Organization

The better part of today was spent getting my "fiber arts studio" organized. I haven't had any good place to store my meager stash and it was getting difficult to find patterns, knitting needles, notions... It's much better now. I bought the Stick Stacks from Ashland Sky and now all of my needles are in their own place, and taking up less room than they were when they were in their original packaging. The best part is that if I go to a knitting workshop or retreat, I can grab all of my needles and will be prepared for anything!

Less room taken up by needles means I could consolidate the stash into a single storage container. Ziplock bags further enhance the organization. I found some UFOs that I decided I'll never finish, so I ripped those out. But a puzzle is what happened to the front of a sweater I started knitting years ago? I cannot find it. I think I've got enough yarn from an unfinished crochet project to make a shawl or a little capelet.

But in amongst all the organizing and cleaning was some sadness. I pulled out my handspun from about 20 years ago and...um...it looked a little webby and mothy. I don't know what to do with it. Wash it to get the mothy stuff out? Put in the freezer to kill the mothy stuff? It's in a bag, waiting to be thrown out, which is a shame, now that I know how to knit. Some of the yarn is quite nice looking. I must have about 5 pounds of handspun.

I made a commitment to myself to start practicing yoga at home. I did about an hour or so this morning and it definitely changed how I faced the day. I seemed to be more calm and, more importantly, more focused. I think that was one of the reasons I'm not too terribly heartbroken about the possibility of pitching my handspun. Or maybe some of the non-attachment stuff is finally beginning to sink in.

This evening, while my husband is watching Mystic River, I plan to finish my sock and perhaps start another pair. Somehow that seems easier than trying to figure where I left off on the two sweaters I've started. And no, I'm not going to watch the movie while I knit. I'm a movie wimp. I don't like feeling tense and anxious, which is how most movies make me feel. I cry when animals get hurt. Heck, I even cried while watching Winged Migration, which is a documentary about migrating birds. Some birds died. I love birds.

Now, if Tom was going to watch Shrek 2, I'd be there!

Do Overs

The other night I had a nice blog entry written up, describing the cassoulet adventure (lots of pork fat), my second sock, an upcoming wine dinner, and ramblings on a radio interview of Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk. So I preview it, notice some misspelled words, hit the Back button, and get some message about the changes haven't been saved and do I want to continue. Of course, I'm only going back to the Compose page.

Gone...it was all gone, returned to the ether from which it came.

I'm a computer professional, with 20+ years experience. I should know better. Sigh.

Anyway, the cassoulet was a success. I cooked more meat in one day than I've cooked in the past year. Roasted pork loin, homemade sausage, braised lamb. And salt pork and country pork rind (ick). The best part? By the time the dinner guests arrived Sunday evening, all that was left to do was pop the cassoulet in the oven for the final baking. Well, heave is more like it. An 8-quart Le Creuset dutch oven filled with about 5 pounds of meat, 2 pounds of beans, and several quarts of liquid is not light!

Daniel (the nephew) finally got his scarf and said I knitted better than a friend's grandmother (Just for the record? I'm not old enough to be a grandmother). He liked the banana nut muffins, even though they were a bit...um...hard. He looked at this blog and loved the socks ("they're awesome!") so there's a sock project in the wings.

And speaking of socks, sock #2 is almost finished. All that's left to do is graft the toe. The two socks don't quite match. I've been reading the travails of other knitters trying to get matching socks out of self-patterning yarn. My reaction to that was "They're supposed to match? Huh. Didn't think about that." Oh, well. They are close enough and I suspect the casual observer of the socks I wear probably won't notice.

A friend and I were discussing the despair, anger, hopelessness, or whatever you'd like to call it, that we're feeling with the actions of the Bush administration. Leigh is looking for a coping mechanism besides not paying attention. I listened to Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippett on Sunday morning and think I found the coping mechanism. She interviewed Thich Nhat Hanh and spoke to him at length about engaged Buddhism. It was very interesting and gave me a new perspective on why people act the way they do. If you'd like to listen and learn more, you can listen here.

That's it for now. It was a rough day at work and I'm emotionally drained. I really needed that yoga class tonight!

Stalled

I haven't had a lot of energy after work this week. Or rather, I should say, I haven't had a lot of focus after work. I did manage to knit a few rows on my sock and have about 5 more pattern repeats, the ribbing, and the toe grafting to finish. I might be able to finish it this weekend, in between cooking tasks for the cassoulet. And I'll still have set a PR.

That's all for today.

Sock It To Me!

At long last...I have a finished sock! And it fits, more or less. The top ribbing didn't come out quite like I expected. I think the weight of the sock was stretching out the yarn a little bit, so the tension is looser than on the sock body, even though I was knitting on smaller needles. I have started working on its mate and hope to finish it this weekend. If I do, that will be a PR (personal record) for me. Most projects take months and months to finish. For example, I started working on the completed sock at Thanksgiving.





