Snowed In…Again

Except unlike in December when I was snowed in in DC with my family, my guy and a friend of ours, this time I am all alone.  Fear not!  I took the opportunity to have a mini James McAvoy movie marathon (so far Becoming Jane and Starter for 10 and I’m planning on Wanted and Penelope next) and knit like a crazy person.  Most of my day has looked like this…

Except of course for the part of that looked like this…

Unfortunately I only managed to dig out the front walk and the sidewalk and not my car, which is in fact that vaguely station wagon shaped mound of snow you can see behind my head.  Which is going to make getting to my first day at my new part time job tomorrow mighty interesting.  Somehow I’ll manage.

Most of my knitting today has been dispersed over a number of projects just started within the last 48 hours.  One of the ones I’m most excited about is a new pair of glittens to replace the pair I made two years ago which are now thread bare and pathetic.  I’m knitting them out of Tosh Sock in Ink, which sure is looking pretty (oh, and don’t miss the snow on sill).

I also recently started a improvised shawl design based on the traditional shawls that show up in all the costume dramas I watch.  I’m using a traditional shetland construction with a vintage lace edging.  It’s been loads of fun so far, just dreaming it up. I also restarted making the Acorns hat with some Tess Cultivated Silk & Wool.  I had begun making it with my one handspun, but it’s still so slubby that it was just looking too knobby.  This version is going to be super smooth.

So my knittings been sprinkled about, but it’s been a productive snow storm.  In fact it’s been a productive year so far.  1879 yds worth of finished projects since Jan. 1.  I know because I’ve been keeping track for the Yarn Snobs Stashdown.  Mostly I don’t have pictures that I’m happy with enough to show you anything yet, but I will share these…

Hardly enough to warrant their own FO post, these little guys make me super happy anyway.  They are knit in Mama Blue Troika Worsted, which it turns out is what heaven would be like if it were a yarn.  More information is up on ravelry.  And more knits soon!

My New Friend

I’d like to introduce you to a new friend.  I’m tentatively calling her Jemaine.  Jemaine is an Ashford Kiwi that showed up under the Christmas tree this year.

I love her.  You know how sometimes when you wait for something for a long time it builds anticipation, and you get so excited, but then once the excitement settles, it’s really not that great.  Well, this isn’t like that at all.  I waited patiently for my new friend since Rhinebeck when Mom & I picked her out.  Meanwhile I spent the intervening months looking at fiber online constantly, making lists of whose fiber I wanted to stash, reading The Intentional Spinner, queuing patterns that are good or handspun yarns and admiring the handspun of fellow ravelers.  And then Christmas Day, I opened the box, harassed my Dad until he put my little Kiwi together (in our family assembly is the truly generous part of the gift) and started spinning.  It was love at first treadle.

Since then I’ve made these.  I squeezed in as much spinning time as possible into the last few weeks of my busy break.  I took a private lesson with Rosemarie at fibre space, which was super helpful.  By the end of that lesson I had made my very first plied bobbin, which turned into this little puppy right here:

It’s a bit under-spun in places and still disorganized, but hey it looks like yarn!  And I got better pretty quickly.

I kept working away on two more bobbin of singles, until Friday night when I plied those up as well.  I soaked and finished everything to set the twist.

When they dried I was left with 4 skeins of varied weight of lofty & beautiful yarns.  They’re definitely not perfect.  The smallest skein got a bit over twisted during plying, although most of it settled when it soaked.  The last skein from my more recent bobbins is a bit lighter weight than the first skein.  They are thick and thin for sure.  But it’s handspun that looks like handspun, which honestly I enjoy!

The one above is my favorite skein yet.  It’s 98 yards of mostly heavy worsted weight yarn.  It’s got some funky spots, but overall it’s pretty consistent.  Oh and it feels amazing.

The fiber for these guys is a bit of a mystery.  It was donated for practice by my Mom who got about a fleece’s worth at MDSW a number of years ago.  It’s obviously naturally colored, and it’s been beautifully processed into roving.  It’s relatively long staple and has very nice fiber alignment.  My best guess is merino, but it might be something else.  Either way, it’s created beautiful first yarns.

So now I’m just as addicted to spinning as knitting.  There’s something deeply satisfying about creating your own yarns.  Stay tuned for more because I’ve started moving onto dyed fiber.  Oooooo colors!

Copper Cardy

Christmas was a whirlwind, but I’m slowly recovering.  And I promised that I’d be able to show you my Vine Yoke Cardigan soon and here it is.

