It’s cold enough for clapotis. Each fall I wrap it around myself prematurely, only to take it off moments later because I am way too warm. But with temperatures still in the 30s at 9 am, and precipitation that just might be flurries of snowflakes, I’m declaring it cold enough. Time to bundle up and head to campus. TGIF, and thank goodness for handknits.
A while back, I won a jar of peach preserves on Libby’s blog, and yesterday, a beautifully wrapped package containing two(!) jars arrived, one peach and rum preserves, one peach and bourbon. After the appropriate oohing and ahhing, it was decided: this stuff deserves the best delivery system imaginable. So it’s off to the farmer’s market we’ll go on Saturday for some extra special bread. And maybe some ice cream. (Stay tuned.)
Terra is growing. I met my writing deadline on Monday (thanks for all the kind words), and then promptly stopped posting, turning my attention instead to everything I’d let pile up. In between wrangling laundry, paying bills, and prepping for my other campus responsibilities, it appears that I managed to knit a few (or twenty) rows. I said it before, but I’ll say it again: everything brokeknits says about this pattern is true. It is just what I need right now. And with that, I’ve got a morning section to prep for. Happy almost-the-weekend!
It is going to be another long day of writing. But I made good progress yesterday on my revisions, and last night I rewarded myself with sushi and yarn-winding.
And ten rows of Terra. Brokeknits is so right — this garter stitch pattern is rhythmic and restorative. Maybe I’ll knit a row or two after I adimpleate my coffee mug. (That’s the word I adopted yesterday here.)
I say almost because I haven’t blocked this or woven in any of the ends. But I bound off yesterday while taking a break from this paper, and I am in love. I decided to go with a slightly browner shade of grey for the border because the center color seemed a bit too bright next to the red, yellow and brown handspun. Boh is shedding right now, and the kitchen table was covered with stuff yesterday, so I couldn’t find a good spot to photograph the blanket in full-on square form. I’ll do that soon, so you can see what it looks like unfolded. Thanks to Cosy for a great pattern (coming soon!) and for her knitting advice and support. This rooster can now read a chart written for a round project (yay!) and experienced the bliss of really getting into a lace pattern.
Oh, right. The details: Ripe bananas lap blanket, by Cosy, pattern forthcoming. (I used the pattern as written, save a few purl rows, which I omitted at a few of the yarn transitions.) I used US 7 needles, and a mixture of yarns, including Brown Sheep Top of the Lamb worsted, handspun targhee (fiber from AVFKW), handspun CVM (fiber from Cosy), handspun shetland singles (fiber from AVFKW), Cascade 220 heathers in a rusty red, handspun corriedale (fiber from Spunky Eclectic), and Cascade Ecowool. The finished size, which I know you can’t see, is a substantial lap blanket — perfect for curling up under while reading for my comprehensive exams.
Happy weekend, folks. Back to writing!
Toast with cream cheese and strawberry balsamic jam.
Broccoli raab and kale with garlic, chile, and a fried egg.
The border of my ripe bananas lap blanket.
I set aside Thursday afternoon for writing. And while the words didn’t come easily, I’m a few paragraphs richer today.
(Nope, not talking about the applesauce! I’m only halfway through the bushel.)
I walked into the university bookstore on my way to lecture yesterday to grab a few more brightly colored pens, in anticipation of the scribbling I’ll be doing as I revise my own work this weekend and the pile of papers my students will be turning in on Monday. On my way in, Plenty, by Diana Henry, caught my eye. I picked it up, and after flipping through it, I walked all the way around the table it was on in order to find the other copies. When I wasn’t able to locate them, I decided that I just couldn’t bear to put this copy down, and so it came home with me.
I don’t think I’ve ever taken pictures of the inside of a cookbook before, but this book is gorgeous. Thick paper, saturated colors, beautifully-staged photography, mouth-watering recipes — all aimed at the “home cook.” (That’s me!) This cookbook contains a nice range of meat and veggie options, with lots of discussion about leftovers. This is a cookbook about eating and living well while being conscious of the politics of growing, preparing, and eating food. I’m a mostly-vegetarian cook because I can’t always source (or afford) the kind of meat I am comfortable eating — meat from animals raised kindly and locally, on farms that care about long term ecological health. Diana Henry provides advice for a cook with my politics, and offers an impressive number of recipes for “less popular” cuts of meat — the kind that maybe someone like me can afford from a local farmer. She thinks about refrigerator continuity — a weekend roast that serves as the base for several other possibilities later in the week.
Can you tell I’m excited about this book?
I am also incredibly excited about this blanket — so much so that I’d like to submit it instead of the paper I’m revising to my department for consideration. (Too bad that’s not really an option.) I’m working on the last section of the blanket before the border, and I cannot wait to curl up with this on the couch. Hopefully I’ll have some FOs around here soon, in both written and knitted form…
My university has an orchard, and that orchard began its annual apple sale this weekend: buy half a bushel, get half a bushel free. (Chair for scale.)
Applesauce, simmering.
Packed, stacked, and ready to go into the freezer. This was the first batch of the week. Batch #3 is simmering on the stove right now. I am going to be ready for winter! (If only the paper I’m presenting later this month were as easy to prepare.)
As you can see, I’m making good progress on my ripe bananas lap blanket. (I’m aiming to finish it this weekend!) I wrapped up the lace section with the red and taupe shetland singles, and then switched to some Cascade 220 in a heathered, rusty red to keep the darkening gradient going. (In case anyone is wondering, 1.4 oz of Cascade 220 is pretty much exactly how much yarn you need to knit 1.5 inches of this blanket on 7s when the stitch count is in the 450 st range and increasing. Phew!)
Next up, more handspun. As soon as I get this Spunky Club corriedale in the New Day colorway wound into a ball, I’ll be on my way.
And here are the veggies I roasted for dinner last night: potatoes, fennel, and beets, all from the farm. Yum.
A few days ago, I decided I need another eternity scarf. The thing is, the pattern calls for the kind of yardage I can get out of two bumps of handspun, not one. After digging through my (more accessible) fiber bin, I surfaced with Southern Cross Fibres polwarth in the Rhinebeck colorway (Oct 2010 club fiber) and Hello Yarn polwarth in Cauldron (April 2010 club fiber). And then I opened up the bags on my already very full desk, and snapped this picture. So far so good.
Here’s the first bobbin of the SCF polwarth in Rhinebeck. This stuff spun super smoothly. I really can’t wait to spin the second bobbin’s worth.
And here’s an almost full bobbin of Cauldron. These colors are slightly more muted than the SCF (well, except for the super awesome bright green). Putting the bobbins side by side, I’m less sure of my pairing, but since the fibers themselves looked fantastic together, I’m going to start plying (maybe today?) and see what happens. Fiber experiment!
Okay, time to pour the coffee. This rooster is so ready for daylight savings to kick in, and not just because of the extra hour of sleep I’ll get tomorrow morning before yoga.
Here you can see the darker orange handspun I transitioned to when I headed back to the beginning of the lace chart. (This is actually CVM farm wool, purchased from Cosy, so of course it had to go into my testknit of her fabulous ripe bananas lap blanket pattern.)
And here’s the blanket with about eight rows of lace and increases to go. I wasn’t sure how far I’d be able to knit with the orange CVM farm wool, and as you can see, I finished a row with about 5 yards left — perhaps not enough to get all the way around again. So I went back to the pile of handspun I set aside for this project, and wound a smallish skein of shetland singles in reds and taupes into a ball. I think this will be perfect for the rest of the lace section, and it will complete the lighter to darker gradient I’m going for.
I am planning to knit knit knit on this over the weekend!
barefoot rooster 