Knits

We’ve had a hot weekend here. Obviously I mean hot by British standards, but they’re also my standards ’cause I do not cope with heat AT ALL. I wonder if this bright, sunny weather is going to stick around more than beyond this weekend. It’s been a terrible summer. We had some really great weather back in April and when I went to Ireland in June, we totally lucked out and had amazing weather; if it wasn’t for that trip back in June, this summer would’ve been a total bust really. It’s a real shame because now that the summer solstice passed way back in late-June, night comes far more quickly and there really hasn’t been opportunity to actually sit out and enjoy the warm, summer weather with a pint or glass of your favourite (alcoholic) beverage.

Well yesterday I managed to get into town to return some jeans that didn’t fit despite being the EXACT same style and size, just a different colour dye, to the one’s I have that fit me perfectly. I was so annoyed as I only have one pair of jeans that fit me. I’ve got a couple pair of cords that I can get away with although they are a bit big. While in town I actually decided to shop for meat and produce at the Covered Market. Let me tell you, I am a convert. I used to always shop for produce at the weekly Farmer’s Market back in Monterey. Oxford offers one twice a month, but it’s at a stupid hour (in the middle of the day like 11-2 or something) on a Thursday so pretty much only those who live or work in the city centre can go. I’m not really sad about it because I did actually happen to pass through it once and it looked awful. Yesterday I bought a ton of vegetables and four organic sausages for about £6. That is dead cheap. I grilled most of the veg and all the sausages up for a late-lunch for me and the boy. I am still stuffed. So I am going to try to haul myself down there every week with my reusable shopping bag(s) and get some fresh produce and maybe some meat.

I also bought this salt and pepper shaker set. I realised I don’t actually have pourable salt and pepper though. BUT IT IS SO CUTE.

I cast on for a modified-modified Cathode. As I was browsing around Ravelry (I swear my addiction is getting less) I saw a version of Cathode sans giant collar and in a solid yarn. I liked it. It actually ends up looking quite similar to the Split-neckline cap-sleeved tee in Fitted Knits. So I am knitting that to look similar to the Ravelry users version, but even further had to modify it because the yarn I’m using isn’t quite as chunky. *fingers crossed* I’m nearly at a point where I can slip it off the needles and see how it’s going.

I may actually cast on for some Pomatomous socks tonight as I’ve been meaning to for a couple of weeks now. I’m going to do them toe up and, hopefully, two at once. *more crossing of fingers* I’ve also got another ball band dishcloth on the go as I was re-teaching someone how to knit on Friday night and thought that it would be a good project to re-learn on since it is relatively simple and an object can be completed relatively quickly even by a slow knitter.

Hope you’ve all had a good weekend. Mine was good even though this morning as I went to change my bed sheets I found the following:

NOT IMPRESSED. Luckily it was actually between the top sheet and blanket.

I’m off on business for a few days. I hope that all the travelling and meetings don’t make me so tired and cross-eyed that I can’t knit otherwise I will be very bored.

We’ve been having absolutely crazy weather. We had thunderstorms off and on today, but they literally lasted under five minutes and then the sun would shine and dry things out. Luckily I made it to and from work without getting wet today; yesterday I wasn’t as lucky as I had to change into my spare jeans while the trousers I wore to work dried out.

I’ve begun my second Saucy sock and have done one pattern repeat. I need to look at the one I’ve already knit to see how many repeats I did, etc. so I can continue to work on it while I’m away. I’m going to take some other knitting — more socks. I haven’t decided which yarn or pattern yet. I thought about giving the Knit Picks¹ Memories a go, but I don’t have time to play with it and I don’t really have room to take a variety of needles, etc. I might take another colourway of Piece of Beauty — Dark Matter — but again, what pattern?! I better get browsing my collection.

Other knitting related things:

• Girl from Auntie is clearing out a bunch of her stash. Lots of nice things going.
• Having recently added a bunch of new-to-me blogs to my blog reader, I am happy to see a new e-publication being put together to highlight blogs in the knitting / fiber world that may not be widely known. For information about this e-pub — Yarnival — see the entry at Needle Exchange.
• Vaguely knitting related since it has to do with this blog — I’ve changed the theme and have been fixing my categories. There might be a few hiccups if you’re actually visiting my blog vs reading through a reader as I play with the code running some of the navigation.

And some miscellaneous things:

• I’ve begun renting the Arrested Development DVDs. I knew the show was funny since I’d seen a bit of it back in the US, but man, I’m glad I decided to rent these. So funny. Too bad so many people would rather watch the same boring reality shows over and over rather than something clever and witty.
• As I’m leaving for a few days, I had to eat some things that would’ve surely gone off before I got around to using them on Saturday (won’t be home until lateish on Friday). That meant a giant pile of asparagus and raspberries (not all at once). Below is a raspberry meringue. It was so good I might have another one…

Happy 4th of July to those readers in the US and any ex-pats that might read this. Eat a hot dog for me!

1 Knit Picks has a clearance on some of the colours of Memories. They also have a new self-striping sock yarn called Felici.

There are two food items that I love (obviously chocolate is at the top of the list, but AFTER chocolate) — asparagus and risotto — so hurrah for me for finally getting around to making some asparagus risotto tonight. I just stuffed a lot of it into my belly. And some wine. The risotto was this close — > < -- to actually having too much wine it. I know, how is too much wine even a possibly?

Dear self,

Why do you not make risotto more often? It’s dead easy and really doesn’t take much time. You are dumb. More risotto.

Love,

Your stomach

PS Please loosen your belt / trousers as they are a bit tight what with all the risotto you just ate. Ta.

