PolarGrrlPurls

Cookies

Nothing like starting to feel better after 10+ days of bronchitis combined with a snow storm and getting out of work 4 hours early to spur the motivation to bake! Fifteen minutes with a mixer and bowl and 10 minutes in the oven and what do I have?

Yum.

Another New Year's Resolution Complete!

Sorta. Mostly. Almost. Well, anyway....I made Navratan Korma (vegetarian creamy curry with nuts and raisins) and it came out very well. The only things I'd change for next time are that I'd add a little more ginger and garlic and a little more salt. Look! I even have photograhic evidence!

More Random Randomness

Can you tell I'm just biding my time until I have a new computer in my hot little hands and I can post the memory card full of pictures I've taken?

I had the cooking bug yesterday and after running the weekly errands yesterday morning, I spent the day making scallop and corn chowder (highly recommended), peach pie, chicken tikka masala, hummus, and 4 large pans of roasted veggies to pick at over the course of this week. Yum....

Marikal and I caulked our drafty old windows in the living room with this "Windjammer" stuff (made by the Liquid Nails people) and put up plastic on the windows in the bedroom. We'll be plastic-ing the living room windows, too, but had to wait at least 24 hours for the caulking to cure. Between the plastic and a modest sized humidifier in the bedroom, we were quite warm and comfortable last night with the thermostat set at least 8 degrees cooler than it has been. You wouldn't think that a thin piece of celophane and some double sided tape would make such a big difference, but it does.

With the help of my friends on the Knitty Board, I was able to finally settle on Swish in Truffle for the sweater after the next one. The next one will be the purple Donegal Tweed I bought off eBay last spring and I'll be knitting it up using this Caped Cardigan pattern. The Truffle sweater will be a wrap cardigan with a belt and a shawl collar and some sort of lace insert or motif. Speaking of knitting, I've totally been neglecting the second half of the second sock of the second pair of Jaywalkers. (Does that mean I'm suffering from SSSS?) I'm really sick of knitting them, but I'm trying to push through, since I'm so close to being done. The next time I decide to knit this pattern, hit me in the head with 100g of sock yarn, please. I'm thinking of knitting Baudelaire or RPM for the next pair. I really want to find a skein of Bearfoot Mountain Colors in Juniper, but I'm having trouble finding it at any of my LYS.

Happy Monday

Mondays are traditionally a day to be cranky. But I'm in a pretty decent mood. I had the rare Sunday off yesterday and spent the day napping, cooking, and knitting. It was quite nice. :) I cooked split pea soup w/ham, lasagna, and chicken pasties. I also attempted to make home made almond butter, but accidently burned the almonds while trying to dry roast them and so that project was aborted. I'll try again next week, maybe.

I've gotten as far as the neck shaping and I'm about the start the shoulder shaping on the front pieces of the blue cardigan. I hope to complete the front pieces tomorrow morning while hanging around the house waiting for the ComCast guy to come and (re)install my connection to the outside world (internet & cable). I should spend the time putting up mini blinds in the kitchen, curtains in thebedroom, plastic weather-proofing on all the windows, etc. I also need to whip up two door snakes and a recycled grocery bag thingie. Yes, that's a technical term. Why do you ask?

Still Alive

I’m still alive, I swear. This past week, Marikal and I enjoyed a hot ride out to Central Mass. to visit her cousin. We had sandwiches and mochas at a local coffee shop and chatted for several hours before making our way back home. It was good to meet him and I think it was good for Marikal, too. (Pictures to follow, when I can get them uploaded.) Wednesday, I spent my time catching up on back office work for the biz and knitting and generally avoiding the outside world. (The new client meeting that was cancelled a few weeks ago was postponed again.) Yesterday (Saturday) I did a bunch of housework. I intended to go into work for some double-pay overtime, but I decided that rest was more important.

