Scrubbie Dots

My buddy, kim-chi crafts, is off to Colorado to start a new adventure. I sent her off with some of these Scrubbie Dots (Ravelry download - must have an account). These are addictive to crochet, and the results are so stinking cute that I couldn't stop!

I need to make a second batch. So, so cute.

Boteh

I guess this means I am a crocheter.

I finished my first wearable object, and I managed to wear it proudly coupled with the owl sweater today. After work, I met up with a friend who fondly mentioned how often she wears a store bought scarf I gave her when she was in my wedding. It grated it on me all night that I gave this Very Important Person a store bought scarf, but in my defense, I've only been intoxicated by yarn fumes for the past 3 years and I've been an old married lady longer than that.

At the end of the night, I gave her the scarf. I love this scarf, but I can always make another one. She was kind of shocked, as was I (did I mention how much I love that scarf?), but it felt right.

If you want to make one, too, the pattern is Boteh Scarf by Kathy Merrick. This Boteh was made with Dream in Color Smooshy in the Spring Tickle colorway. I found the yarn a little squeaky to work with, but it was nice and soft against my neck and it seemed like a hard wearing yarn.

Curtains

This is an unusual scene. Usually, Greaseball would have the window all to himself. He doesn't share, but perhaps he's allowing Mingus to rest here because he knows that this is the last of the sunshine for the next week.



Or, perhaps, Greaseball is stoned off his gourd from his secret stash of catnip. Yeah, that must be it.

Hoot Hoot!

I finally finished my Owl Cardigan, and it is as cozy as I hoped it would be! I used the owl cable pattern from Kate Davies Owls pattern, and the sweater was a modified Tangled Yoke Cardigan. This time, I used RYC Cashsoft Aran. Since this is the second time I knit this pattern, I shortened the arm length and took the arm circumference in by about an inch for a better fit.

These owls are so stinking cute. I opted to not add the button eyes since 1) I dislike sewing buttons (I did mention how this sat around forever just because of those 11 buttons I had to sew for the ribbed band), and 2) it makes the sweater busy.

I found these sweet wooden buttons at Discount Fabrics in Berkeley. They were just the right size and only had 2 holes (less sewing).


The ribbing along the sides reminded me of tree roots. Very fitting for an owl sweater.


Yoked sweaters seem to fit me the best around my arms and shoulders. The only thing I don't like about yoked sweaters is that I have to make them bottom up instead of top down. I know there are top down yoke sweater patterns out there, so if anyone has one that they've used with success, please let me know.

Now, what sweater should I knit next? I have some gorgeous jade green baby alpaca/wool yarn that is calling to me. I think I'll do a pullover since I want to knit in the round. Perhaps Rusted Root? I really dig the poofy sleeves. Or maybe I can riff off of something in Custom Knits.

Goulash for Good Gouls

Yesterday's woohooit'sFriday! meal was goulash. (I have a gut feeling that this picture is not entirely appetizing, but I am so tainted from the goulash fumes that I can't look at it without having a Pavlovian moment.)

I had to try this after a friend sent me a email lovingly devoted to the siren song of goulash. Clearly, she was also high on goulash fumes. The recipe (annoying, but you need to log into ATK to get it) was easy enough for me to throw together and was a good excuse to add more sour cream to my diet. Since no browning of the beef chuck is involved, my friend use her slow cooker to make it, which I'll try to do the next time I need an easy meal and don't have time to stick around the house to babysit an active oven.

My only modification was that I only used 1 onion, which I suppose is a huge modification since the recipe calls for 4 of them. My eyes were teary after 1 onion, and my food processor was full of the spice paste, so I gave up.

My chuck came from Marin Sun Farms, and like everything else I've bought from them, it was goooood. Since Berkeley Bowl West carries MSF at a very reasonable price and it is on the way home when I drive via the dreaded freeway, we haven't been to the main store in Pt. Reyes in ages. I miss our kayaking trips, though, so we'll have to go there again soon. (Pssst, there is also local wool sold in cones at the Pt. Reyes store...)

It was strange for me to eat something so read without there being any hot peppers in it. I think I may add a some chillies next time since I like a little heat, especially if I know more heat means I can add more sour cream.

New Language

Leftover Sweater Yarn Cowl

Using the leftover 1.5 balls of yarn from my Frontwards Cabled Pullover, I knit the Fresco Basket Whip Cowl. I lurve it! My version was not long enough to cover my head, but it does keep my neck nice and toasty. The plan is to wear this while climbing because I won't have to worry about it falling off me as I ascend, but I've been wearing it all the time since it's cold here.

Fresco is such decadence to knit, and with over 40 colors to choose from, there will be more Fresco in my future. What I like the most about it is that it is tightly spun, so even though the yarn has a gorgeous halo (thanks to the angora) and is soft, the yarn doesn't pill like Malabrigo.

Vespa liked the cowl, too, although she didn't like how it made her neck look fat when put over her collar.

More Stash Busting Projects

This time, the stash busting included both produce in the refrigerator and leftover project yarn.

Since broccoli has been super cheap and good, I picked up some crowns. When I was stashing the broccoli in the refrigerator, I found some more broccoli in the produce bin that was last week's "OMG, this organic broccoli is cheaper than the regular broccoli!" score.

