Category Archives: kitchen

ravioli muscles.

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Oof. First of all, my ravioli-making muscles are a little sore. (That’s a technical term — they are tiny, and located in the middle of the back.) This is a small (and totally worth it) price to pay for homemade ravioli, in case you’re wondering.

My friends D and T came over last night, along with their sweet dog Coltrane, for a special dinner sort of in honor of D’s recent birthday. Just as we were about to dig in, they said something like, “Wait! Don’t you want to take a picture for the blog?” They know me well.

I followed this ravioli recipe, and the resulting meal was incredible. We also enjoyed my dad’s Caesar salad recipe, and an apple pie. It was a super fun evening, and despite the fact that my parents’ pasta maker (which lives at my house) is missing a few pieces are really requires two people to properly operate it without lots of curse words, I am jonesing for more homemade pasta…

Also, I’ve finished the yoke of Shalom! I did do an extra repeat of the yoke pattern in order to get closer to the neck to armpit distance I need, and I am excited. It is a little small right now, but I’m confident (fingers crossed) that it will block out to the slim fit I’m hoping for. My button holes look a little messy — note to self — I don’t do the bind off/cast-on button holes well, but I’m sure I can clean that up a bit with yarn needle and some extra ends. Onward to the mindless stockinette portion!

Happy Friday!

(lots) more of those singles.

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But first I have to share this photo I snapped of my lunch yesterday: leftover dumplings, new music (checking out the Broken Bells album), natural light. Yum! (And necessary sustenance for all of the spinning I have been doing this weekend.)

Finished singles, on the niddy noddy. No breaks in the winding process, which I was super happy about. I was aiming for a low-enough twist for these to be reasonably balanced after finishing. With trepidation, I took them off the niddy noddy.

And snapped another picture. So far so good — the singles are not too twisty! Into the bath they go.

Post bath, admiring the sheen of the mohair.

Boh lays claim to the towel used to squeeze out the excess water. (Can you blame him? It smells like wet woolliness.)

And now the singles are hanging to dry. It feels good to be spending so much time at my wheel!

spring singles.

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Inspired by a whole host of handspun citron shawls, as well as too many stunning skeins of handspun singles on ravelry to mention, I decided to work on some singles of my own. This fiber is a new-to-me blend: 83% mohair, 15% nylon, 2% merino from the Hello Yarn Fiber Club in the Loch colorway. I did a bit of reading in the forums, as well as in a few spinning books, to learn more about spinning mohair, and found that the long staple length makes this a great candidate for thin singles. First, I thought I’d need my very fast flyer. When I went to adjust the mother-of-all to a different height, I found that it was stuck — I think the humidity must have encouraged the finish on the mother-of-all to fuse to the wheel base. I decided that dental floss might help, and with my fingers crossed, I forced the floss between the mother-of-all and the wheel base — victory! Now my wheel is minty fresh. (Turns out, actually, that my regular flyer is what I want in order to have a bit more control and to spin lower twist singles, so I re-swapped my flyers.)

I did a bit more spinning this morning, and snapped some photos of the bobbin in natural light. I am in LOVE. (I realize I say that a lot, but it is true.)

I had a slice (or two) of this pie for breakfast, and Boh continued to lounge.

In order to be comfortable with the windows open this morning, I added a few more layers, including my simple things shawlette. Here is an official knits-in-action shot:

Hello, spring.

flowers + pie crust = spring break.

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And that was today. Windows open, music loud, pie in the oven. Boh spent the morning in a pocket of sunshine on the comforter, and I played in the kitchen and sat at my wheel. We are on spring break. (Which mostly means longer chunks of time to grade exams, read, write a conference paper — but also means we can justify things like longer, more leisurely walks, elaborate kitchen experiments, and having another beer — which is code for not working late into the evening.)

Happy weekend!

FO: patchwork (future legwarmers).

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Three skeins of worsted weight 2-ply — 150, 140, and 80 yards, respectively, for a grand total of 370 yards of Hello Yarn Fiber Club merino in the patchwork colorway. (Also known as future legwarmers. I can’t wait to cast on.)

I know it doesn’t look like it, but Boh is hard at work in this photo. Boh is breaking in a new, better-fitting slipcover for the couch — this small change makes me feel so much better about my space.