Jez helped me knit this morning and it plum wore her out:





Valerie asked if the teal roving I showed actually is Corriedale. The answer is yes. It's from The Woolery. I ordered BAY-2025. I suppose they could be pulling the wool over my eyes and substituting a different fiber but probably not. I'm definitely not proficient at telling what breed the wool is from. I just buy what sounds nice and spin it up.

I'm currently reading French Women Don't Get Fat, hoping that it will provide some tips for me to enjoy eating the way I want and lose weight. The book reinforces what I already know: eat smaller portions, eat slowly and mindfully, drink lots of water, and be active. But the author writes in such an engaging style that it gives new life to those common sense activities. And she provides recipes that definitely are not diet fare. I'm attempting to follow her advice and it seems to be working. I've shed a couple of pounds over the last several weeks. It's quite encouraging. And the best part? I don't feel hungry and still get to eat chocolate!

Well, I'm off to work on sock #2!

Stuffed to the Gills

Tom and I just got back from the inaugural beer dinner at Thoroughbreds, a brewpub that opened less than a year ago in Leesburg. We've never been before, but my brother-in-law found out about it from the Chile Man and asked us to go. What a pleasant surprise! The food was very good and the beers were excellent. It turns out that our neighbor is the brewmaster there. It's pretty amazing.

So, we started off with a little bit of grilled duck sausage on crostini with creole mustard. No beer with that little tidbit. That was followed by:

• Smoked cheddar and ale soup (Paddock Pale Ale)
• Baked Oysters on the Half shell with Spinach and Bacon (Dry Mill Keller Pils)
• African Spiced Chicken Breast with Preserved Lemons over Basmati Rice (White's Ferry Wheat)
• Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Mole Sauce, Plaintains, and Black Beans (Ball's Bluff Barley Wine)
• Apple Phyllo Tart with Caramel Sauce (Oatmeal Stout)
• A premiere tasting of their Dopplebock

Now, I'm not normally a big beer fan. It's okay is small quantities. But this place served pints (or close to it) with each course. In the interests of staying somewhat sober, I drank less than half of each beer, except for the White's Ferry Wheat and Ball's Bluff Barley Wine. I didn't think I liked wheat beer (or heffeweizen) very much, but this was very good. And paired with the chicken? My, oh my! Was it ever tasty! The Chile Man's Thunderbolt sauce was served with the chicken. It's a habanero-based sauce and it was quite tasty and quite hot.

The challenge now will be to try to get a good night's sleep on a very full stomach (there went the diet) and feeling somewhat decent in the morning.

In knitting news, I was successful in casting off the sock and actually getting it to go over my foot. I'll probably graft the toe on Friday or over the weekend. And then I'll have a picture. The sock isn't perfect, but hey...it's my first sock. And it was fun to knit and finally understand short rows. My very first knitting class was a sock class and the whole concept of short rows gave me a headache that lasted the entire weekend.

Who am I?

Why am I here? These questions were going round and round in my head early Sunday morning as I lay in bed, waiting for the migraine medication to kick in. I feel like I'm approaching a cross-roads in my life. This prospect is exciting and scary at once. Exciting because I feel like I'm beginning to get "un-stuck" and scary because I'm approaching something unknown. At lot of disparate things are beginning to converge in my life. Or if not exactly converge, this sometimes dense brain of mine is beginning to pick up on similarities in messages from different sources in my life. Volunteer, give back, open up, communicate, be congruent...

We recently hired a new Director of Product Development at work. I've been sending a message out to the universe in general that I'm ready for a teacher and I think the teacher has arrived, at least for the professional aspect of my life (I lead a software testing, technical writing, and technical support team). His philosophy is very similar to mine, but he has much more managerial experience than I do. I think with his tutelage, I can increase my effectiveness at work, particularly when it comes to managing up.

In yoga class, the message is unfold, open up, and arrive. A similar message was given at the Greater Olney Civic Association awards ceremony, where my mother-in-law was presented with the Citizen of the Year award for her volunteer work with her church, Olney Help, and Manna.

So what will happen? Stay tuned.

In knitting news, I almost finished one toe-up sock. I got to the casting off point and realized the instructions were not making much sense. There was an error in the pattern, so after verifying that what I thought should happen was correct (I still don't have enough confidence to bravely forge ahead), I'll finish casting off tonight and then graft the toe tomorrow. Just think, in another three months, I'll have a pair of socks! Woo hoo!

