottle left my care.

This was one of the first things I knit in the round and found it to be good practice for things to come.  It also required a colour change for the label.  Should I make another one, I'd work a bit more on the label.  A lot of fun could be had trying to duplicate a more realistic label.  Improved embroidery skills would need to be used, skills I'm still working to make better.

Then there was the stuffing of this bottle.  It needs weight at the bottom to help hold it upright.  The pattern suggests you first cut a cardboard disk for the bottom of the bottle then add rocks.  So that's exactly what I did using pebbles from our flower garden.  My final product not only looked something like a real bottle of beer, it also weighed about the same as one.

Then I needed some snacks to go with the beer; I decided to knit up some Doritos.  Doritos have been a quintessential staple of the Superbowl for years so why not add them to this party.  In order to get the colours right I had to do some research about the types of Doritos available.  I was shocked to find there are so many:  Cool Ranch, Blue Cheese, Zesty Taco, Nachos Cheese, Spicy Sweet Chili, Fiery Buffalo Wings, Pizza Supreme, Cheesy Chiladas, Salsa Verde, Fiery Habanero, 1st and 2nd Degree Burn Blazing Jalapeno, and I'm sure there are more.  It was a bit overwhelming so I went with the ones covered in some sort of orange dust, and used a bit of my orange coloured yarn, mixing them to get a more realistic looking chip.

Here they are, my version of Fiery Buffalo Wings Doritos, ready to serve up with a bottle of beer.



My knitted spicy, cheesy, and hot, hot, hot Doritos


As for the instructions, no need to look, Doritos are only tiny triangles.  I cast on 14 stitches onto #2 US or 2.75 mm needles, knit a row, knit a second row but also decreased a stitch at the beginning and the end of that row (12 stitches), knit 3 rows without changing the number of stitches and continued this pattern of decrease on one row and knit three steady until I had only 2 stitches left, knit 1 row and cast off.

It will be a mild and small Superbowl party at my house this year.  But hey, the calorie content will be low as well.  Thanks Superbowl for giving me a reason to share this chestnut.  A bottle of beer and some Doritos don't fit into every occasion but are perfect for this Sunday's event.