I headed to my parents’ house this morning to spend my Labor Day weekend Saturday canning peaches with my mom. Twenty-nine jars (and several hours) later, we’re done. And very excited to reward ourselves with some home-canned peaches in light syrup for breakfast tomorrow. Happy long weekend, everyone!
I am so impatient when it comes to handspun yarn. I hang it in the kitchen, on a hook over the sink that I imagine was intended for a planter, and I touch it every time I walk by. Which is a lot. Dry faster! I want to skein you up and admire you! Alas, the alpaca is still quite damp, but even now, I am starting to get a sense for the finished yarn, and I’m quite happy with the angle of the twist in the ply. It is still hard to tell exactly how soft this is going to be, but it feels lofty. Monday is my busy, all-day-on-campus day this semester, so maybe by the time I get home this evening, the alpaca will be dry.
I am also waiting for the coffee to be ready. (Or I was, when I took the picture. I’m now enjoying the first few sips from my mug.) Oh, Monday.
Hope your week is off to a good start!
So, school started on Wednesday. And even though I only had a few obligations on campus, and managed to can and cowl on Thursday (see what I did there? OED, here I come) the start of the semester is emotionally exhausting — something about trying to get comfortable in a slightly different routine. With all this in mind, my friend J. and I planned an afternoon hike, and it was just the kind of recharging we needed.
We headed out of town just after five, and hiked a nearby four-mile loop as we enjoyed the evening light. This really is my backyard — closer than my yoga teacher’s home studio, which is in one of the next towns over. Boh and I need to do this more.
When Boh and I returned, I made this colorful meal — nothing more than a bunch of farm veggies sauteed. I added some leftover rice from the fridge and it sopped up some of the broth created by the fresh tomatoes, and then I stirred in chunks of goat cheese feta to add a creamy texture. Super good, and just what I needed after that hike. This is the thing about cooking from a farm share — veggies that were harvested this week (often in the hours just before the afternoon member pick-up) are so full of flavor and earthy sweetness that you don’t have to do much of anything to them to make something absolutely delicious.
In between finishing one book and starting another, I inched towards the decrease row at the neckline of idlewood. Another inch or so and I’ll be there. I need to wind up another skein of yarn!
This morning, I worked on plying two bobbins of that super soft natural brown alpaca together. I tried to underply a bit, with the idea that a less tightly plied yarn would allow more a soft, alpaca-y halo in the finished yarn. It is soaking right now, so we’ll see how it turns out. On today’s agenda? Brunch with the boy, an afternoon birthday celebration near the lake, and a whole lot of reading/prepping for the week in between. Happy Sunday!
On Wednesday night, I blanched, peeled, and cored about a gallon and a half of paste tomatoes. And then I went to bed, more tired from the start of the semester than from the hour and a half of tomato labor! Thursday morning, before I put the water on for coffee, I filled my canning pot, gathered together some jars and lids, and set to sterilizing. 4 quarts and 2 pints of tomatoes had been raw-packed and processed (45 mins in the water bath, according to the scanned cookbook page my parents sent me, complete with my mom’s tiny, perfect notations about the number of tomatoes that fit in a pint or quart jar — love it) by mid-morning. I’m hoping to do this again next week if there are still tomatoes to pick when I head out to the farm on Tuesday.
I’ve also been cowling, which is how I’m referring (aloud, to no one in particular) to the act of knitting the cowl portion of idlewood. I am in love with the way this fabric feels and drapes in this gauge. I think I’ve got about ten inches, so I’m about two-thirds of the way there. If I can finish a book this morning, I’m going to let myself watch last night’s episode of Project Runway and do some cowling. Happy Friday!
First, the answer to the blocking dilemma: blocking trumps civilized meals at the table. I opted not to use pins — the ecowool was sticky enough that it seemed to stay where I pulled/tugged it, probably thanks to gravity, as most of the “petals” were hanging off the table. Despite rolling the blanket in a towel before laying it out to dry, I had to periodically wipe up puddles from beneath the petals. Because this is a wedding gift, I decided not to spread it out again to photograph it — that just seemed like a recipe for a blanket covered in Boh-hair. So here’s a shot of the finished hemlock ring, folded and draped over a chair in the kitchen:
I am thrilled with how this turned out. Plus, I learned new things about lace knitting, casting on, and binding off, and I reclaimed some lace knitting confidence after my ishbel fail. Victory! I used just under 1.5 skeins of Cascade Ecowool (using US 10.5 needles as called for in the pattern) and I made the regular size, binding off at the marked row on the chart. And with the kitchen table back, I made pizza for dinner last night.
