could it be?

Posted on November 6, 2017 by barefootrooster

Friends, I bound off the pinwheel baby blanket I started in July. I still need to block it, but I’m blogging it because it is ALMOST done, and it has been quite a long time since I finished a knitted something. Other things of note? I am doing a pretty good job of not putting on real pants during this break I have from teaching. I’m cranking through my to-do list, which is extra-long right now because we’ve got a trip to Toronto coming up. (I have a conference to attend, and Chefboyfriend has some parents [mine] to meet. We both plan to eat all of the things.) That’s the update! Here are some pictures of last week’s adventures.

6nov - 1
THIS DOG.

6nov - 8
A beautifully bound-off edge.

6nov - 2
New (cassis-colored) leggings.

6nov - 9
Writing a thing.

6nov - 3
Reading a thing.

6nov - 5
Closing down the coffee shop.

6nov - 6
Thing of beauty. (Huge pot of bolognese.)

6nov - 7
Pupper.

6nov - 11
Chefboyfriend’s new toy — an immersion circulator.

6nov - 12
The very tasty results.

6nov - 13
A Sunday morning walk in our favorite local open space.

handspun! Also, a road trip and a favorite house guest.

Posted on October 28, 2017 by barefootrooster

lateoct - 4
Finished two-ply handspun. I don’t remember what this is, but it is wonderfully squishy, and will make a lovely winter hat, or maybe a pair of mitts.

lateoct - 5
The blob of this pinwheel continues to grow. I only have a few more rows until I’m at 450 stitches, but as you can imagine, these are LONG rows. Hoping to get this to the baby I began it for before said baby is a toddler…

lateoct - 1
I pickled some radishes.

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And some beets.

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And then I drove to New Mexico to see dear friends and pick up a favorite houseguest to bring home with me.

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While in Albuquerque, we enjoyed tasty Mexican desserts.

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And beer.

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And I brought back a lot because Chefboyfriend couldn’t make the trip with me.

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Once home, I graded in a coffee shop.

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I drank beer that “tastes like wizards.”

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And captured this stunning sunset.

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Went for a hike. (That’s favorite houseguest on the left, and Chefboyfriend on the right.)

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Admired fall yellows.

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And appreciated the beauty of a bright, crisp, October afternoon.

anybody out there?

Posted on October 8, 2017 by barefootrooster

Hello, friends. It has sure been awhile. (So long, in fact, that the jeans that were new in the last post ripped a few weeks ago and I went on an emergency jean-buying spree.) When I last wrote to you, Boh and I lived in the South, but we were getting ready to head West for a new job, maybe even THE job. (This one’s tenure-track, and partway through year two, I’m really happy here.)

Not long after we moved, I met a dude — from here, but newly returned. We figured out that we drove across the country the same week. Let’s call him Chefboyfriend — because yep, that’s what he does. We’re going on 16 months together, and all three of us (me, Boh, Chefboyfriend) are happy.

I’m not knitting a lot, but there are some long term WIPs on the needles. And also a book in the works. And I’m wondering to myself if restarting the blog might be a good way to work on my writing practice as I begin working to find regular time for my research again alongside my pretty intensive teaching schedule. So, no promises — we’ve seen how that goes — but I have missed this space. And all of you.

Would you like to see some pictures of my life since March 2016? Here’s a handful (or seven):

catchup - 47
New apartment.

catchup - 28
Not long after I moved out here, I went to a dear friend’s wedding in Portland. And wore pink!

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And I cast on a baby hat.

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I continued working on a long overdue wedding blanket…

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Boh and I explored our new home.

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More of that wedding blanket. (Yes, this picture is from more than a year ago, and no, it isn’t done yet…)

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I prepped for class on my patio and looked at the mountains.

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Chefboyfriend took me on lots of hikes and drives. This one, to see the aspens last fall, was pretty great.

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I set up (and sat down at) my wheel.

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And even spun some squishy two-ply yarn.

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More adventuring with Chefboyfriend.

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We drove out to see my little brother and meet the animals on his farm.

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We took our bikes to Canyonlands for spring break.

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And there’s been lots of chef-cooked food. Cornish game hens and asparagus here, I think.

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Buffalo chicken sandwiches with Anchor Bar wing sauce my parents sent us.

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Grilled butternut squash and pork loin.

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Scallops, enjoyed on the patio near the end of summer.

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More spinning.

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We bought a dresser and celebrated our adulting skills.

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Boh experienced Great Sand Dune National Monument.

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I baked several of these variations on the Smitten Kitchen raspberry buttermilk cake.