Pattern: Vine Yoke Cardigan (ravelry)

Source: Twist Collective Fall 2009

Yarn: Madelinetosh, Tosh Worsted

Needles: US 8

Started: September 16, 2009

Finished: November 26, 2009

Find it on Ravelry here.

The second this pattern was released I knew I wanted to make it.  But I could also tell from the get go that the bell effect created by the vine lace edging on the sleeves and hem just wasn’t for me.  So I decided I’d make it but with some mods to the cuff and hem.  I went ahead and ordered a boat load of Tosh Worsted and set out scheming.  At first I thought maybe I’d put ribbing on the cuffs and hem, to give the sweater more of a close fit, but then I decided that plan was likely to screw the whole thing up.  So I came up with the idea to use perpendicular garter bands as a sleeve and hem edging.

I did this by simply leaving off the vine lace edging when I worked the sweater and picking up around the edges at the end.  The pattern is worked back and forth from the neckline to the bottom of the sweater, creating the vertical garter stitch.  The vine lace edging is worked at the end of the rightside rows.  For sizes 30-42 the edging is worked over 10 stitches.  So the stitches had to be accounted for in the length of each row.  When I cast on, I cast on 10 fewer stitches than I was instructed to and continued to work 10 fewer stitches throughout the sweater, including when casting on later for the sleeves. I worked in garter stitch right up to the bottom edge, since I had eliminated the edging.  Then after knitting the whole sweater but before seaming i picked up stitches around the bottom of each sleeve and the bottom of the body, one stitch for each garter ridge.  I worked in garter stitch until each band measure about 1 1/2″ and then bound off.  It was actually quite simple and gives the sweater a sleeker look that I think suits me better than the original.

I’m incredibly pleased with the result, thanks in no small part to the yarn.  This was my first time working with Tosh Worsted and I often felt like I might never need to knit with any other yarn again.  Of course I’m far too fickle to ever truly devote myself to one yarn, but it is seriously beautiful stuff.  The colors are of course to die for.  This one is copper penny, which I bought as the perfect Fall color and am now wearing as a way to spice up the slightly dreary winter world.  And the yarn feels great in your hands.  and creates an incredibly soft, sleek and smooth garment.  My only complaint is that during blocking, despite being incredibly well supported it grew like crazy after being pulled from the water.  I had to push the sweater back in on itself while on my blocking mats to keep it from turning out 8 sizes too large.  In the end it dried in it’s original size, having gotten only a little longer.  Which I actually think was a blessing in disguise.

After blocking, I waited for some time for buttons to arrive from Beijing.  They were slow, so it sat round for a few weeks.  But I wore it for the first time to Thanksgiving dinner and I’ve been wearing it loads since.  It gets loads of compliments, which certainly makes a girl feel good.  So my first truly successful sweater is truly a success.  Yay!

Sparkling Ginger Chocolate Cookies

Just a short post today while I’m snowed in (should be sledding soon!).  The other day I made Sparkling Ginger Chocolate Cookies from this recipe.  Boy are they good.

If you are a ginger person, this recipe is for you.  I’ve never been one for super chocolatey cookies, but the blend of flavors here is really awesome.  It’s a pretty simple recipe relying mostly on quality of ingredients and the interest of the flavor combination.  Next time I might use just a little less chocolate.  In some of the cookies which ended up with bulkier chocolate bits, the ginger flavor gets overwhelmed to the point where you mostly taste chocolate.  But other than that it’s totally perfect.  So if you’re looking for a non traditional Christmas cookie to make, I vote for these!

So Mysterious

Fear not faithful readers (if indeed there are any of you left)!  Finals are over!  I’m back in DC for a month!  And I have plenty of free time!  Which means my little blog will get a decent helping of the attention it deserves.  So stay tuned I’ve got plenty to show you.

Socktoberfest is long over, and these socks have been finished with for a month, but I’m still so pleased with the results that I can’t help but want to show them to you.  So here are this years Mystery Socks from Through the Loops.

Pattern: Mystery Sock ‘09 (ravelry)

Source: Through the Loops

Yarn: Sundara Sock

Needles: US 1

Started: October 1, 2009

Finished: November 14, 2009

Find it on Ravelry here.

