Tag Archives: pie

second home.

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A dear friend came out to Base Camp for some weekend adventuring to my second home/other mother here in the Southwest. It might be the last time I’m there for awhile, as I will no longer be a day trip away come fall. It was luxurious to ramble southward along the lava flow, eat treats, sample a range of agave-based mixtures, peer at the surface of the moon, and soak beneath the milky way in a hot tub long after midnight. (I’ll spare you the photo-documentation of some of that…)

In the morning, we had ice cream in our coffee and set to making pie. Ali is very good at mixing crumb crusts! While the pie was baking, we sat out on the back porch, enjoying the mountains, the sunshine and the company.

And the local, organic goat cheese. Okay, and we did some knitting.

As you can see, I’m making some serious progress on my gathered cardi. I have a few more increase rows to do before I knit the buttonhole and put the sleeves on scrap yarn. I’m really enjoying this — I love the seed stitch border!

Though these trips are never long enough, it was a wonderful weekend. My daydreams of a piece of land and a small pre-fab structure to escape to have resurfaced. Sigh. Someday…

and exhale…

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backyard.jpg

I’ve been knitting quite a lot lately, as you can see. There are many reasons for this, but there is one big reason that I haven’t shared: I’ve been waiting. Anxiously. And not sleeping super well. This fall, I decided that I was ready to apply to graduate school. I completed each step, put everything in the mail, and began to wait.

On Saturday, I received a phone call from a professor in an excellent department of ___ at an incredible university. In August, I will begin a PhD program. I have truly loved (and/or learned from!) the range of work I’ve done over the last four years, but it is time. I am so excited to be able to devote myself to reading, learning, thinking and writing.

I had planned to run away this weekend to disconnect from technology a bit and distance myself from things like “no” letters and the anxiety of waiting and worrying. That phone call came as I was packing the car. Boh and I headed south, to explore by doing this (that’s not me!):

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And to help with this:

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And to enjoy this, windows down, music a tad too loud:

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And this:

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Sigh. I slept soundly last night.

weekend update

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On Friday, my box of yarn from WEBS arrived. Full disclosure will come, all in good time. I am sleepy, even though my clock says it is not yet 10 PM, this rooster’s body says it is 11. A few pictures of the weekend, then.

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Yesterday, I was here. The leaves have fallen from the cottonwoods, but the air was crisp, and, though I love the place when it is bustling with activity, I value the chances I have to see it when it is still.

When I returned, I decided to honor the swatch gods, and comply.

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Notice that I did not one, but two swatches: one on size 10.5s and one on 11s. The yarn is Araucania Nature Wool Chunky, in color olive — it is a bit brighter than I was expecting, but I’ve decided that it is perfect for me because I tend to wear muted solids, and this will brighten up my jeans and a button down or a long sleeve tee considerably. The gauge for the pattern (which, of course, calls for Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky) is 14 st/20 rows over 4 inches. My first swatch, with the recommended needles, was 8 st/10 rows over 2 inches. I decided to see what would happen if I went up a needle size, to 11s: 7 st/9 rows over 2 inches. Both close, neither perfect. I decided to wash the swatches and leave them overnight: after a dunk in the sink, the swatch knit on smaller needles was 7.5 st/10 rows, whereas the larger needle swatch was in between 6 and 6.5 st. The yarn became considerably softer after washing, and I liked the drape of the smaller needle swatch better. Also, the sizing is S, M, L, with the M being 36-38. I am a 38, and debated making the next size up, so that 1 st over 4 inches may give me an extra inch of ease in the sweater, which should end up to be ideal.

Anyway, today, instead of doing the things on my list, I made a large recipe of pie crust, and baked a kitchen sink kind of pie, with all the fruit leftover from my CSA box: 2 big green pears, a pluot and a bright, shiny apple. The pie is delicious (eating while I type), and is a wonderful dessert to the roasted beets I ate for dinner. The 4 remaining pie crusts are in the freezer for next time.

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I also managed to turn those swatches into this:

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I can’t believe how quickly this is coming along. I am very excited about this sweater, and I am working up the courage to seam that baby kimono I’ve been working on forever. I promise. I’ve told myself I need to seam that, as practice for finishing this one. Also, remind me: I need some longer circulars for picking up the ribbing on this sweater, when I get there.

Yawn! Time for bed. It was wonderful to wake to the sunrise at 6:10 this morning: a welcome change from waking to the alarm in the dark. The only bad part about “falling back” is that the sun will soon be setting before I even leave the office. I do love the cold; I just wish we could keep the sunshine.