Tag Archives: snowbird

roasted tomato soup and a sleeve.

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Well, and this Peanut Butter Popcorn. I doubled the amount of popcorn so that there would be a better ratio of savory/not so bad for me : sweet/bad for me, and I’m happy with that decision. (Plus, there was more popcorn.) This totally helped me power through a lot of comments for my students yesterday.

And here’s that soup: Heidi’s Roasted Tomato Soup from Super Natural Cooking. This one has been in my fall and winter rotation for a couple of years now, and every time I make it I am oh-so-happy.

Last night’s debate gave me some dedicated sleeve knitting time — one down, one to go!

Boh doesn’t seem anywhere near as excited about this as I am. (Maybe that’s because I made him wait until I bound off the sleeve to go for today’s walk…)

Also, thanks for all of your ideas and comments about my mice! I don’t want to jinx anything, but so far so good. I’ve caught a few, and I’ve filled every gap I can find with steel wool. I also got some pouches of spearmint and peppermint labeled as natural, pet- friendly mouse deterrent. I figure it can’t hurt, especially with my critter-filled attic and earthen floor basement. Despite last night’s temps in the high 30s, I found no evidence of mice in the kitchen this morning! Hooray! I’m going to wait a few days to move everything back into the half of the kitchen I moved into the dining room, but I’m optimistic.

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field mice and snowbird.

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This is what my battle with the mice has turned into: the contents of my knife drawer and my silverware drawer are on the dining room table. Also, any pots and pans that normally hang out on the stove are here too. I’ve emptied out the space underneath the sink, as well as the drawers the mice seem drawn to. Everything has been cleaned and disinfected, and the traps are baited and set. If I can convince them — through encouragement (in the form of the all natural spearmint packets the hardware store sells that convince mice to move on) and with a little bit of violence (there are rules, as K would say) — to relocate (again, physically, and in some cases, also spiritually) before it gets too cold, I’ll be able to reinhabit my kitchen and enjoy the rest of fall. If I can’t, well…I don’t want to think about that.

Instead, I’ll knit on another project started long ago: Snowbird. I had gotten as far as the collar and the raglan increases, and then the pattern has you start the sleeves before working the body. I was about 20 rows into one of the sleeves. I worked on this for about an hour last night, and I remembered why this was sort of slow going: reverse stockinette. I think I need to focus on relaxing my hands while purling. Or something. Good thing I love the idea of this sweater.

All right. Back to Monday, which for me, means writing midterm comments for my students.

boh reads, while i knit and eat cake.

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I took a break from my work on Friday night to make another cup of tea, and I returned to find that Boh had decided to sit, and then lay, with my book. If only he could help with the reading. I alternated reading chapters with knitting increase rows on my snowbird cardigan, and now I’m working on the first sleeve.

This is the first pattern I’ve knit that calls for knitting the sleeves before the body, and I think I like this approach: after knitting the longest rows — the raglan increases — I get to knit the shortest rows!

Also, the birthday celebration continued on Saturday. Boh’s favorite people and his best dog friend Coltrane came over with a full-on triple-decker coconut cake! (Which, by the way, is every bit as delicious as it looks. I might eat part of this piece for breakfast.) We ate cake, and then took a nice wintry walk. Boh snored, with his head on my lap, for the rest of the afternoon.

The combination of the cold weather and my need to feel extra cozy means I’ve been wearing a lot of handknits lately. I snapped this picture yesterday morning before heading out to a nearby coffee shop to get some reading done. (With some books, I just need a bit more din to stay focused.)

Yesterday I was looking for an extra layer, and dug out my sassymetrical, which provided just the right amount of warmth under my slouchy navy (store-bought) wear-all-the-time cardigan. And that’s today’s handknit-in-action.

(I feel sort of weird taking pictures of my outfits in the mirror, but these are the photos that I really like to see on other people’s blogs and on ravelry — how they actually wear the stuff they make. Sometimes seeing a handknit incorporated into someone else’s wardrobe convinces me that I could/would wear said handknit.)

Alright, enough of that. Happy weekend, folks. I’m off to curl up with my (canine) valentine to knit a bit/read a lot.

bird/dog.

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First of all, thank you for sending sweet thoughts of health my way. I am finally feeling like myself again. (For awhile there, I had no interest in sarcasm, which is when I knew I needed to get back into bed.)

Last night I allowed myself to break from my pile o’ reading to knit on snowbird and watch the SOTU. It is actually starting to look like the top of a cardigan, and the construction is super cool, so I snapped some pictures. Soon, I’m going to kitchener those panels of stockinette together and sew them to the body of the sweater — they form the start of this cardigan’s awesome collar.

I am in love with the tweedy look and texture of this yarn.

And now we transition from (snow)bird to dog. A few steps back and you get a better idea of what my cardigan photo shoot was like.

And here’s what Boh was doing last night. This dog was clearly not interested in the SOTU.

One more, just because.

Happy Thursday, folks.

brought to you by Theraflu.

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Yup, that mug is full of Theraflu — and if I haven’t sung its praises here in blogland, I am now. I’ve gotten sick more in the last two years than in the several years before (I blame the undergrads and their germs). Also, I hate cold medicine — or rather, that foggy haze that seems to accompany the good parts of cold medicine. Theraflu, on the other hand, works quickly, forces the sick person to drink more liquids, and for me, anyway, does not create the kind of fog that can impair drivers or slow down traffic. Really, they should sponsor me or something. (Thus concludes the advertising portion of today’s post.)

For lunch, I made this rutabega chipotle soup, only I made it with a goldball turnip, a potato, and a chipotle in adobo sauce that was languishing in the fridge. It was so delicious, with just enough spice to clear out my sinuses, that I ate a second bowl. And then scraped the saucepan.

I cast on for Snowbird, in Queensland Kathmandu DK (after getting gauge on size 5 needles), and made some progress on the collar and yoke.

Boh made some progress on destroying his current tennis ball, and put in some quality time organizing his scraps of fleece.

Good work, Boh.

I had dinner with friends (pork and sweet potato fritters are definitely good for whatever ails you), and took along my fourth handspun seaman’s cap — the one for my brother. Amidst conversation and decadent bites of chocolate treats, I managed to make it all the way to the decreases, which means my brother should receive his Christmas gift before February. (Win.)

Today’s plan? Knit, read, cook, emotionally prepare for the start of the spring semester, and most importantly, convince this sore throat/head cold to hit the road. (Thanks for all of your happy, healthy thoughts. I’m feeling so much better today, and am aiming to be fully recovered by tomorrow.)