Spinning, spinning...

I joined another swap (blush).  I know, I shouldn't have done it, but the swap deadline is before the Olympics start, so I'll be fine.  It's a shawl swap, and I spent yesterday afternoon with pencil and calculator working up the pattern.  I think I have it mostly set at this point, at least enough to get started.

DP said that I could buy yarn for the project (we're trying to tighten our belts currently), but I decided to spin it from some Cupcake Fiber Co batts in stash.  I got 2 oz of two ply spun on Sunday, and I hope to maybe spin another ounce today.  It would be great to get 5 oz spun up...in time for me to spin up 7 more!  I decided that I needed a bit of insurance, and since it comes in 6 oz increments, I had to get another box :)  I'm excited to blend the two fibers:  I'll be doing 2 2oz skeins of each, 1 1oz skein of each, and 1 2oz skein of blend.

I wanted to go with a 2 ply, even though I usually do shawls in singles, because I want something a bit heartier.  If I have any left over, I might even eke out a pair of fingerless gloves, but we'll see about that.  I'm also using two different fiber blends - one blue faced Leicester and one Merino, with the Merino being on the part closest to the neckline.

With these swaps, it's always hard when your partner doesn't give you a lot to go on.  If their likes are just "knitting" and so are their hobbies, what's a person to do?  What I do is pretty methodical, and the closest I'll ever get to my dream of being a private investigator's secretary.  I go through all their posts on Ravelry to see what personal information lies within.  I check their projects, favorites and queue.  I cruise the boards that they're members of.  If they have a blog/flickr account/website, I check it out (unless it's F@cebook, since I'm not on it).  I G00gle them and see if there are any groups they're part of, or if they're in the news.  Usually that nets me enough information to go on.  But you can never tell if that's the real person or just their persona, so I always have that fear that they'll hate whatever I make.

In old business, my swap partner for the GoIaF swap liked her patchwork blanket!  I'd love to make one of them again - you take wool felt, cut it into squares and just seam them together overlapping (thank you Purlbee!).  I added a border and backing to hers so that it would be warmer and able to be used as a ground cover for picnics/fireworks/etc.  She made me an amazing wall hanging that is now over our fireplace.  DP loves it.

Back to spinning!

Beet it

So, I love beets, but I haven't done much with them besides pickling and roasting. However, I have concocted an amazing beet soup twice, so it's not a fluke :)

I sliced beets into pennies, then sauteed them in coconut oil. When they're half done, I add the chopped beet greens and a bunch of basil (or dill), and cook that down until the greens are wilted. Then I top it up with beef broth and add about a teaspoon of black pepper. Simmer it until the beets are done, and you have a delicious - and blood red - soup that goes great with crackers or bread. Yum!

I'm currently up in the air about what I should be knitting. I have a shawl on the needles that's going slowly, so I think I may need to whip up something small just to keep my spirits up. I bought a skein of cormo/silk/alpaca from Foxfire Fibers with my last sheep shares box, so I may knit that into a cowl/neckwarmer. It's gorgeous yarn, so I have to do something worthwhile with it. I also need to knit another baby cardigan...I'm thinking of tiny tea leaves, but I'm not certain about it.

The babies wore the hats I made for them home from the hospital, and they seemed to be a hit. Cotton, while not my fave to work with, was just right for this application. Here's a pic, sans babies:



They worked up fast and were fun to knit.

The reason I need to knit a second cardigan is that I finished the first for one of the twins - the whirligig shrug. It knit up really well:



My sister thinks it's cute, which is all that matters!

The reading mitts also worked out:



They feel so nice to wear, I wish I could keep them.

The shawl is done, and DP thought it would work just right for a witch/wise woman:



I've been on a roll, which probably means a lull for a bit - with all the work coming up in the next few weeks, I probably won't have much time to think.

Nieces and knitting

My sister had her twins on the 19th - hooray! They're two little cuties, emphasis on little. We've been going over there every couple of days to help out, mainly by playing with my older niece so she doesn't feel left out.

I finished the fingerless gloves, and I wish that I didn't have to give them away. They're long enough on the arm to give you support, and not too long on the hand, so you can actually type or knit with them on.

I also finished the little shrug. It's just adorable! It's soaking now, but I should be able to get a picture of it tomorrow before it goes on it's merry way.

Now the only thing left to do is the godswood shawl. I've been trying to figure out exactly how I'm going to do this thing, and I'm still not sure. Now my plan is to work from the bottom point upwards, starting with brown and moving towards green. The question is still obscure or obvious? Should I actually make a tree looking thing, or should it be more subtle. I may go with obvious, at least to start. I only have 400 yards, so it's not like it will take all that long once I decide it.