I know I mentioned in passing that Kirsten was doing another Socktober Mystery KAL this year.  I of course could not even live with the idea of not knitting-a-long.  Just like last year,this years KAL was a real blast.  So many people participated again this year.  There are currently 575 projects listed for the pattern on Ravelry and I think most of those were at least started during Socktoberfest.  I know I’ve said before that I just love a good KAL.  And my thoughts on the matter have always been the more the merrier.  This might have something to do with the fact that photos are my most favorite parts of KALs, I love to see what everyone is doing, and the more folks involved the more version you get to see.  What could be better?

The pattern itself is awesome, of course.  Kirsten hit another home run with this one.  Super fun to work on and brilliant end results for just about every version I’ve seen.  I love the change in direction from leg to foot.  The way the pattern extends down the back of the heel flap is another especially nice detail.  The chevron cuff is so much more interesting than plain old ribbing and the way the toe looks like flower petals is so sweet.  Here take a peak:

This was actually my first time using Sundara Sock.  Compared to some other sock bases I’ve been working with lately it was a hair stiff for my taste. It feels perfectly soft once knit up and blocked, but it could be a bit softer running through the fingers.  Thats said the colors are so lovely.  And her yarns do seem to yield gorgeous end results every time.

So there you are!  More FOs to come & much, much more.  Like a finished Vine Yoke Cardigan as soon as I get some good pictures.  See you soon.

As The Day Is Breaking

So I promised an FO post and here I am actually delivering!  The first actual FO post in ages (although thankfully not the only FO in ages).  This is my version of the westknits pattern Daybreak.  As soon as I saw this pattern I knew I had to make one and now here it is.

Pattern: Daybreak (ravelry)

Source: westknits

Yarn: Sunshine Yarns, Soft Sock & Plymouth Yarn, Alpaca Prima

Needles: US 3

Started: September 1, 2009

Finished: October 24, 2009

Find it on Ravelry here.

This pattern is simple, but inspired.  It seems this combo is the trademark of Stephen West.  The arching stripes are instantly appealing and the segments created by the slip stitch pattern adds extra interest.  I made the medium, and it came out too large to wear as a scarf, so it’s gotta go around the shoulders.  The upside to this is that this shows off the stripes better.

Sunshine Yarns Soft Sock has recently been discontinued.  As I know I said when I first talked about this project, I had a lot of trouble figuring out what to do with yarn.  It was started in projects and then frogged numerous time.  But it’s so lovely that I never gave up.  This shawl turned out to be just the right thing for it.  And it really is a very nice yarn.  Now that I’ve used it successfully I’d like to work with it again, but I do wonder if others had trouble like I did.  The base is a bit unusual for a sock yarn, it’s very fuzzy for merino and soft in a squooshy way.  It has a nice halo to it.  I think those qualities made the base much better suited to a project like this one than the socks and such I originally tried to use it for.  The Alpaca Prima added a nice neutral backdrop from the lovely dark green, and upped the fuzz ante considerably.  It is certainly a cozy shawl.

So there’s one more fall shawl to add to my stack.  One more asset to my goal of avoiding wearing rectangular scarves all season.  I think I’m all set in that department, but that doesn’t seem to be stopping me.  I of course, have more shawls in the works.  And I have a few more things to show you, so stay tuned.

In the Box: Vol 4

My most recent box was picked up Wednesday evening and was chock a block full of amazing fall vegetables.  I am definitely a fall veggies person so I was beyond pleased.  Here let me show you…

This week I took home:  Rome apples, broccoli, white Hammon sweet potatoes, a yellow onion, garlic, a rutabaga, a Hokkaido squash, chard and baby spinach.  I have to say I am more than pleased in the decreased amount of greens.  I was having a hard time getting through them all.  I’m not much of a green person, but in the Summer they seem refreshing.  When it’s hot I’m more than happy eating a good salad.  But not once Fall starts.  Lately I’ve wanted loads of cozy food, so I must be getting what I wish for.

Some good Fall cooking has been happening and I’m sure more will be with this bumper crop of loveliness.  I’ve got some of those things to show you soon, but some highlights that occurred too late in the day to get decent photos included a lovely Beef, Leek & Barley Stew from this recipe.  I included some of my CSA red potatoes as well and one shot of bourbon to jazz things up.  The bourbon made all the difference.  I also made Apples & Custard, the coziest of all dessert if you ask me.  I made the apples from a now forgotten recipe, although largely it was improvisation anyway.  And the custard recipe was from Cook with Jamie, which I took out of the library recently and now definitely have to buy.

I absolutely adore Jamie Oliver and every time I make anything from a Jamie recipe it works out beautifully.  Like this one which is my go to recipe for anytime you’ve got lots of time, but limited energy and want to impress some folks with your yummy and beautiful food.  It’s the one recipe I have that turns out just as gorgeous as it does tasty every single time.  Seriously it always looks like the picture.