I’m up to 8 full pattern repeats on the Diamond Fantasy Shawl and I’m only about half way through the first skein of yarn I bought for the project. Technically, there are only 10 full repeats, but given the difference in gauge from the written pattern, I think I’ll be adding at least 2-3 more. Even so, that makes me well past 50% complete. Progress on other knitting projects is going somewhat slower, but still progressing. I’ve stalled out on the sweaters, though, due to the fact that I don’t have the right needles and I haven’t had time to get over to A Good Yarn to buy them. I’ll see what time I can squeeze out this coming week. Sigh.

I’m thinking about going blueberry and/or raspberry picking sometime in the next few weeks. There’s a great farm about an hour south of me that I really like (and that sells the best plum tomatoes I ever tasted). I’ll freeze some of the berries, eat a bunch, and make the rest into blueberry/raspberry jam. If the tomatoes are cheap enough, I’ll put up a few bushels of them, as well. Speaking of……may I should put in for a few days off the day or two after I go down to the farm so I have the time to do all this.

Back From the Wars

The wedding was very nice. It was good to see A & T so happy and to catch up with a few people I haven't seen in ages at the wedding. The weather was overcast and somewhat drizzly, but that beats blistering, sticky heat any day. The ceremony was one of the shortest I've been to, lasting only 30 minutes. After that we headed over to the reception, which was at a restaurant about 7 minutes drive away from the church. It was a fun evening with good food and some very interesting people that we shared our table with.

Yesterday morning Dad, Painter, bro, bro's gf, Marikal and me all went to brunch at a cute little place in Coolidge Corner called Lineage. The coffee was excellent (which is a high compliment coming from me, as most restaurants I find use swill in place of coffee), the food was very good and served in just the right oprtion sizes to be filling but not staggering. The service was prompt but unobtrusive and they didn't seem to mind at all that we sat and chatted for a good hour after the meal. It was great to see everybody and have us all at the same table. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday/Father's Day celebration with the family. :)

Yesterday evening, I spent a quiet night with the roomie poring over cable charts and sweater designs in an effort to pin down what she wants for the sweater I promised her 10 years ago. I think we've finally settled on the yarn, overall shape, and cable patterns to be used. Now all that's left is the swatching, blocking, measuring, and math. (!)

Today I'm back to the regular grind, as much as it can be called that, anyway. Tomorrow I have tax paperwork to get through (not to mention cleaning the pig sty of a house I live in) and then an appointment in the afternoon and knitting group tomorrow night. Wednesday I'm helping Stariel get packed and ready for her move in a few weeks.

Cooking Day

Following in my philosophy that I'm more likely to pack my lunch and eat from home if I've got things in the house I actually enjoy eating, I've been prepping some lunch/dinner foods. I just made a big batch of hummus, heavy on the lemon and garlic and whipped hot pepper flakes and a touch of chili powder into half of it for a change of pace. I've got water on for a pasta & veggie salad, and after I wash the food processor, I'll be putting together an herbed neufchatel cheese spread to use on sandwiches with deli meat. This evening I'll be making salmon filet in a dilled cream sauce with salad and steamed cauliflower.

I've been knitting a bit here and there, too. I've put almost three inches on the foot of an Opal sock that I started to avoid the Jaywalker socks some more. I was able to dig up a satin finish grosgrain ribbon in the bottom of the craft stash to finish the baby kimono (bonus that I didn't have to go spend money!!), so I'll likely take care of that tonight. I'm also working on some small sewing projects for my downstream SP.

My Masterpiece is Complete! (Or, how I spent my Saturday)

O.k...so it's not exactly a masterpiece, but it took a damn lot of planning and measuring and sewing and resewing to get this right. The pictures don't exactly show it, but each of the top and bottom rows of pockets folds into the center and then the wole program is folded in half again before being put inside the harness. Folded up, it measures approximately 9.5" x 7.5" and with 12 pockets will hold all of my circular needles and space for more. It's not particularly small when folded up, but it's a lot better than having a bird's nest style tangle to go through, needle sizer in hand, in order to locate the needle I need. I'm planning a smaller version with just 4 pockets to take a long in the knitting bag. I think on that version I'll add a zipper to1 pocket and use it for notions.