Got too much broccoli? Make soup! The way I make broccoli soup is simple. Cut washed broccoli into florets. If you have the stems, peel them and slice them into coins. Peel some garlic cloves, and cut off the ends. Throw the broccoli, garlic, and some uncooked white rice into a pot, and fill the pot with enough stock or water to come up to about 3/4 the way up the pile.


Cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes, and then use your handy stick blender to puree the whole thing. Stir in some yogurt or cream, and add salt and pepper to taste. Sometimes, I get fancy and I saute some onions/leeks/shallots at the beginning of this process, later deglazing the pan with a dry white wine before I add the broccoli, rice, garlic, and stock. Instead of broccoli, you can also use winter squashes (either raw or roasted), carrots, or sweet potatoes. I'll also add lemon juice or cider vinegar if I think the soup needs to be less sweet.



More yarn stash busting has also occurred. In addition to the 10 preemie hats, I knit this hat from leftover Cascade 220 and other worsted weight wool yarns.


It's a boy sized version of Felicity. We have matching hats now, so we can walk our dogs and be dorks together.


To make this hat fit his noggin, I cast on 100 stitches and increased to 150 stitches before starting the decrease rounds.

The First 2010 FO

Veronik Avery's Lace Ribbon scarf was the first completed project of 2010. The yarn is Socks that Rock lightweight in a Rare Gem colorway - this was purchased a couple of years ago at Stitches West 2008 when STR was showcasing their Raven colorways. What took me so long to use this yarn is beyond me. It was lovely to work with, and I have high hopes that it will be durable as well since it is tightly spun. The pattern was also easy for me to memorize, so a lot of it was knit during holiday travel.


Or was the Felicity hat (.pdf file) my first 2010 FO? I'm not sure. This is the first one, knit for a friend's birthday. I finished another one in a different size for me, and I'm currently knitting a larger hat for the boy.

2010 will also be the year I clear my stash. At least it will be if I keep on going at this rate! I long for the fumes of new yarn, but I'm feeling frugal, so stash diving has been my mode of operation. I'm at the point where my stash mainly consists of odds and ends from other projects, so expect a lot of multiple colored projects.

One stash busting project has been these preemie caps. These will be donated to the UCSF neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). As a stash busting project, these hardily qualify since they are the tiniest things ever. I weighted one of the hats, and it was a mere 10 grams. Tiny!

All this hat knitting is due to twitchy fingers that are trying to ignore finishing a cardigan. I swear I only have two more hours left of work, but it involves seaming and thinking, both things I don't feel like doing when I'm unwinding with yarn and needles. However, I wore my almost finished cardigan yesterday, and I want the finished project! Badly! So, hopefully, that will get me in gear enough to complete the cardigan by the end of this week. Or maybe not.

Mingus has also been avoiding thinking. Here's my boy not thinking about a toy he just gnawed.

On Socks (and Food)

Sock drying day makes me smug and happy. Smug because, hey, I've made all those socks! They represent many knit nights and hours at The Pub. Happy because I know that these socks are worn and loved. It's chilly for us thin skinned Northern Californians, so these wool socks are in heavy rotation.

Before the end of 2009, I eeked out another pair of socks, this time using Malabrigo sock, the brand of sock yarn often whispered about in reverent tones with a groupie following similar to The Beatles. I've been knitting for over 3 years, and I had never worked with the stuff.

It was a joy to work with, although I'm a little worried about their durability since I've come to equate super soft and squishy yarn with holes that I need to patch up. Why would I think this? Example 1: Pigeon Roof Studio socks.

I didn't wear these socks anymore than my other ones, and in fact they are relatively new, but look at the size of that hole in the heel! The matching sock is also precariously close to another heel blow out. So sad. These socks have some nylon in them, too, so I thought they'd last a little longer, but 'tis not the case. If anyone has any ideas on how to mend these socks, please pipe in. For now, they are tucked away because I cannot bear to look at them.

So far, my most durable socks are the first pair I ever made, the ones that almost made me cry because I had been knitting for a couple of months and the figure eight cast on was close to defeating me. They are made from Trekking XXL. I will be buying more Trekking soon even if the colors don't make me swoon and they are not the softest things ever. After the heel blow out, I'd rather have marginally soft socks that are hard wearing.

Follow up report on the pork vindaloo: it was good! It also looked not so good after the pork butt had been slow cooked for 8 hours, so I decided to not post pictures. There wasn't any photo doctoring I could do that would make it look appetizing. I still need to tweak the recipe more because there were things I wasn't happy about, like the potatoes being thrown into the slow cooker at the beginning. I used russets, a dry potato, and they basically crumbled apart. Next time, I want to use waxy potatoes and I'll throw them into the stew much later. For those interested, I made my pork vindaloo based on this recipe.

In the slow cooker now is yet another round of chicken makhani (butter chicken). Good stuff, and even better if you substitute out the butter for ghee, clarified butter that is cooked until nutty brown and strained. I did not sew together 15 cardamon pods as suggested in the recipe because the whole point of slow cooking, to me, is easy. I did double the amount of garam masala, and I did make a huge batch of garam masala that I am almost done with since this is the third time I've made this recipe. The boy is sadly butter chickened out.

My next slow cooker experiment is going to be some sort of spinach dish. I have a bunch of spinach, some ghee, some ginger, garam masala, onions, and garlic. I also have some heavy cream should I decide to do a creamed spinach instead. Hm, have I ingested enough fat lately? (says the woman who is happily reading Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes right now.)