In addition to good cooking, some good knitting has been going on as well.  I’ve been managing to rack up some FOs recently.  Hopefully a few of them will get photographed this weekend while I’m in DC and I’ll finally have some finsihed knitting to show you when I get back!

Let’s Make a Weekend of it: Rhinebeck Edition

That’s right ladies and gents, last weekend my Mom and I made the trip up to the Hudson River Valley for Rhinebeck for the first time ever.  As long time attendees of Maryland Sheep and Wool we had been talking about making the trip to Rhinebeck for years (8 years to be exact, we first discussed it when I was doing college tours and went to visit nearby Bard).  In the past the pieces never really came together, we were too busy, or we didn’t think to book far enough in advance, but last year when Rhinebeck rolled around, Mom & I made a promise that 2009 would be the year that the ladies of the clan made it to Rhinebeck!

We made a weekend of it, heading up on Friday to hang out in the area and staying until Sunday afternoon.  Friday we kept it low key, Mom had a long week at work and I had only finished midterms the day before.  We were both wiped, so we focused on relaxing on the beautiful property of our hotel near New Paltz.  Here’s just a taste of what we found there…

Truthfully the property was amazing.  On one side a mountain rose up behind the lake, while on the other it slowly descended into a valley towards New Paltz only to rise again to the next ridge in the distance.  No matter which way you looked the view was stunning.  I’m such a city girl that sometimes I forgot how wonderfully restorative it can be to surround oneself with natural beauty.  It was just what I needed.

We woke up early on Saturday to head to the festival.  As we were getting ready we could see the affects of the sunlight on the sky over the mountain above the lake.  We didn’t ever see the sun crest over the horizon because the mountain was too high, but the affects on the sky were beautiful.  I went outside on the balcony to watch for awhile.  I had to bundle because it was chilly.  I had on my coat over my PJs, as well as all the usual hand knit winter accoutrement plus I wrapped myself in the quilt.  Despite somewhat frozen fingers I managed to get a few shots to share just how lovely it was.  Like this one of the sky reflected in the lake…

After the sky turned lighter and the colors faded, I hopped back inside to shower and get dressed so we could head out.  We grabbed tea on the way out the door and we were off towards Rhinebeck.  We raced a few buses full of knitters and showed up at the gates at 8:50 and we were ushered in.  First stop was Apple Cider to ward off the chill, and then we headed towards the numbered barns.

We didn’t have a real plan of attack, neither one of us was trying to score anything highly coveted.  Since the forecast was looking ominous we decided to do things that were more outdoors first and then save more indoor areas for later in case the rain came and we had a repeat of MDSW on Sunday this year.  The shopping started fast.  We had to make a trip to the car to unload (mostly Mom’s fiber) after being there for less than 2 hours.  I have to admit I was a little slower to procure, but trust me I caught up.

Saturday was a great day.  There was much to see and buy.  The sun lasted for only a few hours, but the weather held out all day, not a raindrop in sight.  We ran into a old friends and a few new.  I met up with Lina for the first time, which was lovely.  We shopped around in the main buildings and then attempted to have some food.  We were some what thwarted by long lines, but we ate eventually.  We also ran into Andrea, which was awesome.  Always nice to know more knitters in my new town.  It’s so much fun to put real live faces to people you know through Ravelry and blogland.

We got tired relatively early in the afternoon, so with the knowledge that there was more time Sunday, we headed into town.  Downtown Rhinebeck is very cute and we found that Bread Alone had been invaded by knitters.  We decided to contribute and ordered more cider and plopped down to lay with yarn for an hour or so.  We spent the rest of the evening being very low key with dinner in our room and lots of knitting and reading.

Sunday way drizzly, but the weather still held out relatively well.  There was almost now real rain, and what there was kept the crowds down.  Plenty of room to move around on Sunday.  So we did the sheep barns we had missed the day before.  As lovers of wool it’s always nice to be reminded what beautiful and sweet creatures most sheep are.

And I always love a chance to witness the parts of the fiber process I get less exposure too in the day to day.  Somebody needs a trim…

Later we did more wandering.  I finally got to try the potpies that were virtually unattainable on Saturday.  It was delish.  I also picked out a wheel that has been ordered and will be coming my way around Christmas!  And I snagged some fiber, so I can get spinning once it is really mine.

