I need a ball winder and swift

Okay, I might finally make the investment and buy a ball winder and swift. Last night I spent over 30 minutes winding 478 yards of Cascade Eco Wool into a ball. I was not about to try and make this a center-pull ball! I just wanted the result to be a ball of knit-able yarn.

So, here it is in all its glory: a huge ball of wool. I'm holding it in up against my torso as a point of reference. This thing is ENORMOUS!!

I think the yarn is a great deal: I got 2 skeins for $15.99 each at a LYS. Not bad for 478 yards of worsted weight wool. I could have probably found it cheaper online, but calculating in shipping costs, I'm sure the prices would be comparable. Even if I got "free" shipping, I would have felt guilty over increase my carbon footprint to save a few cents when what I needed was right here in town, conveniently on the way back from a knitting meet-up.

I cast on this afternoon for the Hemlock Ring Blanket, which I aim to finish by October 25 as a 50th wedding anniversary gift for my grandparents. The color of the ball in the picture above is more true to the actual color of this yarn -- more tan/brown undertones then the grey color that appears below.



I finished "reading" (audio book!) By a Spider's Thread by Laura Lipppman this afternoon as I worked on the blanket. The book takes place in Baltimore, and I loved hearing about all the familiar, local landmarks. The story of a man looking for his estranged wife and children was suspenseful, but not scary (i.e., I won't have nightmares!). I have 2 other Laura Lippman books checked out of the library right now and I'm looking forward to starting the next one tomorrow!

presidential debate drinking game

Well, the Friday night plans to go watch a UMD soccer game were squashed by the rain. So, it will be a quite night at home watching the presidential debate. T-minus 45 minutes to until showtime. And here's the game: drink every time a candate says "change".

I can't take credit for this brilliant little game, but I'm going to participate for sure! Cheers!

CSA Harvest 16: September 25, 2008

This week's goodies! The braising mix from last week was wonderful with barley, parsley, and shreded carrots. Oh, and the bok choy was fantastic -- sweet and very mild compared to other greens. A fantastic contrast! I'm looking forward to this week's greens....mmmmmm.

welcome, autumn!

Yippie yay for the first day of autumn! I have been waking up the past few mornings a little chilly, so I thought, what better day to put the duvet back on the bed than the first day of autumn? I love my duvet. :)

My dad brought me a bunch of apples and peaches last weekend from a PA orchard, so I ate one of the apples with my breakfast this morning. Apples always remind me of fall. Yum!

Looking at the cooler (yay!) weather report for the upcoming week, I decided to cook a hearty dish of barley, carrots, and peppers (plus spices, of course!) for my lunches. The peppers smelled divine simmering on the stove.





But the best part of autumn's arrival this year was that I completed my CPH yesterday! I ended up using 13.5 balls of the Debbie Bliss Donegal Tweed Aran yarn because I added about 3 inches to the sleeves and 1.5 inches to the body. The pattern is very clever and easy to follow. Now I know why so many people have made this sweater. Seaming, weaving in ends and adding buttons took me about 5 hours. I can't believe how slow I am! But was very meticulous with my finishing (for a change!) and it really paid off. I'm very happy with the final product. And I already wore it to a get together last night and a crafty get together this afternoon. I'm sure this FO will get a lot of wear this fall and winter. It might take the Arbor's place in my "#1 favorite knit" spot!

The outdoor pictures were taken by a fellow crafty/knitty friend.

CSA Harvest 15: September 17, 2008

My half of this week's veggies! I forgot to put a big bag of braising mix in the picture. By the time I realized I had forgotten, I already had most of the yellow cherry tomatoes in my belly! :)

all those swatches...

... and I cast on this (i.e., not one of the projects I swatched for!):



The pattern is from the "Anny Purls" blog. For yarn, I'm using Karabella Lace Merino Silk in black. My size 1 needles are getting another use. This seems to be my favorite needle size for socks and fingerless mitts (that use fingering weight yarn, that is).

The back story is that I made a pair of fingerless mitts for as a gift to my mom for her birthday:







My babička (grandmother) loved the idea of fingerless mitts. She said that would be great for her hands, which are riddled with arthritis. So when I asked her if she would like a pair, she was delighted! She used to knit all the time, before her hands precluded her from being able to do so. I sported many sweaters knit by her hands back in the day, so this is the least I could do for her!

Coincidentally, my babička loved the yarn that I used for my mom's mitts and I have a whole extra ball of yarn. So, I already have plenty of yarn to make this pair of mitts! She wanted a different pattern, though. Something with a little more warmth/coverage and not a lace pattern. I've had my eye on this Anny Purls pattern, so it was a perfect match!

I have to finish this project before my babička and my ďědeček (grandfather) head back to the Czech Republic at the beginning of December. Should be a piece of cake!

swatching for fall projects

Fall is almost here! As soon as September starts, fall has arrived in my mind. But I suppose I should to wait for the equinox to make it official. Nevertheless, I'm preparing for an avalanche (I hope!) of fall knitting by swatching for potential projects. I made 3 swatches last night.




