Think of it as practice.

So, Poem-Man and I were out on our Connecticut theater-food-and-leaves annual Combus Day Weekend jaunt. A great play at Yale Repertory Theater and Indian food in New Haven. Then a lovely autumn morning stroll, pizza lunch, and drive to Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, when we practically crashed into this sign:



WHAAAATTT?

"Honey, can we stop here?" says ewephoric.
"Yes, *secret nickname here,* we can stop," defers Poem-Man.

Then I parked the car, and saw this:



Poem-Man in his talk ewephoric down off the ceiling voice: "May I remind you that you are going to Rhinebeck next weekend?"
ewephoric, sheepish- and peevishly, "I know, I know."

But then inside, this:



Well, what is a girl to do? Connecticut Yarn and Wool is a lovely shop with Carol-dyed (ok, that's the dyer who I met at the store) beautiful yarns that I've never seen anywhere. 4 rooms and a porch full of lovely yarns. And it was all 30% off. Rhinebeck-Shminebeck. Smash the Stash. i bought some yarn:





And some undyed sock yarn that I want to dye up in "Autumn Leaves" colors and will show later.

I think of it as practicing for fondling, considering, and buying yarn at Rhinebeck. I want to be a pro, right?

Oh, and "Big River" at the Goodspeed was almost as good as the scenery outside the opera house.



BTW, I HAVE been knitting even though I haven't been blogging. Darn that day job of teaching--actually I'm grateful that I have the job and love it so much in these uncertain times!

Almost as good as YARN...

I just love this so much. It took a lot of walking into every lighting store on Bowery and getting a crick in my neck from looking up. It's true I didn't make it myself, but I LOVE IT!






And on another note: To add to my embarassment of KOIGU riches, I also just got into the WOLLMEISE Sock Club. Lord, help me...

Got Koigu?

I was on my beach vacation, blithely walking off the boardwalk into town, and ran into a LYS that was going out of business. Everything was 75% off. Did you read that? 75% off. Needles, some skeins of yarns, patterns, everything. I picked out some Cascade Tweed in a chunky weight (was going to be $3/skein) and some Addi Turbo lace needles, and a couple of patterns. But I didn't have any money with me, and by the time I found my wallet--I mean, my husband--someone else had taken the yarn and Addis that I had piled up next to the register and paid for them and left. DAMN.

Well, there were a couple of patterns and another Addi Turbo circular needle that were still left behind, so I went to buy those. Then I saw that buttons were also 75% off, so I bought three sets of buttons for some imaginary future projects . I also found a lone skein of Austermann sport-weight sock yarn with the jojoba and and aloe vera in it, so I bought that, too. My total came to $21.76! WOO HOO! A few reasonable purchases for the practically the price of ONE Addi Turbo circular. God love Delaware for having no sales tax, too!

Then I saw it. SHOOT. An entire KOIGU kit for 50% off. I wouldn't be caught dead in the mitered mishmash of a tunic that the kit would allow one to make, but what was in the kit was 2 skeins of ELEVEN colorways at about 50% off what one might normally pay and without sales tax. Oh help me, I bought it. How could I not, right?

22 skeins of KOIGU KPPPM in 11 colorways.

OmigGAWD! What have I done? What am I gonna do with all this? I spent like 10 hours on Ravelry trying to figure out what to do. Babette? Too many variegated skeins, but I would consider it if someone traded me a few solids for some of the variegated. A Charlotte's Web Shawl? Maybe. Socks. I guess--the one pair I made got holes in them, but at this price I paid for this Koigu, I won't be so upset about it. And I hate the mitered square things in this yarn.

Would you give me some advice? I know. I know. I'll give the Koigu to you if I have to...

A kind of antidote.

So, I was knitting and knitting on the ubiquitous Y-chromosome-approved hunter green wool boring to knit (but fast) straight-forward Cobblestone Pullover. As you might have read (because my bitterness sometimes seeps out), I had knit the whole thing and it was WAY too big for its intended.



I mean look at this, the first attempt being worn by Obie Boy. Yikes.






It would have fit Poem-Man, the father (pictured right), but not Obie-boy, the son, who is a runner and has no body fat (hence the need for a sweater).

But now I've finished the sweater, but Obie-boy is at pre-semester x-country camp at college, so I'll mail it off with the hope that it fits and keeps him warm. I really shouldn't complain. He's wonderful young man and when I offered (somewhat sheepishly and skeptically) to make him a sweater (I mean, I'm not his mom, after all.), he got kind of excited (well, in his way), saying, "I was jealous of all the the warm-looking hand-knit sweaters that my roommate's Mom had made for him, and now I'll have a sweater." Aww...

Pattern: The ubiquitous Cobblestone.
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash, 5.25 skeins
Yarn enabler: Webs,
Needles: Size 5 Knitpicks Harmony Circulars
Time I spent knitting this when I should have been knitting it right: Ok, the first time was from July 26-August 7th. (I knit almost an entire sleeve during Mamma Mia!). The second time took from August 16-August 20. Ok, I didn't really rip the sleeves all the way out and spent a lot of time watching the river and waterfalls from the Brooklyn Promenade.


