Sunday, September 28, 2008

One FO, lots of dirty dishes and the promise of a new project tonight

So I brought home a new project yesterday, which I really wanted to swatch last night. But I told myself I had to finish those last two pesky squares of my afghan made with Manos del Uruguay Wool Classica yarn. And I did! Stayed up a too bit late doing it but they are now ready to be blocked. I would have blocked them, but the other squares - already blocked - are at the yarn shop. And I can't remember the dimensions I ended up blocking them to, so it will have to be done there tomorrow. Then the seaming later in the week - which should be cake to do.

Today it was really gray out. Kind of humid actually - I went on a very long run this morning with a friend and boy were we dripping! When you have already sweated through your shirt on mile 1.5 of a 10 mile run, you know it ain't gonna be pretty. But next week is the Leaf Peepers Half Marathon in Waterbury and I'll be there! I've done my training - more or less - and am really hoping for some nice weather. I don't want pouring rain like two years ago, and I'd love to NOT have this humidity that we've been having recently. A nice day with some sun and clouds, a bit of a breeze, no humidity and temps in the low to mid 60's would be lovely. I don't think I'm asking THAT much, do you?

After my run I really just wanted to sit down and start swatching for my next project. I worked yesterday, and in the afternoon I was able to come up with my next sweater project... for me, not for the shop. It's stylish, has a nice stitch pattern, and I'm sure I will feel like a DIVA in it. Get it? That's right... Stitch Diva. I've chosen the Stitch Diva "Number 6" pattern which is brand new:So new that it's not on our site yet - will be tomorrow though. I am using Pure Merino DK yarn:I LOVE the worsted weight version, but I think this will be a better weight for me. But I am going to make this one with quite a bit of negative ease. The Pure Merino has such a great amount of elasticity, so making it smaller will be a good choice.

Unfortunately, the swatching I wanted to do had to wait. I had a huge number of things in my CSA this past week that needed to be used up! I had cilantro, onions, garlic, leeks, tomatillos, hot peppers, butternut squash, and more. So what did I do? I dirtied just about every dish/pan/mixer in my kitchen. First I made banana chocolate chip muffins:Bananas were not in the CSA, but were past their prime and the girls are low on snacks for their lunches - so it was a necessity. Then I made Butternut Squash soup:It's my absolute favorite soup.

Then I made a nice big batch of tomatillo salsa:Nobody eats it in my house except for me, so I hope everyone at work will share it tomorrow. I'll bring in some blue chips!

And finally, some quinoa with carmelized leeks:This is a good one. It called for water, chicken broth or beer to cook the quinoa in, so I pulled an Otter Creek Stovepipe Porter out of the fridge. Man, was that the right choice! It's amazing.

Luckily the girls let me cook in peace. Sophie had a poster to do for homework:And Helen curled up with a good book: And now once the kitchen is cleaned, the laundry is changed, folded and put away, the kids fed, and my knitting corner cleaned:(that's pretty bad isn't it?) I plan to sit down - after a LONG, HARD day out pounding the pavement (literally) and slaving away in the kitchen - and knitting my swatch. Can't wait!

By the way, notice how many knitting bags I have in this picture. In the back, a Bagsmith project bag, then a Lexie Barnes "Lady B", then a Della Q Stripe Tote (discontinued), and up front, the Namaste Laguna Bag. All full of projects... UFOs... of course.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Would you be willing to share your recipes? I have a large butternut that needs using up and beer + quinoa sounds amazing nevermind the overgrown tomatillos in my backyard ;)