Oh, and lest you think that I spent the whole day trying to get this puppy together, let me assure you that it didn't take nearly that long. It took half the day. The other half of the day was spent knitting on the gift socks, the baby socks, watching television, sleeping late, and cooking.

One Snowy Saturday

Today being my day off and feeling rather worn down from the events of the past two weeks and seeing as I had a large grocery delivery his morning, I am staying IN. I have planned the week's menu ("cassoulet", saag paneer over basmati, Persian lentil stew w/little meatballs, and stuffed shells Florentine for those who care), and prepped all the vegetables, etc. The home made paneer (fresh milk cheese) is chilling and setting up in the refrigerator and the "cassoulet" is in the crock pot. I have put that in quotes because it's not what foodies would consider a true cassoulet. It does, however, contain similar flavors. In a few minutes I will wash out my largest pot and get going on the sauce for the stuffed shells. I also have a whole bag of beautiful looking zucchini, yellow squash and eggplant, so I think I'll chunk it all up, roll it in olive oil, and roast in the oven. It will be nice to have some roasted vegetables to pick at and add to meals during the week. Tonight, I'll be broiling up some salmon filets and we'll be having baked sweet potatoes and mixed green salad.

I'm half way through the second sock (sans heels so far - I'll get to them later) for Stariel. I'll be starting on a pair using a fair isle technique after I finish the second of the brown/blue socks for Marikal, but won't be posting pictures until after their recipient gets them in the mail. Oh. Did I say the brown/blue socks are for Marikal? Yes, yes...I now that they were originally for me, but they are really a bit too large, so Marikal is getting them. After so many smaller projects, I'm getting the itch to start on something larger and different. I'm eyeing some yarn at a store on eBay (Donegal Tweed in either blue, brown, green, or purple) for a simple everyday cardigan for me, and as I have that loverly silk/merino lace weight that Bina sent me back in December, I think I'll also get started on the Sivia Harding "Follow the Leader" shawl I chose to make for Painter (Dad's wife). If I do it now, it'll be ready for next Christmas, with no worries. Not that I really need that much time to get it done, it's just nice to get projects completed early in the year, as it allows me to give more handmade gifts overall.

Just a random update today. I spent yesterday cooking (per my usual Saturday program) and made turkey & wild rice stew, turkey & veggie enchiladas, and Marikal made a very yummy pork roast w/root veggies in the crock pot, along with a pumpkin pie that led a very short life (boy was it good!). On Wednesday I plan on making some home made pizzas and possibly a chicken casserole.

The yarn diet is going as well as may be expected. I haven't bought any yarn and I haven't been on a scale yet to see if I've lost any weight. The not buying yarn part has been pretty difficult, what with the beautiful Donegal Tweeds I found on eBay for a steal. Sigh.....it looks like the seller has a bunch of auctions for this yarn, though, so maybe I can catch a similar one when the yarn embargo is lifted. And let's face it, there will always be more yarn, even if it's not this particular one. :)

The 2006 Revs are trundling along rather nicely. I've got two tasks due today for the "Education" component. Because I failed to look at my Goals Matrix before heading out the door this morning, I don't have the materials with me to get them completed during my lunch break @ work, so I will have to take care of them when I get home tonight. That kinda sucks, but it's not a tragedy. It just means that I won't be turning my brain to mush in front of the TV tonight.

And the best news this week: Marikal got a job!!! Woohoo!!!! She's got orientation on Tuesday and starts at the new facility on Wednesday afternoon. :-D I'm so happy. We're still about three weeks from a paycheck for her, but it means that we'll be able to start putting $$ in savings and I can join a gym by about the beginning of April. YYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!!!!!