And this is warming in the oven. I have managed to make a peck’s worth of apple crisp in the last few weeks. Clearly, I am in the midst of a scientific experiment to test the following premise: apple crisp fixes everything. (I have not yet disproved my apple crisp theory.)

patchwork.

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It’s official. I’m spinning for legwarmers. I acquired a second bump of Hello Yarn merino in Patchwork expressly for this purpose, inspired by these. When Stacey made these out of her Patchwork last month, I knew it was a good idea. I wear my Cascade 220/Madil Kid Seta aqua legwarmers all the time, and with spring around the corner, I’m going to need at least one more pair to keep my ankles warm when I wear flip-flops…

Boh thought he heard something outside while I was spinning.

But then he decided it was no big deal.

This is maybe the 9th baby casserole pan full of apple crisp I’ve made in the last week. And I’m not sure I’m exaggerating. I took the recipe from last week’s apple crisp and essentially halved the apples and quartered the topping to make a less sweet, more apple-y crisp, and I’ve been making this in the evenings, eating a bit for dessert, and then warming up the rest for breakfast. I love it when apples are buy-1/2-a-peck, get 1/2-a-peck free at the orchard!

And here’s my simple things shawl, fresh off the blocking mats. I got a bit more width out of it, and the fabric is so nice and drapey. Win.

Okay, back to work. And apple crisp.

FO: sour fig.

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Boh decided that he wanted to pose alongside my finished skein of Hello Yarn shetland in Sour Fig. This is 201 yards of 2-ply, and I have a second, smaller skein of 85 yards. This stuff looks to me to be mostly sport weight, and I’m wondering if it would make a nice wurm hat. Thoughts? (Too variegated? I am also craving another set of mitts.)

Yesterday also involved this:

And this:

Friday. I managed to eat ALL of that apple crisp last night, this morning, and as a late lunch today. Boh and I just took a nice, sunshine-filled walk around the neighborhood, and I’m hoping that I have energy enough to do a bit more work this afternoon.

baktusing.

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Ta-da! It turns out that all I needed to do to finish my languishing lacy baktus was to take it out of my bag and put it in the knitting pile near the couch. (Well, and knit on it for two more hours.)

In addition to my knitterly productivity, I spent some quality time with the paper I’m revising this weekend, and while it isn’t done yet, it will be ready on time. (Tomorrow.) I turned around in my chair sometime yesterday morning, and this is what I saw:

My sweet dog, waiting patiently for playtime.

I made the Pioneer Woman’s fancy macaroni on Saturday night as a gooey, hearty reward for my steady progress on this paper, and it was divine. (A bit too decadent for the regular rotation, but the perfect treat!)

Happy March!

shoveling, sour cherries, sweetness.

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As you can see, today’s post is also sponsored by the letter S. Despite yesterday’s whining about the snow day that was not to be, all of my students showed up for section. If things had been reversed, I would’ve picked snowshoeing over school, so they all get a great big high-five. When I returned home, a mountain of shoveling awaited me.

The door to my apartment is on the back of the house. I’d say my part of town got about 15 new inches of snow on Thursday and Friday, and then some high winds helped to create some substantial driveway drifts! I shoveled a winding path from the street, zigzagging around the cars in the driveway, and around the back of the house to my door. Every time Boh and I walk down it, I feel like I’ve created some kind of Olympic ice luge or bobsled track. I also had to dig out my car, which I did in two 1-hour chunks.

My friend T. did quite a bit of shoveling yesterday too, and she came over last night to commiserate with a bit of wine and some sour cherries, which we promptly turned into coffee cake!

T. is a teacher, and she used part of her snow day to defrost these cherries and pit them. (So even though I didn’t get a snow day, I certainly got to enjoy the spoils of a snow day project!) We made this coffee cake, and it was fantastic.

T.’s sweet dog, Coltrane, came over to play with Boh, and once we convinced him to get up on the couch, he decided to spend much of the evening lounging.

Best friends. (Though Boh was whimpering a bit at the idea that he had to share his couch with Coltrane!)

One last picture — I think I am subconsciously responding to all of the bright whiteness outside! A glance in the mirror had me laughing at my apparent attempt to wear all of the colors of the rainbow at once. Silly rooster!