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A colleague invited me to guest lecture at Tulane, so we went to New Orleans and ate all of the tasty things.

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I got out the tent.

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And we camped in Yellowstone.

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And drove through the Tetons.

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I baked zucchini bread and muffins — and barely put a dent in the zucchini we’ve been getting in our farm share.

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Saw my first show at Red Rocks — The Avett Brothers with Shovels & Rope.

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We have a new bakery in town, and it turns out the baker moved from where I went to grad school! He used to bake the bread in my bread share and work at the awesome farm I belonged to there. These galettes are happy-making. And the bakery is an easy bike ride from the apartment.

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Boh remains sweet and silly.

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A pinwheel blanket I cast on before our summer road trip.

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A professor costume.

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Sour beers in bright colors.

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My office door.

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Boh, with an ultrasound haircut. We had a big health scare with Boh this fall. He’s certainly getting older, but for now, he’s doing pretty well — and running along our favorite path with me again. And frolicking. Here’s one last picture from our first hike after all the scary medical stuff:

catchup - 26
Hope you’re well, friends. And happy knitting!

saying goodbye.

Posted on July 19, 2015 by barefootrooster

A lovely lake sunset, from sometime last week. (After a good swim with a friend.)

Lounging on the Arts Quad, maybe for the last time.

A happy dog, on the couch we’re giving away.

A downy woodpecker — the one I like to think keeps coming back to the black walnut tree in my front yard, and sometimes taps on my porch windows. I stood under this tree and watched her for a solid 20 minutes yesterday morning. This sweet bird (and so many others) have kept me company here. (The yard was filled with birds yesterday–it’s like they knew that I’d packed my binoculars and bird books the night before.)

And this morning I took my mug of coffee down to the end of the dock.

I watched sailboats and swallows, and appreciated the morning calm.

This is the week that I say goodbye. And I’m excited about the next thing–a new home, new town, new job. But this place has been kind to me these last seven years, and I think it will be hard to leave. (Finishing up my summer grading this week, packing up the house, and driving south to my new home next weekend. Stay tuned!)

and it’s july.

Posted on July 11, 2015 by barefootrooster

I always forget how intense summer session courses can be. Three weeks of daily discussion sections have gone by in a flash, and it’s July. Yesterday I took my first swim in the lake. And Boh and I have two more weeks here in the lake house, and in our sweet small town, before we move on to our next adventure. Here are a few snippets from the last few weeks:

A porch pancake breakfast with friends who came to visit for the holiday weekend.

We had a dinner party! And a galette! (Tomato, corn, zucchini, scallions, and parmesan.)

Dick: The Game. (A Moby-Dick themed version of Cards Against Humanity. Yes, we are nerds, and proud of it.)

This face.

These falls.

These flowers, in between where I park my car and where our summer course was held. I’d turn the corner each morning and just breathe them in.

Packing. I started with the knitting books — I didn’t realize I have so many! The box pile is slowly growing, and the movers will be here in just under two weeks…

blueberry muffins and boh.

Posted on June 20, 2015 by barefootrooster

I can’t help myself. I take so many pictures of this sweet face.

Boh and I took a nice walk around campus at sunset.

On Thursday night I baked blueberry muffins.

Nerd fun arrived in the mail. (This is based on Cards Against Humanity — and a prototype of this that I saw on Twitter was called Cards Against the Humanities!) Looking forward to playing this with the rest of the staff of my summer course, perhaps during a lull in office hours? My summer teaching starts up on Monday.

Some impressive kite sailing on the lake, viewed from the park near my house.

Boh, napping under my desk during a conference call.

Morning sweetness.

And nighttime sleepiness. That’s been our week, friends. Quiet, and only sort of productive, but maybe just what we needed.

mostly boh.

Posted on June 14, 2015 by barefootrooster

No knitting this week, just a lot of pictures from walks with Boh. (My family was in town this week, and we spent a lot of time outside!)

But first, porch work and peonies.

This guy had to stay inside because he was howling at the gardener in my neighbor’s yard.

A statement necklace I bought a decade ago. I don’t know what prompted me to reach for it last week, but I love it with this blouse.

My brother and I saw this heron while walking Boh in the park.

Ears.

Our homemade ransom note Father’s Day card for my dad.

Boh being silly — asking for a belly rub while wearing his circle bone as a bracelet.

Tuckered out.

From a walk with my parents — the view from the crest of a hill.

I’ve been looking for brown heeled sandals, and I think these are the winners. (Not exactly what I was looking for, but I think the best I’m going to find in my price range. It’s possible that the only thing I’ve done today is confirm that these are comfortable enough to wear all day…)

And all this guy did today is nap! Hope you had wonderful weekends, friends.

double the dogs, and I roasted a chicken!