Anyway, I needed an antidote to all this boringly manly, dark green austerity of a sweater. My girly, summery responses are as follows:






I heart my completed Ravelympics sweater (Go Team SitnKnit NYC!) in a big way, especially considering my initial displeasure with the splitty yarn. I solved the splittiness issue, to some extent, by doubling the yarn, thus allowing for bigger needles, faster knitting, and an entirely different pattern from the project for which it was intended. I basically knit this sweater in between version 1 and version 2 of the Cobblestone.

Ah, I should mention that I totally changed the lace pattern from what is in the pattern since I was going to run into the same problem I whined about before. It is the perfect weight--airy but substantial, soft on the skin. What's not to love about silk and bamboo!


Pattern: Hey, Teach
Yarn: Elann's Soie Bamboo in Voile Pink, about 2.75 cones. April 2008
Needles: Size 5 Knitpicks Harmony Circulars
Time I spent knitting this while shamelessly being moved to tears by the Olympics: 8 Days. (See, it's all about the Chinese love of the number 8--cast on at 8 am on 8.08.08 and finished in 8 days!)

Speaking of "TEACH," my summer vacation ends in Sept when we all go back to school. My endless mornings/days/evenings of knitting will end, so I'm casting on more girly, summery, colorful projects like crazy, see--



Details to follow--probably after I come back from Rehoboth Beach. Yeah, BABY!

I don't know why this keeps happening

a second non-knitting food-related post. I guess it's because I'm trying to eat more intensely. I need to weigh less, but I love food and refuse to give it up or see it as the enemy. Instead, I'm trying to get MORE pleasure from less food with the hope that I will eat fewer calories. I suppose I should eat nothing but poached chicken breasts and celery broth, but that's not how I want to go.

Of course, I am knitting indiscriminately--or fiber-ing indiscriminately--buying, dyeing, knitting, dreaming. It'd be great if I could sublimate all my eating desires towards yarn activities. And then if I could sublimate the food-sublimated-yarn activities to actual physical activities. But let's not get crazy. Wait--does watching Olympics burn calories?

So, a food thing. This is my favorite summer lunch in variations. All include pain au levain from Bread Alone. All include farmers' market tomatoes: heirloom or cherry. Finally, each has ricotta. Sometimes sheep, sometimes cow. Ooh, and the last picture features ripe peach on one. Then a little dash of sea salt, olive oil, or honey as one sees fit.

It does make me happy. So sue me.

We interrupt this knitting blog for...

For an epicurean, slightly-more-mature version of "I've Never..."

I've eaten 72 of the 100 items on this list. Is that why I'm so fat? Or do we call it eclectic and experienced? Five of the 28 things I've not 'eaten' are alcoholic beverages--I'm just not a big drinker so that's no surprise. I'm a little concerned that there are only 4 things I would really consider NOT eating. I guess that how I got to 73. I think some interesting additions to the directions would be to indicate what you would NEVER eat again AND what you yourself have ever made in the kitchen. Also, I've added my personal comments in italics.

Play the game, too and let me know your results!

Here's the official list and directions:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating. 4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper I'm just too much of a spicy food wuss.
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar I've had cognac. I just won't smoke a cigar.
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O What's the point of this as an epicurean thing?
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal Again, I'm just too much of a spicy food wuss.
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin I guess I would consider this if someone explained why I should eat clay.
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa This I'm dyin' to try.
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor I always thought this was just too passe to try, but I'd give it a go.
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Because one can't knit ALL the time...

I got a little tired of knitting. I know--call me crazy. Here's the story: I finished a Cobblestone Sweater in about 13 days--just in time to start a new sweater of Ravelympics. Unfortunately, the Cobblestone ended up being two sizes too big, so I ripped it out. You know of course, that means that it could have taken me even LESS time to knit the damn thing in the first place. Argh. So I got tired of knitting--I could not face miles of dark green Cascade 220 superwash stockinette. So sue me.

So instead I went to my new fiber addiction--dyeing yarn. Lookie Lookie!

"Buttered Sunshine" in worsted weight: "Too Blue for Skool" in sockweight:"Last Daffodil" in sockweight:
I've added Arteco Spectrum Gel Food Coloring to my arsenal of Lemon-Lime, Pineapple, Mango, Lemon, Ice Blue Raspberry, and maybe some other flavors of Kool-Aid. I better start to want to know rather than just accumulate self-dyed yarn.

Got any ideas for what to make out of this yarn? Oh--and if I ever do get all my knitting mojo back I could use these that I made this morning in my summer vacation stupor:

But I did cast on for my Ravelympics sweater at 8 am on 8-8-08! And I'm just about done. Not sick of it--I am loving it! Here's a pic for now--more when I am actually all done. I even bought the buttons and everything--