Wayward Knitting

Kara Thrace is a Cylon

anyone watch BG? I'm totally addicted.  I am convinced now that Kara is one of the 5 unknown Cylon "skinjob" models. 

People have commented on the wine.  I joined the Ridge wine club and I think their Petite Syrah is fabulous.  The 2001 was my fave.  Ridge is a local vineyard and since real estate is so frackin' expensive here, the Cupertino grapes make the Monte Bello--a mere $200/bottle.  Yikes!  The other grapes come from Sonoma and Paso Robles and that's where my Ridge wine is from--not the fancy stuff.

And, back to the knitting content.  Have tried my hand at some lace--the Argosy.  It's the perfect pattern for the West Valley Alpacas handpaint that had been marinating in the stash since Stitches West 2004...

Say goodbye...since I found a random wonky tendril that I knit accidentally.  It's going to the frog pond and then I'll wait for some quality time with the chart to start over.

As for sweater news...it's been 80 degrees of late.  Of course, this has motivated me to work on my 100% wool sweater.  We have a right front done!  This was my first foray into the Japanese Short Row shoulders on the theory that I will do a 3 needle bind off after I complete the back.  Wish me luck.  Thank goodness for Nona's tutorial.

In the real world

I had a birthday some months back and my gift arrived a few weeks ago.  It was one of my favorite things:  homemade white cake with chocolate frosting.  Of course, my friend is a fancy baker so it's actually a white velvet cake (with citrus) and the fudgiest most excellent dark frosting.

One slice is enough to fell a mere mortal and I had a whole cake.  Here it is.  "Cake on Wedgewood"

In knitting news, I have completed yet another washcloth.  I think I may be nearing the end of my present obsession with those handy square objects.  I am feeling that old baby hat mood again.  Yes, I have now mastered two items for tv watching/knitting--the baby hat (my first love) and now, the Peaches 'n Cream dishcloths.  Next project involves denim.  Can you tell that I've been channeling Kay?

Fancy Foreign Things

I have been getting gifts.  Yay for birthdays.  In addition to some marvelous knitting books (I can hardly describe the joy I've had reading these of late), I have received a lovely Yixing purple clay tea pot and teacups from my cousin Alice.  They are so stylish, and the green tea that came with (rose silver needle!!!) the teaset is so fragrant and fabulous too.

Equally delightful--fancy chocolates from Paris.  Ganache, you are so rich and tasty.  You are so OOH LA LA and nearly gone.  It wasn't me gorging.  Can you believe it was DH? Yes, he ate most of it.  He says he was doing it to help me out since I'm still nursing and the baby is sensitive to chocolate.  Sure.

Brach's Candy

Do you remember Brach's candies?  When I was a kid, Safeway had these candy bins where to you could scoop and weigh your candy.  The bins were usually filled with things like candy corn, licorice and Brach's candy.

I was knitting away at my first Dulaan hat, trying to use up all the fluffy nice La Gran mohair stash bits I had.  Turns out I had lots of pink.  How perfect for Project Spectrum!  As I am knitting, there is some pink, some offwhite and then some cocoa.  All of a sudden, I am reminded of a Brach's candy that I used to like.  It was pink, then white, then chocolate-y. 

But I can't remember what the name of the candy so I google it.  I (heart) the internet.  I found it online...it is the Sundaes Neapolitan Coconuts.

The hat, in its layered fluffiness is turning out rather random, mostly because I so worried about warmth for Mongolia that I am foregoing my usual color/texture considerations.  A case of form follows function, I guess.

I got skillz

Do you have something that you have mastered?  Something you just always get right, every time?  I used to cook (pre-baby) and I had "the company dish" that I made a dozen times and it always turned out.  It was risotto, grilled sausage and string beans with lemon juice and olive oil.  Anytime anyone came over, I made that. 

I went through a brownie phase and a chocolate chip cookie phase.  I must have made several hundred of those from scratch, perfecting my technique, timing, etc. to get the desired chewyness and chocolate-to-flour ratio.

While I make pasta sauce often, I still do not have a recipe that is "perfect" and so I vow that once I can eat tomatoes again (when these food restrictions of breastfeeding are finally over), I will quest to make THE bolognese sauce I have always wanted.  There will be a great shaving of carrots, purchasing of veal and pork chops and shredding of pecorino, I tell you.

So, apparently my obsessive behavior with recipes is transferrable to knitting because I have one thing that I usually get right.  Hats.  I seem to be able to make hats without thinking, and without screwing up.  Now nearly complete with my first Dulaan hat. 

Yarn Pilgrimage

Yesterday, we went to tea at Lovejoy's Tearoom, and over to Imagiknit in the Castro.  I had no idea how enormous Imagiknit would be!  It was two giant rooms of every yarn I had wanted to see!  They had the ArtYarns in Royal silk, they had the Alchemy yarns, they had Lorna's Laces, they had SoySilk, Koigu, and on and on.

It wasn't particularly crowded, which was nice, though there was certaining brisk business at the cash register.  I had been prepared for some snotty attitude from the salefolks, but not at all.  The gals on staff yesterday were helpful.  Amazingly, I walked out of there with nothing.  Sadly, I was simply too overwhelmed.

After that, we went to tea (again!) at Samovar Tea Lounge, knitting became the gift that keeps on giving.  What do I mean? I mean that I had taught Kevin to knit a couple weeks ago.  He has been practicing and working on his scarf.  At Samovar, he taught my friend Lora how to cast on, knit and purl.  It was pretty gratifying.