big star.

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So, last week I was in Chicago — and I ate these tacos, with dear friends, at a place in Wicker Park marked by a large neon sign in the shape of a Big Star (hence, the name). I also found a coffee shop called The Wormhole, complete with Neverending Story posters and a Delorian…but that’s another story.

Back to the tacos. It had been a long, but productive week. Friday was particularly lovely, because the hours of squinting at tiny handwriting in a _very_cold room occurred on either side of a much warmer (in all senses!) lunch date with another blog-friend-turned-in-real-life-friend, Jodi. (Yay!) After leaving the archives, I made my way to Wicker Park, found The Wormhole while wandering and waiting for my hosts to get into the city, saw very cool stuff in shipping containers at an art show organized by a mutual friend, and then found myself, magically, at a table of friends and tacos. (See above.)

What a perfect ending to the day. And then, when I thought it couldn’t get any better, this was discovered in the bottom of the taco bag:

Yep, that says “pollito” — and maybe “asado.” My Spanish reading skills told me to expect a roast chicken lollipop.

As I ate, and enjoyed both sweet and savory — even spicy — flavors, I wondered if the base was, indeed, some kind of chicken lard. After much musing on the subject, Google explained that, while shaped like a roast chicken, this lollipop is peach-pineapple and chile flavored: strange at first, but actually pretty amazing.

All of the above is highly recommended by this rooster.

Happy Wednesday!

whispering?

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You know, the act of finishing off a whisper cardigan. I snapped these photos last weekend, before a super busy week of research travel.

I think I’m going to love this sweater. I bound off moments after these photos — just needed to make sure it seemed long enough — and then promptly tucked it into my knitting bag for safekeeping while I was away. On the list for this week? Blocking the bottom edge to reduce the rolling. And then, if it stays cool and gray, wearing it out of the house! (I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: I clearly didn’t give any thought at all to the placement of the mirror in my new home — I need to place one somewhere other than a dark hallway near the bathroom with yellowish light.) Also, I didn’t even need to break into the third skein of this Knitpicks laceweight yarn. Real FO photos to come once it is blocked.

Oh, and that blueberry crumble I posted about last week?

It was delicious. More soon.

mojo?

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Have you seen mine? Because I’ve had a hard time finding it lately in the knitting/spinning/blogging department. (Also, the dissertation department.) But you know what? I’m newly resolved not to let it bother me. I’m sure it will come back; after all, this space is dear to me.

But enough of that. Want to see what I’ve been up to this week?

Swimming. (Suit drying on the porch.)

Eating. (More specifically, eating tomatoes: in tarts, broiled on bread with cheese, and straight from the cutting board.)

Picking flowers. (And putting them all over the house.)

Lounging with Boh.

And today? Well, today I’m taking Saturday seriously. I slept in, made pancakes, read for pleasure, and frolicked a bit with Boh. I even put on my swimsuit in order to encourage the sun to come out. See?

Still rainy, but it might clear up enough for me to take a quick dip.

I’m also macerating blueberries on the kitchen counter. Later today, they’ll become this blueberry crumble. (Berries courtesy of Laura.)

I don’t have any new pictures to share of my Whisper cardigan, but I have been knitting on it. Photographic evidence soon. Happy weekend!

shhh…

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Greetings, readers, from somewhere that is neither here nor there. I really have been meaning to blog, not least to share about the fantastic weekend I spent with blog-friends-turned-real-friends, Mick and Laura. (Would you believe that we didn’t really do any knitting or spinning because we were too busy talking, eating, and drinking?)

Anyway, I’m on a fancy bus pointed towards a city with a library that has some stuff that might be useful for my dissertation, and now seems as good a time as any to (a) try to get back into a blogging rhythm, and (b) learn how to use wordpress on my shiny iPhone. (I hate to admit it, but I do think the iPhone may be a factor in my recent blogging slump. The teaching definitely kept me super busy earlier in the summer, but I’ve also noticed that the camera on the iPhone is so good that I rarely reach for my regular camera, and I am not in the habit of daily syncing my phone with m computer. Bottom line? I’ve been slow to upload photos, and that seems to be disrupting my blogging routine.) I am going to try to be better- and maybe wordpress on the iPhone will help!

So, to connect back to today’s post title, does anybody recognize the knitting in my lap? That’s right, it’s my whisper cardigan, and it is almost done! I grabbed it because it is small and light, and at a place where the knitting is easy. Most of my WIPs are at stages that require more concentration than I have right now. I’m so happy to be knitting on this again!

