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.)
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.
First, the answer to the blocking dilemma: blocking trumps civilized meals at the table. I opted not to use pins — the ecowool was sticky enough that it seemed to stay where I pulled/tugged it, probably thanks to gravity, as most of the “petals” were hanging off the table. Despite rolling the blanket in a towel before laying it out to dry, I had to periodically wipe up puddles from beneath the petals. Because this is a wedding gift, I decided not to spread it out again to photograph it — that just seemed like a recipe for a blanket covered in Boh-hair. So here’s a shot of the finished hemlock ring, folded and draped over a chair in the kitchen:
I am thrilled with how this turned out. Plus, I learned new things about lace knitting, casting on, and binding off, and I reclaimed some lace knitting confidence after my ishbel fail. Victory! I used just under 1.5 skeins of Cascade Ecowool (using US 10.5 needles as called for in the pattern) and I made the regular size, binding off at the marked row on the chart. And with the kitchen table back, I made pizza for dinner last night.
This is a tomato, basil, and mozzarella pizza — no sauce, just some olive oil brushed on underneath the toppings. This is might be my new favorite pizza combination — the tomatoes were so sweet — almost caramelized by the heat of the oven.
In the land of tomatoes, want to see what I have planned in the kitchen for tonight, tomorrow, and/or Friday?
Time to can some tomatoes! I’ve never done this before, and I’m psyched. My mom emailed me her recipe for sauce and scanned in her handwritten notes about canning whole tomatoes. I remember her doing this when I was little, and I am looking forward to having my own jars of tomatoes I picked on my shelves!
Also, my fridge was so colorful after I unloaded yesterday’s haul from the farm that I just had to take a picture. I also opened the fridge door and pulled out the drawers so that the boy could admire everything from the rainbow of goodness inside to the adorableness of the baby eggplants.
Last picture today: year three, day one. Me and my goofy grin are off to campus soon. A big year begins. But first, I’m going to knit another inch of that big, happy cowl-neck.
So, yesterday this rooster voluntarily bought a blazer. My first thought, in the dressing room: Wait — does this make me a grown-up? (As soon as I walked out of the Gap, I called my mother. I knew she’d be proud. I mean, I did own a blazer in high school, but it was more of a costume. I wore it for Mock Trial. This time, I actually went looking for the blazer.) Feel free to skim down to the actual knitting at any time, because I’m going to keep talking about this. Every season, but in the summer, especially, I try to purge things I don’t wear/don’t need from my closet/life. And this year I had a realization. I am harboring two entirely different wardrobes: one for the girl who lives in ripped jeans and beat-up carhartts, fleece, long underwear, plaid shirts and puffy vests while she camps, cooks, and wanders, and one for the girl who wears dark jeans, big jewelry, and aims to at least feel like a confident/hip grad student as she attends classes and meetings, reads, and teaches section. The line between these two roosters is blurrier than I’m making it sound here, and I hope it stays that way. I don’t want to lose that first girl — and I’m not just talking about attire — to the second. And I don’t think I will, though I want to be mindful of the ways in which my life has changed over the last few years. I had to chuckle, though, when I realized that I could no longer just get rid of things I haven’t worn in the last year — because the next time I’m in the desert, the next time I’m pitching a tent, the next time Boh and I are adventuring — I’m going to both want and need that stuff! Besides, there’s something about a blazer that dresses up even the rattiest, most comfortable shirt.
Finally — some knitting! I’m making progress on my textured shawl. I love the way the textured stitch looks in this handspun, but I’m anxious about the size and drape of the overall shawl. I’m going to keep knitting, though, and then cross my fingers and block the hell out of it. (Good plan, right?)
It is zucchini-time at the farm, which means it is zucchini bread-time in my kitchen. Here’s the first loaf of the summer. Yum.
Boh wants you to know that he is being VERY good this morning.
A knitterly friend has proposed a trade: I’ll spin this fiber, and she’ll do something painterly (her work is stunning) or sewing-related for me! I am really excited to dive into this spinning project. These bags of natural fiber are both labeled alpaca, though I’m thinking that the brown stuff is a blend…or at least baby alpaca. It is so much softer! I’ll keep you posted on my progress.
Happy Friday!
I wore this today, under lots of other layers, because today was the day we discussed my paper at the department colloquium. I was hoping that those in attendance would agree, at least a little bit, with the argument I make in the paper. I don’t remember much that was said, but I think it went well. (And when I am ready to return to this project, I now have a big pile o’ notes and comments to paw through.)