This is a tomato, basil, and mozzarella pizza — no sauce, just some olive oil brushed on underneath the toppings. This is might be my new favorite pizza combination — the tomatoes were so sweet — almost caramelized by the heat of the oven.
In the land of tomatoes, want to see what I have planned in the kitchen for tonight, tomorrow, and/or Friday?
Time to can some tomatoes! I’ve never done this before, and I’m psyched. My mom emailed me her recipe for sauce and scanned in her handwritten notes about canning whole tomatoes. I remember her doing this when I was little, and I am looking forward to having my own jars of tomatoes I picked on my shelves!
Also, my fridge was so colorful after I unloaded yesterday’s haul from the farm that I just had to take a picture. I also opened the fridge door and pulled out the drawers so that the boy could admire everything from the rainbow of goodness inside to the adorableness of the baby eggplants.
Last picture today: year three, day one. Me and my goofy grin are off to campus soon. A big year begins. But first, I’m going to knit another inch of that big, happy cowl-neck.
This arrived in the mail on Wednesday accompanied by a note that said, “When I saw the logo on the mug, I immediately thought, Rooster needs to have this!” This dear, dear friend (and non-knitter) knows me well. And apparently has been visiting MD S&W with his family for years. (Thanks, Champ.)
No new knitting or spinning progress to report. I was out of town again this weekend for some super productive meetings, and I am scrambling to feel ready for the semester, which begins on Wednesday. I have, however, been queuing and ogling patterns and projects on ravelry, which is something I do when I feel like I don’t have time to actually knit and spin. Hoping to make time on this rainy Sunday for something woolly.
I made another batch of granola this morning — something I do almost weekly — and thought to snap a picture. Also, last week’s sunflower is starting to droop.
I still think she’s lovely. And that’s what I’ve got for you today. More soon!
This is going to take awhile, but boy, is it ever pretty! The knitted bind-off option for the hemlock ring involves a repeat that includes turning your work, and then knitting and purling into one stitch several times to create that lovely loop. Then you turn back and bind off those stitches, and continue on to the next grouping. Slow, but worth it, I think.
Also, last night we had a super easy, super delicious meal, completely inspired by this tomato tart over at inoakpark. I followed the recipe that K. links to, though I used slightly less butter in my crust, and didn’t need the additional tbsp of water. Also, I only slathered whole grain spicy mustard on half of the dough, as the boy is not a huge fan. I used mozzarella instead of goat cheese, fresh flat-leaf parsley for the herbs, and tucked a few stray rounds of zucchini into the gaps left by my tomato slices. The dough took less than ten minutes to make, and requires no resting time. Thirty minutes after that, this deliciousness came out of the oven. I’m not ashamed to say we polished off the entire tart. I will be making this again.
And that’s just what was left on the counter when I thought to grab my camera. The first raspberries and blackberries have ripened, so we were able to pick 1 pint yesterday. I also brought home a handful of deep sweet red peppers, a baby eggplant, cucumbers, zucchini, orange and yellow carrots, pink and orange beets, rosemary, parsley, and spring onions. (I chose to load up on the heartier stuff this week rather than go the lettuce/cabbage/salad mix route, but all of that deliciousness was available as well!)
I tried out a recipe for onion biscuits from a favorite cookbook of mine (Recipes from America’s Small Farms), but these were only okay. (I still highly recommend this cookbook.) Part of my frustration stems from the fact that I didn’t watch these carefully and they turned out a bit too golden. (Multitasking while baking a new-to-me recipe is clearly not a good idea.) But beyond that, these were too harsh and onion-y, and I cut back on the onion in the recipe. I think these need some cheese, or even something sweeter, like a touch of honey, to counter the super strong onion-y taste. (And I love onions.) I was going for a kind of summery biscuit dinner, so I made a very light tomato sauce with zucchini, squash, fennel, onion, and basil to pour over these. The sauce was delicious, but not an awesome match for these biscuits. You win some, you lose some, right?
Boh, on the other hand, won big yesterday. I picked up a trachea while restocking on Boh’s food at the natural pet supply store in town, and he spent the afternoon working his way through it. Cheap, fun for him to eat and play with, and a natural source of glucosamine. Triple win.
I spun a bit more of the brown alpaca yesterday, and I’m almost through the second three ounces. Plying soon, but probably not today.
My morning has already involved a heavy dose of this, and it is time to get back to it.
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…
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!
barefoot rooster 