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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.
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.
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!