In lieu of something new

I give you my last two shawls:



and



The first one is the Lace Garland from Shawls and Scarves. It took me a year to knit, mainly because I stopped knitting on it for 8 months! I love it, and I loved blocking it--so magical. It lives with my mother in law. Here's a closeup of the lace:



The second is the Ethereal Fichu from Heartstrings Fiber Arts. I used one skein of Schaefer Anne in an unlabeled colorway. It was an extremely quick knit. It lives with my sister in law--if her cat hasn't destroyed it yet. Here's a (slightly blurry) closeup:



I have too many shawls to decide from as my next project. The only thing I won't be able to do is use any of the Kid Silk Haze that I bought, since I'm so allergic to it. I'm trying to decide between the bee shawl or stole, the garter and lace from Shawls and Scarves slightly modified, a silk scarf from Victorian Lace Today, or just going it alone and making up a triangular pattern. I want something I can finish in a month or two, so that I have time to work on my Children of Hurin Shawl, but I need something light enough to work on when it's still warm outside (which is the reason I'm NOT working on the CoH shawl right now.) Argh...decisions.

I got my STR August shipment on Friday, and I don't know how I feel about it. The colors remind me of Mr. Freeze freezie pops, and the pattern for the cuff is vine lace (which I had a bellyfull of with the Lace Slip from KLS). I'm thinking of modifying the pattern to fit one of the new Cat Bordhi ones, but I'm not sure.

I'm also working on the Impossibly Cute Baby Kimono from Mason-Dixon Knitting. I'm using Cotton Flamme from Crystal Palace yarns. It's a really nice slubby cotton, and I'm enjoying working with it. I hope this little kimono works out.

New Pathways for Sock Knitters

Oh my goodness--I just got this book and I'm utterly enthralled. If you enjoy sock knitting, you should get this.

In KLS news, I decided to redo the cups on my silk slip. I guess I'm not actually a B-cup! The babydoll is 4 inches from being done, so I just have to figure out what to make next :)

I have a couple shawls on the needles, but they're just to keep my hand in, not for any special purpose. The CoH shawl is still on hiatus, since its 10 million degrees outside.

Back to my socks!

Trying new things

One of the reasons I joined the RSC was to try out new colors and techniques. I got a chance to do that this afternoon, when I found a knot in one of my skeins. Of course, the location of the knot meant that the break in the yarn would be in the middle of the lace pattern (argh!). So, I decided to try out the Russian join. It worked like a charm. Hopefully, I'll soon get to the heel, which is a standard heel worked upside down. I'm excited to try that out and see how it wears.

I'm plugging away on the CoH shawl, but with my grasshopper STR socks in the queue, I've slowed up a bit on it. I do have until fall to finish it, so that's good.

I found a pattern to use with the violetta Kidsilk Haze--the Mountain Peaks shawl by Miriam Felton. I think I'm going to cast it on tonight; I have addi lace needles in the size called for by the pattern, and enough yarn (I think) to finish it. Miriam has a lot of lovely patterns...they make me wish I had more time to spend knitting.

I've been listening to a lot of Sam Spade radio mysteries lately, and they make perfect knitting listening. I also watched Piyar Ka Ghar last Friday. If you are a romantic but hate "romantic" movies, please watch this film! It's about a newlywed couple that has to share a small apartment in Bombay with the husband's parents, his brother and sister-in-law, and his younger brother. It's sweet, has a somewhat sappy ending, and is funny enough to make you laugh out loud. I loved it.

Some scary images

That's the rating warning on The Fellowship of the Ring movie--eek!

Things have been both crazy and boring around my burg, hence the lack of postings.

My CoH shawl is coming along nicely, and I got The Children of Hurin in the mail on Friday. Not bad, though I wish that they would have included the first half of the fall of Beleriand, where Hurin brings the Nauglamir to Thingol. I decided that for the cabled i-cord border of my shawl, that represents the body of Glaurung, I'd use some stash yarn in a golden and bronze colorway. He is, after all, Glaurung the golden! I also think that I'll use one repeat of seafoam for his eye, since it really opens up the fabric. I may make DP sketch a dragon's head for me; I'm really having trouble with it, and actually gave up for now. The cover of The Children of Hurin gave me the idea, since it has Turin on the cover with the dragon helm of Dor-Lomin on. I think that DP could draw something like it on graph paper, and I could work it out in a sample before I get that far on my shawl.

I watched two fun movies: Nagina and Prem Granth. Both star Rishi Kapoor (of Bobby fame), and both are a bit later in his career. I came into Prem Granth thinking it would be horribly lame, but it was actually (I thought) an interesting look at the state of women's rights in India. Nagina was more of a throwaway fun movie, but I loved Sridevi's dancing at the end, and I was rooting for the snakes all the way!

I made a tasty supper tonight. It's based on a recipe from my Indian cookbook...you could tell it was my favorite recipe, since the spine is cracked on that spot and the book always opens to it :) You basically quarter and steam a pound of potatoes, then set them aside. Combine salt, tumeric, garam masala, cayenne pepper and coriander in a small bowl, set that aside. Put a bit of oil in a frypan, and fry about a teaspoon of cumin seeds for a few seconds. Add the potatoes and spices, and stir about. Let them fry a few minutes, then deglaze the pan with lime juice. Delicious, and relatively good for you.

I'm off to Middle Earth...