The Cabled Cardigan

Well, here are the pictures. I finally figured out how to post multiple pictures to a single entry. The pattern is the #17 Cabled Cardigan from Tahki Yarns 2004 Spring/Summer collection. It uses green (#15) New Tweed, which is a merino/silk/cotton/viscose blend. And now, for your viewing pleasure, the sleeve:




And here's the back:




The photos don't do justice to the color and texture of the pattern. This is my first attempt at knitting a cardigan and I suspect that the fit will be a little off. But that's okay. It's a good learning process.

And now I'm off to eat dinner and maybe work on a sock.

The Final Snowstorm?

Well, yesterday's snowstorm was a disappointment. I think we got about 4 inches of snow. I was hoping we'd get the full 10 inches or maybe more. And with today's sun and warmer temperatures, the snow has almost completely melted.

Jezebel doesn't care, as long as she can enjoy a nice warm radiator.



I finished blocking the cardigan back and sleeve last night and it looks as if the left front is the right length. Time to start decreasing. I would have had pictures, but they didn't turn out so well and then the batteries on the camera died. I'll try tomorrow. Or perhaps tomorrow I'll get some knitting in. Or maybe some spinning. Or maybe both will have to wait until the weekend.

This is what our backyard looks like in the snow.



I finished blocking the cardigan back and sleeve last night and it looks as if the left front is the right length. Time to start decreasing. I would have had pictures, but they didn't turn out so well and then the batteries on the camera died. I'll try tomorrow. Or perhaps tomorrow I'll get some knitting in. Or maybe some spinning. Or maybe both will have to wait until the weekend.

Cafe du Monde

Nestled in a quiet secluded neighborhood of Historic Leesburg is a small restaurant known to only a handful of lucky residents (currently 3). Renowned as much for its ‘shabby elegance’ as for its eclectic menu, those who wish a table are advised to plan well in advance as the dining room is open only one evening per year.

And that, dear reader, was the opening to menu my husband created for the gourmet dinner. Dinner was:

Appetizer

Ahi Tuna Cucumber Rollups with a Ginger Wasabi sauce

First Course

Spicy Black Bean and Roasted Squash Soup with Crème Fraiche Swirl
Wine Pairing - Willm Riesling

Second Course

Roasted Beet & Goat Cheese Salad withOrange Hazelnut Vinaigrette
Wine pairing – Parallele ‘45’ Cote du Rhone

Entree

Roasted Squash & Mixed Wild Mushrooms Over Crispy Polenta
Wine pairing – Parallele ‘45’ Cote du Rhone

Dessert

Chocolate Chip Cherry Cookie
With choice of
Mango Sorbet or White Chocolate Rasberry Ice Cream
Wine pairing – Chateau Bastor-Lamontagne Sauternes

Everything was soooo good...he really outdid himself! I must say that I've got the best husband in the world. Leigh brought over a bottle of wine and a bar of fine Belgian dark chocolate (73% pure cocoa). Dark chocolate is my favorite.

Next cooking adventure? I was challenged by a friend to make a cassoulet. Cassoulet dinner date--March 13. It should be...um...interesting, given that I've never eaten cassoulet. But that's never held me back before!

In knitting news, I made progress on the cat bed, until I ran out of yarn. I've got a skein of Lamb's Pride Bulky in orange, but given that the colors are light gray and dark charcoal heather, I'm not going to use it. I pinned the back and sleeve of the cable sweater to the blocking board and need to steam it to uncurl the edges. It isn't looking too bad, but I'm going to have to unknit a couple of rows on the left front to make it match. I definitely have to work on my tension on the purl rows. When I was knitting using the throwing technique, the tension was fairly even. I switched to continental and just can't seem to keep the tensnion consistent on the purl rows. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not. I might experiment with using continental for knit and throwing for purl.

Unfortunately, the price for last night's dinner was a migraine, probably brought on by a combination of red wine and fluctuating hormones. I've been staving one off since Friday, but it finally got me. And Excedrin Migraine isn't doing much for it. So that's it for now.

Spinning Along

In more ways than one. Work this week was a bit of bear and at times pretty discouraging. Next week promises more of the same. However, the weekend is upon us and I'm going to try desperately to unwind. People at work were beginning to remark on how stressed I was looking.

Tomorrow...ah, tomorrow! I predict it will be rather luxurious. Yoga class in the morning to make up the one I missed on Monday, followed by knitting and spinning. And maybe a nice long soak in the tub. The only chores I have tomorrow are vacuuming and setting the table.

I've been told rather adamantly by my dear husband that I'm not allowed in his kitchen while he cooks up a gourmet dinner for me and our dear friend, Leigh. He's been stealth cooking all week and has not revealed the menu. A fruitless search for enoki mushrooms and fresh figs has led to an adjustment in his plans, but that's all I know. I suspect a tomato-based something--either soup or a tomato sauce. Of course, I could be totally wrong.

This is the teal Corriedale, unspun, and spun, two-ply. It's a bit bulky. But I love the color.