Time to decompress with some knitting!
Today is the day: I’m wearing my GYC out the door, and I’m thrilled about it. Which got me to thinking: wouldn’t it be great if blocking worked for papers, and not just for sweaters? I’m giving a paper in a few weeks that just isn’t quite ready. In a lot of ways, I’m happy with it, but it still needs to be tugged and stretched. The stitch definition could be more even, the hem straighter, the lines cleaner. I’d really like to be able to dunk this particular project into a warm bath with some soak, and then reshape it on my kitchen table in order to get the results I want.
Alas, I’m stuck with revisions, more reading, talking to myself in the shower, and occasional full-on questioning of what it is that I am arguing. This is yet another area where I think knitting has the right idea: a lot can be solved with a warm bath.
At least prepping for reading groups involves both reading AND baking. These are Deb’s our favorite chocolate chip cookies, and they are super tasty, despite the fact that I may have slightly overcooked some of them because I was too busy reading…
Also, check out what arrived today! I won the blogiversary giveaway over at Doodles in String — as commenter #1. Chris blogs about all sorts of inspiring knitting and spinning, so you should head over there if you’ve never been. These goodies are awesome: gorgeous yarn, beautiful fiber, and a book filled with patterns for kids. (And while I do not have children, all of the babies I’ve been knitting for lately are growing!) Thank you, Chris!
And since I don’t have any new knitting to share, here’s another knit-in-action. Remember this?
I realize it is hidden under several layers, but today I’m wearing my Rusted Root. I haven’t worn this in ages, and I have no idea why.
Alright, off to a new reading group. Happy almost weekend!
As an aspiring historian, I am certainly sensitive to questions of objectivity and bias. (In the realm of full disclosure, I don’t think history is about the pursuit of truth so much as the exploration of an expansive/infinite number of alternate tellings, re-tellings, and interpretations of the past, necessarily colored by the historian’s “present,” whenever/whatever that may be. I don’t think objectivity should be the goal. I’d rather we focused on interrogating our own perspectives biases interests contexts as part of wrestling with what how why we are arguing whatever we’re arguing.)
Anyway, Boh must have read your comments, because he called me on this. He wondered (to no one in particular, though I was the only one here) why certain people (ahem) think very carefully about how to accurately represent their sources in some contexts, but are perfectly happy to misrepresent, oh, I don’t know, a certain four-legged and important member of this household.
Boh wants you to know that he does not sleep all day. He does very important things.
You never take pictures of me doing other things. That’s why they think that. Show them that I can catch my ball! That I can jump high into the air! That I bark at potential intruders and guard our home! The problem, dear reader, is that my skills do not lie in the realm of photography, so I mostly have a blurry mess to share. Boh is right, though. He does appear very energetic in these photos.
I took about 43 other photos, all of them blurry.
I’m sorry, Boh, for not thinking about how I have been representing you. (I listened to the RadioLab “Animal Minds” episode last night while working on my snowbird, and I am certainly aware of my own anthropomorphizing here…)
Also, lest you think I only knit, and do not work, here’s what Boh and I have been up to this morning:
Yep, the semester has begun. Sigh.
This is my fourth handspun seaman’s cap. Clearly, I love this pattern. (Also, I love this hat, but this one is most definitely hopping into the mail this week so that my brother gets his Christmas present before it is too warm for super squishy handspun hats.) I knit the large size, and used 150 yards of handspun superwash merino from Crown Mountain Farms in the albatross colorway — which is almost exactly what I spun from the 3.5 ounces I estimated I’d need. Yay! I hope he likes it.
I asked Boh to do an interpretive dance to demonstrate how I (we) feel about going back to school in a few hours. This was his response. He captured my feelings exactly — as did the weather — heavy rains and high winds today — which, unfortunately, does not seem super conducive to helping me to fully kick this cold. (More Theraflu for this rooster — I’m definitely feeling better, but, as it often goes near the end of a rapidly morphing sore throat to drippy nose to head cold to cough, despite feeling much improved, I sound worse! Or incredibly sexy, depending on how you look at it…)
Happy Monday, folks. Despite my whining, there is a lot to look forward to this semester.
I turned a page in the more-than-a-century-old book that I was taking notes from yesterday and discovered this: a flower, maybe a carnation, pressed between its pages. It made me smile.
Also unexpected: the way my pigeonroof studios merino handspun is knitting up, and I love it.
barefoot rooster 