sauerkraut!

kraut1

kraut2

kraut3

It is delicious. Victory! I let this sit on the counter in my one-gallon pickling crock for 5 weeks (7/18-8/25), occasionally skimming off anything that formed on the surface, and rinsing the cheesecloth and brine bag weighting down the cabbage.

It might be time to go looking for really good reuben recipes!

farmflowers

Here are some of the flowers I picked at the farm yesterday, along with my haul of tomatoes, red peppers, hot peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, A LOT of beets (to be pickled?!), lettuce, onions, dill, mint, basil, cilantro, 1 precious cup of blackberries picked from the fields, and, of course, zucchini.

And, lest you think that I am not knitting:

plainsimpleupdate

Another inch or so of my plain and simple pullover test-knit has appeared.

Happy Wednesday!

pointillism.

pointillismpink1

pointillismpinkmacro2

Here’s the pink half of the bump of AVFKW superwash bfl in the pointillism colorway: 106 yds of 2-ply, from 2 oz.

pointillismyellowbobbin

pointillismyellowoffniddynoddy

And here’s the yellow half, spun, plied, and skeined:

pointillismyellowskein1

pointillismyellowmacro2

pointillismyellowskein3

The yellow 2 oz. yielded 95 yds of 2-ply, so I have 201 yards to work with. I’m thinking about not using a constrast color at the start, and allowing the pinks to blend into the yellows in the sweater, and then finding an appropriate color for the bottom ruffle of baby belle if it seems like there won’t be enough handspun.

I’m not letting myself cast on for this until I am solidly into the edging on the wedding shawl. (Finished repeat #2 last night!)

Also, more silliness occurred after I posted yesterday:

boh comforter

bohhidingcomforter2

Sigh. And so it begins: I’m off to campus for a meeting and (yay!) to get settled in my office (and by office, I mean desk in the basement).  Happy Monday!

spinning for something.

pointillism pink lap

So I’m spinning for something. I’ve been eyeing cosy’s adorable baby sweater for awhile now, and I was thrilled when she posted that she needed some folks to knit these out of handspun. Though I have a large bag full o’ my own handspun, I decided that this might be an opportunity to at least try to knit with a particular pattern in mind, so I dug through the fiber bin and came up with some Verb superwash bfl in the pointillism colorway, which is 2 oz. of lovely yellows, and 2 oz. of pinks and purples.

pointillism pink toes

I decided to preserve the colors, so I split the pink and purple piece into 2 parts, lengthwise, and plied them together.

pointillism pink macro

Here it is, hanging to dry. The pattern calls for 8s, so I’m aiming for a worsted weight, which I’m hoping will plump up and help me get close to the called-for gauge. It looks like I got about 100 yards out of the first 2 oz., which sounds about right. I’m planning to spin and ply the rest today so that I can get started!

Also, I snapped a picture of Mr. Boh, resting atop the comforter.

boh and laundry

This dog really loves laundry day. As you can see, we’re aiming for a mixture of restful and productive on this last day of the final weekend before the semester starts!

banditry.

hshawl1

H’s wedding shawl (an ishbel/springtime bandit hybrid inspired by brokeknits) is coming along. Yesterday I finished one repeat of the leaf pattern, and decided to do another. I have plenty of yarn, so think I am going to aim for 3 leaf pattern repeats before I begin the edging.

hshawl2

hshawl3

I know I’ve written about my lace anxiety here, and I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to all of you for your encouraging words and happy thoughts. You’re right — it isn’t so bad! (And I’m saying this after spending much of yesterday morning ripping back about an hour’s worth of work to find an error.) You heard it here first: I like lace knitting!

hshawl4

The wedding is in 2 weeks, and I’m aiming to have this ready to block by September 1. Back to it!

plain and simple progress.

pureandsimple 7 inc

I am now seven inches into the body of my plain and simple pullover, a test-knit for veera over at 100% rain. I reach for this sweater whenever I need mindless knitting, and while I normally prefer my knitpicks harmony needles, I am really loving the slipperiness and the soft clicking sounds of these hot pink metal needles (courtesy of the Yarn Pirate, from when I was in the sock club).