All in all it was a wonderful weekend.  I never complain about a chance to buy yarn, but it’s always a joy to do so in a beautiful setting surrounded by other people knitters.  October is certainly a lovely time of year to be in that part of New York.  That alone is reason enough to travel, but you throw in all the fibery fun and you’ve pretty much nailed my ideal weekend.   Those of you who have been know just what I mean, and for those of you who haven’t, I really recommend it if you can make it happen.  Oh and I suppose you’ll be wanting to see the haul…

Here I am back home in my PJs in love with all the pretty things I picked up.  I’m sure you’re noticing lots of natural sheepy colors.  It’s what I like to buy at festivals and once the weather turns colder it’s what I crave.  I love beautiful hand dyed yarns as much as the next person, but when the air is crisp I just want to sit down with something super wooly.  And believe me, that’s just what I’ve been doing all week.

In the Box: Vol. 2 & 3

Ok so the last few weeks were so busy mostly because of midterms that I never got around to posting what was in my second CSA box even though I took pictures.  And today I went a picked up my third box, so I’m going to do a joint round up of boxes 2 and 3.

Box 2 was really beautiful.  It was a real joy to open.  Inside I found: 2 cloves of garlic, one yellow onion, 4 apples, bok choy, baby spinach, rosemary, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, collards, sweet potatoes and the most beautiful and fragrant cilantro you’ve ever seen (and smelt).  It’s possible I’ve forgotten something, but I believe I’ve gotten most of it.  I’m working from memory and it feels like ages ago that it I picked this box up.

Sadly because I was so busy, I didn’t cook too much over the last two weeks.  A few times over the weekend before midterms as breaks from working, but not too much.  Some of these beautiful things are still hanging on, but some of them didn’t make it.  The most heartbreaking bit of all, is that the aforementioned gorgeous cilantro wilted in my fridge over night even though I put it in a glass of water (advice on how to avoid this would be much appreciated).  I definitely cried a little inside when I woke up that Thursday morning and saw my gorgeous cilantro in a state not worth using.  The broccoli and the collards also bit it.  But the sweet potatoes were scarfed up as delicious spiced wedges.  And everything else is still hanging on.

I picked up Box 3 this evening and opened it to find a very colorful box.  This time I got: more leeks, more red potatoes, a sweet mama squash (which I’ve never even seen before!), beets, radishes, baby arugula, green beans, kale, red and green peppers and chives.  A lot of these are not things I would normally buy, so I went searching away on the internet for what I might do with these lovelies.  I found a few things, but I’m still lacking in inspiration, especially with the green beans and the beets (I’ve never been much of a beet person, but I’m ready to be persuaded), so if you have anything you love to do with any of these veggies, please share!

For those of you who are waiting to hear about Rhinebeck, I promise coverage is coming soon.

Pumpkin Whole Wheat Pancakes

If it is absolutely necessary to spend the entire weekend doing work for midterms, one might as well start off Saturday morning on the right foot.  So I woke up early (this is a new, but now relatively regular thing for me) and started making breakfast.  I decided to make Pumpkin Pancakes from this recipe, because it feels more like fall everyday.

The recipe is pretty straightforward, the only trickiness I had was consistency.  I have become aware that pancake batter consistency is a very personal thing, everybody having their own preferences for just how thick or thin they like the batter to be.  My family was always in the runnier batter, smaller, silver dollar style pancakes camp, so that is the camp I remain in today.  I ended up mixing in more buttermilk after combining all the ingredients three times in order to achieve a consistency I was pleased with, and it was still a bit thicker than I usually do.

As whole wheat pancakes it’s not surprising that they would be a bit heftier than regular pancakes, so they came out dense, but in a hearty, stick-t- your ribs kind of way.  Let me just say, I’m not much of a whole wheat person.  I’ve slowly snuck it into my diet where I can stomach it because I know how much healthier it is, and I’ve grown to like it in certain contexts.  But whole wheat pancakes have never made me want to jump for joy.  However, the pumpkin in these puppies simultaneously softens and compliments the whole wheat flavor in a way that I can definitely get excited about.

I accompanied the pancakes with a pot of Yorkshire Gold in my brand new Yorkshire Tea teapot (a major thanks to Amanda, who helped me get my hands on one!).  The whole breakfast was delicious and very hearty.  It only took five small pancakes to fill me up and I wasn’t the slightest bit hungry until late lunchtime.  Oh an the best part, the recipe made enough pancakes to least me at least three more breakfasts, so I won’t even have to dip into my toaster waffle stash until midterms are practically over!