More soon!

FO: stripey shawl.

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Eventually I’ll take a wingspan photograph so you can see the size of this basic triangle shawl, but for now, I’ll just say that I LOVE this, and that it is just long enough for me to wrap all the way around with the point(s) in front. Made from 250ish yards of handspun singles in two different colorways (one is Sadia from AVFKW in bfl, and the other might be half of a 2-color bump from SCF in Hades, possibly also bfl). I can dig up those details if anybody is dying to know. The brown is a purpley brown, and the lighter shade is a lovely coral with lots of depth. Originally I had intended to use this pair to make Daybreak, but at the start of last month I got sick, needed a simple project, and just couldn’t wrap my sinus-addled brain around the pattern, so I started this instead. I used the cast on and set up from Mary Heather-Cogar’s Simple Things (a pattern I highly recommend), and the rest is really just stockinette stripes, with a few garter ridges close to the very end to stop the edges from rolling too horribly.

Here’s one of many awkward pictures I attempted to take of myself wearing this shawl — I like this one for its blurriness and for the glare on my glasses. (Adds a certain sparkle to the image, maybe?)

I’ve learned that half-assed blocking still results in lovely drape, so I’ll keep that in mind for future projects. (It is so nice to have a towel rack on the door to my shower to hang blocking shawls!)

This silliness was occurring while I was trying to take pictures of the shawl.

Coltrane considers his reading options on the bookshelf. Boh wishes he could read…

Hooray for Friday.

Sweet, silly dogs.

working like a…

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…well, not like this dog:

To be fair, before he fell asleep on me like that, he did spend some time doing this:

While I did this:

This summer session of TAing is keeping me very busy, but I should be back to regular blogging after it concludes next week. I have been trying to dip my feet in the lake each evening after a full day on campus — and last night I may have woven in the ends of my stripey shawl. I attempted what I’ll call “half-assed blocking” — I soaked it, and then instead of clearing off a table, finding my blocking squares, and pinning it out, I just tried to stretch it a bit and then draped it over the towel bar on the shower door. More on that when it’s dry!

(Oh my goodness, I just hit return and then started to sign this post as if it was an email. Sigh.)

dog days.

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Hi, folks. Sorry to disappear this week! I’m TAing summer school for high schoolers for the next three weeks, and my schedule has gotten kind of crazy! Hoping to be back into a rhythm very soon. In the meantime, here’s a whole bunch of pictures of Boh and his best friend Coltrane, who spent five days of his summer vacation here with us this week!

More soon!

baguettes.

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But first, a winner! I used a random number generator, and it picked April! She’ll receive a copy of Killing the Darlings, the latest album by Pearl and the Beard. Congratulations, and thanks, all, for commenting. [If you have thoughts about whether you’d be interested in seeing opportunities like this here from time to time, do send me an email.]

Now, baguettes.

Remember how I received a gift that keeps on giving (sourdough starter) for my birthday? Well, dear friend Ethel Louise came over last week to teach me how to make baguettes from my starter. The night before, she provided instructions for mixing the leaven and the poolish, and then I prepared the dough and gave it a few turns before she arrived. We shaped the dough, took Boh for a walk, carefully molded it into baguette loaves in a special way to maintain tension in the dough, heated the oven (and her baking stone and special beat-up cast iron pan for the bottom of the oven), and then, just before the loaves went in, she threw a handful of ice into the cast iron pan to make lots of steam. She is a rockstar. (Also, did you see that my new oven has an oven light? Fancy.)

I mean, these are awesome in normal vision, but don’t they look even more delectable in hipstamatic? (Yes. The answer is yes.)

Ethel is headed overseas for research for a few weeks, and is leaving me the baking stone, the cast iron pan, and her copy of the Tartine cookbook. We’ll see if I can recreate this magic while she’s away…

Happy Friday, folks! I’m off to campus.

ricotta in action.

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You know how I post pictures of me wearing my handknits (often when I have no knitting progress to share) and call the series “knits in action”? Well, I took one look at this photo of my first batch of Deb’s ricotta, smeared on toast and drizzled with honey, and all I could think was, RICOTTA IN ACTION! We’ll see if this becomes a companion series to my photographs of handknits.

Remember, you have until the end of today (Wednesday) to comment on Friday’s post for a chance to win Killing the Darlings by Pearl and the Beard!

More soon!