Scorchin'

The heat this week has been unbelievable. The temperature on the deck (in the shade, mind you) on Wednesday was 102F (38C). Bleh. And, of course, the office was frigid. Even though 71F doesn't sound cold, it is, especially when sitting under the A/C vents and dressed for hot summer weather. There was even a man in the office wearing a light fall jacket! You know that something's wrong when a man wears an outdoor jacket indoors in the summertime. Fortunately, the weather has cooled somewhat this weekend, but the temperatures are expected to climb by mid-week. Bleh.

Not much has been happening on the knitting front. I managed to get a fair amount knitted on the simple stockinette sock while at the doctor's today. I thought I had a 1:30 appointment, but the confirmation call said 11:30, and that's when I showed up. Guess what? My appointment really was at 11:00. The receptionist was having a rather confusing day on Friday. However, the doctor saw me as soon as he was able. Nonetheless, I got a good 90 minutes of knitting in. I'm hoping to have another FO soon.

I came home on Friday to a package in the mail. It was the Bee Shawl kit from Wooly Wonka Fibers (click on New Products). The yarn is gorgeous and the pattern...well, the pattern is intimidating. It does look like it's well-written, though. I'm afraid that I'm going to stash this one for a while, although it was very tempting to wind the skein into a ball and knit a gauge swatch. I resisted the urge and resolved to continue to doggedly knit the simple stockinette stitch sock.

The 25th anniversary of Vogue Knitting also showed up recently and I'm finally getting around to reading it. This magazine isn't my favorite; I find it hard to read (dare I say the print is too small?) and there are a ton of advertisements, which makes it difficult to navigate. Plus, I find that I'll probably knit none of the patterns, ever. There are some good articles and I do learn. Plus, if I want to get into the knitting industry eventually, I need to be aware of what's going on. VK is probably one of the best magazines for that (but I digress). Anyway, this issue is full of pithy comment from folks like Kaffe Fasset, Alice Starmore, and Meg Swanson (the old guard). I particularly liked their discussion of how most hand knitting designers are given short shrift by yarn companies, as well as the effects of copyright violations on designers. The magazine also interviews Debbie Stoller, the Yarn Harlot, Shannon Okey, and Vickie Howell (the new guard).

I had some very insightful and profound comments on both articles, but alas, they have slipped through the sieve that is my brain. Of course, cooking dinner and enjoying a glass or two of wine didn't help matters. Sigh...

Julie/Julia
I'm somewhat obsessed with the Julie/Julia project. I found the original blog and have been reading it religiously. My copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking now resides on the kitchen counter, open to recipes that particularly intrigue me. My first Julia recipe was cassoulet, a couple of years ago. You know that it's going to be involved when Julia has notes on "the order of battle." It turned out well, although I could have fed an army with it.

And tomorrow night, I'll make my second Julia dinner. We'll have a simple roast chicken with tarragon, baked cucumbers, gratin au dauphinois, a simple green salad, and a blueberry clafoutis for dessert. I'll make some little mushroom canapes as hors d'oeuvres. Of course, I've never made any of these recipes before. And we're having a couple of friends over for dinner. I read once that you should never make something for dinner guests that you haven't made before. I always break that rule. No one has gone hungry (or died) yet!

Well, I was going to say something pithy here about the Julie/Julia Project and creativity and cooking and originality and knitting, but sieve brain strikes again. I really need to start jotting these random thoughts down when they occur.

I probably won't post tomorrow, too much cleaning and cooking to be done. I'm about halfway through Harry Potter (I resorted to borrowing a copy from a friend), so my regular blog reading will resume as well. Actually, I've been reading your blogs; I just haven't left comments because I'm feeling a definite lack of profundity. Ah well...

Happy knitting and...

Bon appetit!