This is my first attempt at spinning after (gulp) twenty years of a perfectly good spinning wheel sitting unused. It was good to spin again, but clearly I need practice. I'm not getting an even yarn, and it's a bit over-twisted, although plying helped relax it a little bit. I think I remember someone once telling me that Ashford wheels are known (well, were known) for their overtwisting potential. I've got some green, gold, and red roving that I'll practice on, since the colors don't quite thrill me. If it turns out nice and I still don't like the colors, it will probably be a gift to someone.

The blocking board arrived today, so I'll block out the cardigan-in-process to make sure that the front that I'm knitting matches the back before I start shaping the armhole.

What's that? Am I going to run this weekend? Probably not. :-/

Motivation

I lack it. Short and simple. For what, you may ask? Oh, training for the Charlottesville Half Marathon which is on April 16th. I've run exactly one time for 4 miles since completing the Marine Corps Marathon on Halloween. Which was quite appropriate, given that it was ghoulishly hot (it was the 3rd slowest MCM on record). It was by far the worst and most painful marathon I've ever run. I was ready to quit at mile 15. My knee hurt, my hip hurt...I've never experienced such a painful run. So that put me off running. And my training window for Charlottesville is quickly getting smaller. And Charlottesville is seriously hilly. Ack!

The nephew's scarf blocked out rather well. And I decided to chart the VT logo. Good thing, because I can't get the proportions to work. So off the to the nephew the scarf will go and I'll repossess it over the summer to do the logo, if I can figure out how to make it look good.

Yesterday I received extra bobbins for my Ashford wheel, more of the teal roving and an absolutely luscious mohair/silk roving.

This is the nephew's scarf. The tension is a little loose on some rows (you can see the white chair back), but it won't be noticeable when the scarf is worn.



I'll have more pictures tomorrow, as soon as I figure out how to load more than photo per post.

Good Eats

I got a little knitting done this weekend. The nephew's scarf is almost finished--about 6 inches or so to go. I need to decide if I really want to put the VT logo on in duplicate stitch. I've never done duplicate stitch before, but why should that stop me. If it looks goofy, I can alway rip it out.

I spent a considerable amount of time cooking this weekend. Check out the latest Gourmet magazine. It profiles London and the changing food scene there. Saturday night I made this very yummy shrimp curry. The best thing about it is that it was pretty fast and could be made faster still by using frozen, pre-peeled shrimp instead of shrimps-in-the-shell. On Sunday, I made shortribs braised in stout and served it with buttered egg noodles and smashed peas with mint. I don't cook or eat beef often, but this was a recipe that my husband seemed particularly interested in, so I made it for him. It was pretty good.

My goal for today is to finish the scarf and block it. We'll see...

Goal met!

I just finished blocking the scarf. It took a solid day of knitting before I got to that point. I do wish I could knit faster. As I laid it out, I was a bit taken aback by how inconsistent the tension seemed to be. Maybe it will block out and look okay; maybe it won't. Probably no one will notice (but I will). Tomorrow, assuming I leave work at a decent hour (highly unlikely), I might start working on the VT logo. If I wanted to do things right, I would chart it out first, so I have some idea of scale, etc. I hate doing things right because I want to start doing it now!

I'm playing hooky from yoga class tonight. Tom had said that he wanted to have dinner at Banjara, a very good Indian restaurant in Sterling. But after he refinished two of the windows from one of the bedrooms and went for a run, he was too tired. He informed me of that just as I started to enjoy a Guinness. Drat. Leftovers for dinner tonight.

The Inaugural Post

Well, welcome to my blog. After getting caught up in other knitters' blogs, I decided it was time for my own blog. What will you find here? Most likely a journal of my knitting and spinning projects, cooking goodies, and commentary on the state of affairs in the world today when I can't refrain. Will you be entertained? I can't guarantee it. I hope that I can provide inspiration to new knitters and spinners like other knit bloggers have given to me.

What are my current works-in-progress? Let's see...

• a sock (well, eventually a pair of socks), using the Toe Up sock pattern from Y2Knit, a lovely shop in Funkstown, MD, and Fixation which is a beautiful, stretchy cotton/spandex blend
• a cable sweater using New Tweed (merino/silk/cotton blend) from Tahki; this is a looong term project because of the complicated cable pattern and my propensity for making mistakes (which means lots of ripping out). The back and a sleeve is completed and I'm just about ready to start the armhole shaping on the front
• the Kitty Pi bed, for our dear little cat, Jezebel
• a scarf for my nephew, worked in Sierra cotton/wool, in Virginia Tech's colors; it was supposed to be a Christmas gift (did I mention that I'm a very slow knitter?)
• yarn, spun from a gorgeous turquoise Corriedale roving from The Woolery.

I'll post pictures of the various projects as soon as I figure out how.