Happy weekend! (Classes start next week, so these are my final days of summer.)

Classes

woolen spun?

jacob prewash

First up, here’s a picture of the first skein of the jacob, just off the niddy-noddy and ready for a bath. I love those paws!

jacobfo1

I had to ply this in two parts — the yarn was just too lofty/airy to fit onto one bobbin. This is my first (mostly) true long draw project, which I believe makes this a woolen spun yarn!

jacobfo2

This is 211 yards total: 130 in the first skein, and 81 in the second, of 2-ply undyed jacob wool.

jacobfo3

The spinning method chosen really does determine the character of the yarn — up close, this yarn is completely different from something spun using a worsted technique. This has a lovely halo and an incredible amount of squish to it, but minimal sheen. This is also more thick and thin, which may just be a function of my learning curve with the long draw. One of these days I’m going to at least swatch with my handspun to get a sense for how my spinning is evolving and, perhaps more importantly, to figure out how to start planning knitting projects at the spinning stage.

jacobfo4

Oh, Boh. Even though you spent much of the night growling at things in the yard (and thus, keeping me awake), I still love you. Especially when you make that face.

playing and plying.

bohfc1

fc2

It was so hot and humid yesterday that Boh and I needed to get down to the creek. We spent about an hour in the water doing a mixture of wading (me) and swimming (Boh). He’s making progress, and no longer needs to be “encouraged” to doggy paddle. By the end of our playtime, he was even prancing around the shallow sections of the creek!

fc3

fc4

While I sat in the sun to dry off, Boh did some serious work. He always seems to be looking for a particular rock that is buried way down beneath the water. When he finds it, he chews on it a bit, puts it somewhere else, and then it is back to finding the next rock. He (and, let’s face it, I) find this endlessly entertaining.

fc5

Though I have no photo-documentation, this outing also included the purchasing of fruit, the returning of a whole slew of library books, and the enjoyment of a mint chocolate-chocolate cookie ice cream cone.

jacob plying

Before heading off to the farm and then to dinner with our dog and people friends, I spun the second bobbin of the dark, undyed, local jacob and began plying. I continued working on my long draw as I spun bobbin #2, and I must admit, I was doing quite a bit of cursing as I struggled to balance twist with the take up of the bobbin. There was a lot of breakage, but every so often I’d get into a great rhythm and produce a consistent, sturdy, appropriately twisted single using a “true” long draw rather than a supported long draw. I love the loftiness of this yarn, and I’m hoping the finished 2-ply will be sturdy enough to do something with!

score.

win

Boh and I returned from my parents’ house to find a package of treats waiting for us: two books from Jodi over at A Caffeinated Yarn, in celebration of her blogiversary. I spent about an hour flipping through them last night (ignoring all the little things I should have been doing), and I can’t wait to spend more time with them. The Gentle Art of Domesticity is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It strikes me as a thoughtful and very personal set of intelligent insights on crafting, filled with inspiration ranging from the colors of hard candy to more obscure examples of European painting depicting the domestic arts. Mocha is filled with instructions for drinks, breakfast treats, and desserts, and I can’t wait to try out these recipes. (My friend K. has a milk frother/steamer, so we may have to try these at her house.)

Thanks, Jodi!

full.

fullbob

In so many ways. Boh and I went out to the lake on Friday night to see a friend who was away all summer, and is heading off to grad school this week. Last night, I attended a mellow housewarming gathering here in town with some of my favorite people. Today, Boh and I are headed home to celebrate my grandma’s birthday with a backyard barbecue.

And, of course, that bobbin of dark, undyed, local jacob is FULL. I’m working on my long draw, and I’m hoping there’s enough twist in these singles. I couldn’t get 2 full oz. on the bobbin, which gives you a sense of how airy and lofty this yarn is. Later on this week I’ll spin up the other 2+ oz. and ply them together.

We’ll be back tomorrow night. Hope your Sunday is filled with good food and family too.