Monthly Archives: August 2010

question: what’s missing?

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Answer: My hemlock ring blanket. I’ve finished the knitting, and all I need to do is knit the incredible long bind-off row. I was waiting to put up a new post because I wanted to be able to share a picture of it off the needles, but let’s face it. That might not happen for a few more days. So here’s what else has been going on at Casa Rooster:

Much pouting.

A fried egg sandwich with barbecue sauce for breakfast.

Frequent belly scratching. Boh pretty much maintained this position on the couch for much of last night.

And a little bit of spinning. I’m into the second three oz. bump of the brown alpaca. Also, lots of small but necessary campus tasks, and a fair bit of reading. There’s granola in the oven, laundry in the washer, and today is farm day.

Time to settle in with a coffee refill and today’s pile of reading. And maybe that bind-off row…

spinning alpaca.

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This morning (instead of starting the book I need to finish for a discussion on Thursday) I sat down to play with the alpaca I am spinning for a friend of mine. Boh woke me up, barking to go out, ten minutes before my alarm went off. (I don’t know about you, but I really, really enjoy the sleep I get early in the morning, just before I wake up.) So I was groggy. Hence the decision to make coffee and spin, rather than jump into the day’s work.

This stuff is much softer than what I used for my first (short-lived) attempt at spinning alpaca last summer. I don’t have any information about it, but I’m wondering if it is a blend, or perhaps baby alpaca? My friend gave me two different fibers to spin — this natural brown stuff, and some natural grey alpaca. The grey stuff feels coarser, and more like what I thought alpaca was like.

I’ve got close to 6 oz. of the dark brown alpaca, so I’m aiming for a two-ply in the light-worsted to worsted range. Some sections of the fiber spun smoothly and evenly, while others required a bit more wrestling and wrangling. I’m not sure if that has to do with the fiber being a bit compressed in places, or if it is simply the natural variation in the quality of this animal’s coat. I am quite happy with the way this is turning out — and I’m anxious to spin up the second bobbin and ply so that I can see how the fiber reacts when it is set. (Will it soften further? Plump up?) I’ll keep you posted.

This photo was pretty dark, so I clicked the “enhance” button in iPhoto, and here’s what it gave me. I like it.

t-10 rows.

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I am so close to finishing this. Which is excellent, because I very much want to block it and send it to live in LA. I’m neglecting my reading, and I even allowed myself to watch the entire final disc of Mad Men Season 3 on Saturday. (Okay, and I’m currently downloading the first few episodes of Season 4 to keep me company as I knit around and around.) I have a few rows of stockinette and one more increase section before I bind off. And then I’ll be able to keep reading…and perhaps cast on a few of the projects I’ve been daydreaming about lately!

Boh has been keeping an eye on this project. Too bad it isn’t for him…

in which i distract you with food.

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You know, so you don’t notice that I haven’t even picked up my knitting this week.

First up, zucchini brownies. The farmers at my CSA emailed a link to this recipe last week, and since I still had zucchini leftover after all kinds of zucchini casseroles and breads, I decided to give it a whirl. Super delicious, and the chocolate chips you sprinkle on top at the end make these extra rich and chocolatey, almost as if they’re frosted. Also, this recipe uses 2-3 cups of shredded zucchini, which is way more than most zucchini bread recipes call for.

And then, on the same night, no less, I made bread and butter pickles with a handful of gorgeous farm cucumbers. I followed Deb’s recipe (minus the celery seed because I didn’t have any), and now I have a jar full of pickles to snack from in the fridge. (Lucky for me, the boy is not really a pickle fan. More for me!)

As you can see from this photo, Boh is also trying to be productive. If only he’d read and take notes on my books.

I snapped this photo of one of my bookshelves this morning. I can’t wait to knit with all this handspun, but I think I had better make a bit more progress on my reading lists first. Happy Friday!

greenery.

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On Friday afternoon, I got a call from N., who happens to be one of my favorite people. (Boh likes him a whole bunch too.) N. is a friend from my life in the southwest who made a move eastward last year. He didn’t move here (that would be too good to be true) but he grew up in the next town over, so I get to see him whenever he is visiting his parents. Anyway, Friday was a long day. It was the last day before the boy returned, and I had purposefully planned some meetings and things to do in order to make the day seem, well, less long. And I finished those. And it was only mid-afternoon. And then N. called to tell me that we were going on a walk. Just what I needed.

We snacked on zucchini bread, Boh gnawed on a stick, and the sunshine and weekend-announcing breeze were enjoyed by all.

And then I made a huge pot of green beans for dinner. And waited. And he’s home now, though he probably wouldn’t call here “home,” exactly. And I am happy.

More knitting soon.