First up: 100% Peruvian Tweed purchased at the Yarn Barn of Kansas booth at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival. The yarn is amazingly soft knit up. I swatched on sized 3 needles, but I think I want a tighter fabric, so I'll try 2s or 1s. This yarn is going to be used for (basic) gloves for mister. I might double it to make him a hat and/or scarf as well. I hope the 600 yards will go a long way!



Next I got out the size 9 needles and my newly purchased Valley Yarns Northampton. This is a 100% wool yarn and knit up like a dream. The stitches are nice and even. I want to make the boatneck bluebell sweater by Stefanie Japel with this yarn.



Finally, I got out the size 11 needles to swatch the Debbie Bliss Donegal Chunky Tweed. I love this green color! And, not too suprisingly, the yarn is knitting up very quickly. I plan to use this yarn for a Drops Jacket.



The swatches are still drying and the CPH is still on the needles, but I'm itching to start one of these new fall projects!!

CSA Harvest 14: September 10, 2008

Here's this week's haul. In the bags: beans, beets, arugula. Yum!





I tried to pick pink and white flowers this week. The snapdragons smell amazing!


Oh, and a little gift from my home country. My grandparents are visiting the States for 3 months and brought some childhood favorites for me. :)

CSA Annual Harvest Supper

The Red Wiggler Annual dinner should have been on Saturday, but Hurricane (or was it Tropical Storm?) Hannah postpone the event to Sunday. But it was worth the wait! Sunday brought beautiful weather and a more cheerful atmosphere, I imagine, than we would have had in the wind, rain, and mud.

The pictures don't really capture the warm and cheerful sense of community that one felt during the event, but they do give a idea of the time and care that was put in to planning all the details!

Tasting of local wines!



The center pieces were made from the farm's wild flowers. They did a much better job than I do with the arrangements!


Everything at the event was reusable, recyclable, or compostable.


A silent auction in the barn to raise money for Reg Wiggler.


Artwork in the barn.



Dinner! I think my favorite dish was the goat cheese stuffed peppers. The roasted potatoes and beets were a close second though.



Dessert featured all kinds of homemade goodies, including fruit pies, lemon bars, cookies, brownies, and cupcakes. It was impossible to try one of everything, but I certainly had a good sampling!

WIP: Central Park Hoodie

This fall marks my first KAL. And what better pattern to pick than the Central Park Hoodie. There are several of us (about 7?) making the famous sweater.

I purchase 12 balls of Debbie Bliss Donegal Tweed in "sky" at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this year with a sweater, but not necessarily this sweater, in mind.

Here's my swatch on size 6 needles. Based on recommendations from my fellow KALers, I went down to size 5s. However, I am using this project to work on consistency in my tension and have gotten progressively tighter as I knit up the back of the sweater. So, as I knit the front, I am going to go back up to size 6 needles.

I started this sweater in a way I've never done a sweater before: sleeves first. I like this approach and will definitely use it again!

So far the CPH has been a pleasurable knit, except for a bit of anxiety about running out of yarn. I used 4.5 balls of yarn for the swatch and sleeves alone. I'm sure this is because I adding significant length to both the sleeves and body of the sweater. As I researched purchasing more yarn, I found out that this color has been discontinued. But as luck would have it, I found some leftovers of this yarn in other Raveler's stashes and am in the process of trading/buying a few more balls of yarn. I can't rave enough about how wonderful Ravelry is! I might actually end up with EXTRA yarn... perhaps a hat or mittens to match??

Here's where I am to date: the sleeves and backs are finished. Off to do a little yoga and then work on the fronts on this rainy Saturday (hello Hanna!)... I hope I can finish the sweater before my birthday in about 1 month My present to myself!

CSA Harvest Summary (May, June, July)

This week is an "off" week for the CSA in preparation for the annual fundraising supper this Saturday. Let's hope Hurricane Hanna doesn't put a damper on the event (no pun intended!). The event will be held rain or shine. While there will be tents to cover us, I don't think they'll prevent the wind/rain from reaching us.

Since I wasn't blogging for the first half of the summer, I haven't posted some wonderful CSA harvests. But I do have pictures of most (too bad not all) of the harvests from this summer). Since I share the CSA share, I have indicated whether I took a picture of the "whole" share for that week or "half" the share for that week. Here's a picture rundown...

Orientation & "muffin luck" breakfast - 5/17/2008

Harvest 1 (half) - 5/27/2008

Harvest 2 (half) - 6/4/2008

Harvest 3 (half) - 6/10/2008

Harvest 4 (half) - 6/17/2008

Harvest 7 (whole) 7/8/2008

Harvest 9 (whole) - 7/29/2008

Peppers and pizza

In the kitchen again yesterday after an inspirational trip to Takoma Park. First, I had brunch with friends at Mark's Kitchen and then we cruised the farmer's market.

I've been collecting peppers for the past several weeks... both from the CSA and the pepper plants I got as a gift from a friend. I decided to make a spicy pepper dish. I'll add black beans and a few slices of bread for a few tasty lunches this week. My hands were burning for about 4 hours after handling the peppers. I'm hopful that it was just the seeds that caused the burning and the dish itself won't be too spicy!








Next I made pizza.

From this:


to this:


and finally, going into the oven, this: