CSA Extended Harvest 5: November 19, 2008

The last CSA pick up for this year. :( I still have enough veggies for the next two weeks (at least... there are still a few items in the freezer too), but I'm sad that I will actually have to pick up my own veggies at the market soon.

A little surprise in this week's veggie stash: cilantro. Who knew cilantro was still growing? I think I'm going to add it to a rice dish.

Thanks to TeamKnit and evergreenknits for your advice on the kohlrabi I got last week! I ate them raw and they were delicious! I got a few more this week and can't wait to eat them!!

Ramping up for knitting down

December 1st marks my participation, along with several other Ravelers, in a knit-down-a-long (KDAL). We are playing through May 2009 (MD S&W purchases don't count!!). Each participant must knit more yards than she acquires each month to stay "in" the contest. If she breaks even, she can stay in. But, if she acquires more yards than she knits, she "out." The winner gets a free skein of yarn, paid for by the other contestants. In the event of a tie (i.e., more than one contestant standing when we get to the end of May), the person whose "yards knit" minus "yards acquired" is the greatest, wins.

So, as a result of this "contest," and even though Stitches East was just a week ago, I felt the urge to buy. more. yarn. Must. get. more. yarn. before. 12. 1. I picked up a few goodies today and I'm officially ready to hunker down and knit down. Here's what I got today. And now that I've got it out of my system (I hope), game on, ladies!

Here's my new skein of Shalimar Yarns (hand dyed superwash sock, 405 yards). I love this semi-solid colorway! It will be perfect for a baby knit!

I also purchased 4skeins of Manos del Uruguay Cotton Stria in beautiful neutral and green colorways today. 116 yards in each skein. The two greens are the same "color" (203), but they don't match identically, which is fine. I can alternate rows and give the knitted piece a rustic look!

Rocky got a special treat today too. His doggie friend Luna turned 2 last week and was kind enough to share her banana cake with Rocky. Happy birthday, Luna!

Patiently waiting for a bite.

Wait...


Yum!

In other knitting news, I cast on for a pair of socks on the way home from the hockey game last night. I bought this yarn (Spirit Trail Fiberworks "Alexandra") at the Takoma Park yarn party in the spring. It feels heavenly knitted up, and I'm happy with the way the colorway is looking as well. I chose a simple pattern (Charade by Sandra Park), since there's a lot going on color wise in this yarn.

Speaking of the hockey game, it was too warm to need our Koolhaases last night, but we snapped one shot with them on anyway. Once we got through the traffic to get to the game, a good time was had by all!

Better Koolhaas picture

While it's not a "knitting in action" shot, I have better lighting in this picture than the weird lighting in the car... so excited to wear my hat to the hockey game tonight!

Koolhaas mich!

Yippie! I'm done. Here's a crappy picture I took today (in my car at a stoplight). So excited to wear this to hockey game tomorrow. Better pictures to come!

CSA Extended Harvest 4: November 12, 2008

I am absolutely amazed at what is still coming out of the ground in this cold weather! The leaves have mostly fallen off the trees in Maryland, but the greens are still coming.

The Red Wiggler staff is more and more bundled up with each pick up... hats, gloves, boots... I'm so grateful for all the hard work they do to bring delcious food to so many tables.

One more week of veggie bliss and then I have to buy my own veggies. Not looking forward to that. I like having my greens forced on me. It's definitely getting me to eat plenty of them!



I'm excited to try out the kohlrabi this week. We had it once before in the spring as a "bonus," but I had no clue what to do with it and gave it to my mom. This time I will try to cook it up myself!

Kool for me

I'm going to a hockey game on Friday. I'm not a huge fan of any sporting event that doesn't rhyme with "soccer." Well, okay, and "Olympics." But, I'm excited about this outing because it will be some good family bonding time.

And then yesterday afternoon I decided I needed a new hat to wear to the game. So, I cast on for my second Koolhaas. I'm using leftover yarn from my CPH (Debbie Bliss Donegal Aran Tweed in blue) my Celtic tote (just the cast on row in a pretty chocolate brown). Yay, stash busting

Now, let's see if I finish on time! Two repeats down, two to go plus the crown.

Febuary lady, February baby

I've already made two February baby sweaters. They were so fun to knit that I was sure I would make another one or two or more at some point. I've also been meaning to cast on for the February lady sweater, which will be a Christmas gift for my mom. These projects seem to go hand in hand, so I decided to cast on for both this weekend.

I swatched for February lady last weekend on size 7 needles. I'm using Valley Yarn's Sheffield, the same yarn I used for the gallery jacket, in black. Sherbert (named after the error message Sherbert on Ravelry), my trusty sheep tape measure, told me that I have about 16.5-17 stitches per four inches using the 7s. The pattern calls for 18 stitches per inch. I’m liking the drape of this yarn with the size 7 needles, so I’m not going to go down a needle size, I’m going to knit the smaller sweater (35 bust) instead.

I worked the first button hole this morning using the button hole instructions in the back one of my Interweave magazines. I think this method is similar to the method the pattern recommends, but I find the Interweave instructions easier to follow.

As for Feruary baby: I bought this Araucania Magallanes yarn in 2005. Way before Ravelry, that's for sure. I have 2 colorways: this one with whites and browns and another one that has blues, burgundy, and black. I tried to make a ribbed scarf (k1, p1) with the blue colorway a long time ago. I didn't like the look and kept starting over... again and again... using different basic stitch patterns (1x1 rib, 2x2 rib, garter stitch, etc.). I finally gave up and threw the 10 inch scarf and the ball of yarn into my stash bin. Yesterday, when I was organizing my stash, I tried to frog the beginnings of that scarf, which has been rolling around in my stash bin for a few years. It was nearly impossible to frog. The yarn seems to have almost felted to itself at the end of each row. After trying to unravel and untangle for 20 minutes, I finally have to give up and threw it away. The sad new is that I still have about 3/4 of the blue colorway, which I really hate. Now I have no idea what to do with it!

The reason for that little detour is that I realized yesterday that one of the main reasons I didn't like the results I was getting with this yarn (other than the colors!) was because the thick/thin aspect of this yarn was really obvious on the needles I was using (6s? 7s?). So with the FBS, I am using size 2 needles. Much smaller than what is recommended, but I am loving the results because the thin parts aren't too thin. And the fabric, surprisingly, isn't too stiff. Now we'll see if I have enough yarn to finish the sweater. I might have to add a little of something else at the bottom, but that will be a game time decision. I plan to work the entire sweater in garter stitch because I believe the gull pattern and this yarn would not look good together.

As a side note, I cooked up some delicious lentil curry with brown basmati rice tonight. I served the curry with yogurt. I also brew some delicious earl grey tea this weekend, adding mint leaves and dried lavender for fun. I think the idea of lavender mint tea idea steeped (pun intended!) into my unconscious from the DC knitting meet-ups at Teaism.

Coincidentally, I found a great website for cooking times for whole grains. I bought the basmati rice in bulk, so there were no cooking instructions. But, no fear, the Internet to the rescue: http://www.grandtimes.com/Whole_Grains.html