Anyway, tomorrow morning I’m off to Northern Ireland and the Republic of until Sunday. I get to relax. The Boy has a talk on Tuesday night and a conference presentation on Thursday and I have nothing to do, but relax. And knit. Woohoo! I know I had a vacation from work a few weeks back when my mom and sister came for a visit, but playing amazing daughter/sister and host wasn’t really a break, you know? So I’m looking forward to this week very much.

Yesterday I hung out in London with a fellow ex-pat and taught her how to knit socks, sort of. She got the ribbing done and started on the leg. We’ll be meeting up again to drink fancy cocktails and that might not actually be the best time to get into turning a heel…

As for my Sockapalooza pal sock, well look –

Sorry for the blur - the batteries in my camera were low and it refused to really focus. Fussy technology.

I’m an odd number sort of person so I had to have an odd number butterfly rounds on the sock. I ran out of yarn with just that much to go. Luckily when I bought the yarn I had bought A LOT of it as I had planned on a baby blanket or something. I’ve changed my tune and am making a dress so I can afford to have to eat into just a touch of another skein. I just need to kitchener stitch the toe and weave in the ends and sock numero uno is finito. I’ll take yarn to start on sock two, but I might actually start on a sock for myself! *gasp* I’m looking to make Saucy from Cider Moon in some yarn I got from Piece of Beauty whose shop has reopened and she has some lace weights and solid colours now. Luckily none of her current sock yarns are calling to me and I really don’t want lace weight yarn. The yarn for the Sockapalooza pal is also from Piece of Beauty in a colourway called Desert Bloom.

I suppose I should go pack, eh? I’m a notorious last minute packer. When I went to live in New Zealand for a year I ended up taking damp clothes because I was still doing laundry the morning I was leaving hahaha. I don’t actually understand packing a week ahead unless of course you are entirely packing up your life and moving abroad the a few days should suffice. Have a good week!

This last week has had surprisingly little knitting. I really thought I’d have Bad Penny done by now, but no such luck. I’m still on the waist band and have a few more rounds to go before I do the lace bit of it. I might be able to get started on the last bit tonight. The hat for my sister still sits halfway through the first round. And the Falling Leaves socks have had a couple more repeats completed, but I’m still not at the heel. Another inch or so and I should be there. The problem with these has been that for whatever reason, using the small needles right now is hurting the fleshy bit of my palm near my thumb. I only got through a half a round (the instep on both) before I had to stop today. I later went back and finished that round, but did no more. And as I was at The Boy’s house, I had no other knitting with me. Boo.

Dakota after being coerced into being content with laying partially on my leg while I tried to knit instead of full on my lap.

I did more cooking this weekend. My first ever Chicken (Pot) Pie. I love these and have wanted to make one on so many occasions over the years, but I always chickened (ha!) out because I imagined they’d be difficult. It took me a bit longer than the recipe said for the preparation, but that’s because I’m slow with the knife and having to convert from American measurements to UK. Anyway, it turned out pretty well. It wasn’t a true pot pie with the double crust, but a single flakey pastry crust instead. The only thing I’d do is reduce the amount of broth as it turned out too brothy. I also made a Chocolate Pudding Cake or sometimes called a Hot Fudge Cake - it’s the one where you can mix it and bake it all in the same vessel and it makes it’s own chocolate sauce. Yum.

Chicken pot, chicken pot, chicken pot piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiie

Other events from the week… Having my time wasted by a recruitment agency on Tuesday. Seeing the Shins on Wednesday! They were so good! Go see them!! Having a “Christmas” meal out with work colleagues … we do normally do this in uhm January for some reason, but no one was interested and it was decided to do it anyway and now. I took to calling it a Jesus-related meal. And also on Friday I got my letter from Domesticat! What fun! I’ll be penning a letter in return. I also received the name of a person to write to as part of Domesticat’s Knitterly Letter Swap.

The Shins at the Forum in London.

I wouldn’t call myself a foodie. I do like well-made, fresh food. I grew up with it. Pretty much everything my mom made was made from scratch. Canned food and tv dinners were things for camping or when mom was away. It wasn’t until we were much older that things like Kraft Macaroni and Cheese really were in our pantry as a staple. But here in England, I feel like a food snob. I find so much of the food bland, greasy, boring, nothing special.

I am also in no way a cook. My mom and sister, they’re cooks. Even one of my brothers, he’s a cook. I’m always the butt of jokes because of my lack of cooking skill. I can make a few things from scratch, they aren’t fancy, but they’re tasty. And I do pretty well if I actually manage to follow a recipe (cooking recipes and knitting “recipes” are much the same for me - I get ahead of myself and miss a step). I can bake pretty well - I don’t have a huge repertoire of baked goods, but I do pretty well with what I do make.

This past weekend I was on some sort of role playing domestic goddess. I knit. I cleaned. I baked.

I finished the fifth ball of yarn for Bad penny and tried it on. It’s a bit shorter than I’d like, but not enough to warrant purchasing another ball of yarn at a cost of £7 or so (including shipping). I’ll just extend the waist band by a half inch or so and it should be fine. Although, after trying it on again, on my fat arms day I must’ve been having a skinny arms day! They felt pretty tight again, nothing like the first time around when I couldn’t actually get them in place. May be undoing those and using a bigger needle the whole way around. I’m a bit worried about the waist band although I have decided to use a larger needle anyway.

I started on another hat for my sister, but didn’t even get through the first round with The Boy turned up on my doorstep for a surprise visit. No more progress on the Falling Leaves socks.

Cleaning is cleaning. Meh.

But in the cooking / baking department I managed to make (chocolate chip) pancakes for me and my darling cat Trigger (she adores pancakes), a batch of brownies that included chocolate chips and walnuts, home made fudge with toasted almonds, and chicken fajitas. I was supposed to make some banana bread too, but that’s going to have to wait until tomorrow night.

Delicious.