Posted on June 8, 2015 by barefootrooster

First up, some bananas that had sat for too long on the counter demanded to become banana bread.

YUM. Why haven’t I baked banana bread lately? (Oh, right. The dissertation.)

The long winter means that the start date for my CSA has been pushed back, but the farmer emailed last week to say that we should all come out and pick some peonies anyway. When I got there, she said to have at them, and pick as many as I could carry. So I did!

And then I put them all over the house.

And on the porch.

Here’s the blossom I put in the kitchen next to the sink. (I promise not to post pictures of each vase, but you get the idea.)

On our way to the creek.

It was a little muddy, so we turned onto a side path. I love woodpecker trees.

Boh loved the grass on the edge of this ledge overlooking the creek.

And then he napped hard.

A new dress that will be (with a blazer, at least) one of my professor costumes.

A serious brushing for Boh.

Double the dogs! (Tango joined us for a sleepover.)

Double the fun!

Double the napping. (Friends in town for their college reunions came by yesterday with sparkling wine to lounge on the porch and catch up. It was lovely.)

These expressions indicate concern about the smoke detector and interest in the chicken I was roasting. (My kitchen doesn’t have the best ventilation, and the recipe called for very high heat…which meant some loud beeping noises at a few points in the process.)

I roasted a chicken! I know this is pretty basic, but somehow I managed to make it to 33 without ever doing this. Whenever I buy whole chickens (which, admittedly, isn’t that often), I tend to turn them into soup. I followed a recipe from The Ktchn’s cookbook, and stuffed the bird with two halves of a whole lemon. (This is not the recipe I followed — though I’m flagging this one for future reference because the temperature is lower, and that might work better with my current kitchen.)

Victory! I carved my chicken and sliced some of it to go on top of a salad, and made a quick sauce/dressing from the crispy bits in the pan and a little bit of white wine.

Someone stood watch for any food that might fall from my fork. (It didn’t happen.)

And this guy fell asleep in the shoe pile. Tango’s human will be back tonight, so we’ve got almost the whole day to play. Happy Monday!

settling into summer.

Posted on June 2, 2015 by barefootrooster

A day on the porch. Here, with coffee:

A picture to indicate that the coffee, for whatever reason, was just not working.

More porch work. This time with a huge salad.

Afternoon light. Porch work with a glass of water. (Flowers from my yard!)

Morning granola. (Boh supervising.)

Wide-eyed Boh — a face I love. (He usually makes this face when he is getting belly rubs, but sometimes also when I scratch him behind the ears.)

And then we went for a morning walk around a reservoir on campus, in an attempt to tire ourselves out before it got too hot.

On a bridge!

View from the bridge:

Happy dog.

Slow, steady progress on my Avery cowl.

Chocolate chip walnut cookies. I put most of them in the freezer so I wouldn’t just eat them all, and then remembered how good cookies taste when you eat them right out of the freezer. Good thing this recipe only makes a couple dozen. (Boh and I had a dog/friend playdate this week, and I took a bunch over there.)

Morning nap.

Morning…work? We’ve had much cooler temps the last few days, so in this picture, Boh is actually doing the very important work of keeping my toes warm.

A walk on the bike path during a break in the rain.

Silliness.

Mid-yawn.

We’re trying to settle into a summer routine over here. Hoping it will include lots of good walks, plenty of course prep, some knitting, and maybe a few more batches of cookies. (Where summer means the next few weeks of June! My summer teaching begins at the end of this month…)

graduation weekend, part 1.

Posted on May 26, 2015 by barefootrooster

So, it’s as official as it can be. Thought you might to see how we celebrated. Part 1 was quiet; instead of going to the big institutional stuff, Boh and I celebrated with good walks, knitting, and playing in the kitchen. (Part 2, which I’ll share once my dad sends me some pictures of me in my regalia, as requested, involved fancy robes, a poofy hat, and plenty of pomp and circumstance.) But first, Part 1:

Couch lounging with this guy.

And some working. This dog always lets me tuck my toes underneath him. I love that.

He also sneaks over to the side of the couch he isn’t supposed to be on. (His blanket is on the right. He knows the rules, but still breaks them. Sometimes.)

A little bit of knitting! Remember this? It’s Avery, a squishy, textured cowl. I’m knitting it in Malabrigo, and I hope it gets cold enough in my next home for me to wear it…

Awkward before-the-gym picture — my bird tattoo is healing nicely. It’s been a month, and I’m finally getting used to it being there. (And I love it.)