Knitting 40 shades of green

Waiting in the wings

Monkeys!!

You have seen them all over blog land and if you haven't caught the fever you really should!!  I enjoyed knitting these socks (so much so that I immediately cast on for another Cookie A. pattern).  The pattern is easy to learn and they seem to go quickly.

pattern: Monkey by Cookie A.

Yarn:  koigu KPPPM p316 51 won from Julie

Size: to fit my 5.5 size feet

Started:  June 9, 2007

Finished:  August 6, 2007

Notes:  I made a picot cuff a la Cara and only did 5 repeats on the cuff -- these were super fun to make and I had quite a bit of yarn left over after finishing them.

One local summer, week 9, 2007

Some days my local eating is more ambitious than my hungry stomach.  I will plan a complicated meal for dinner and then eat it in an unassembled state.  That seems to be the case this week -- I was entranced by a recipe for Eggplant stuffed Ravioli but then ran out of steam before the ravioli was made -- I ate the stuffing mixed with a little commercial pasta and then tried wanton wrappers rather than making my own pasta -- my weekends have been busy lately and the time to play around in the kitchen has been limited.

(photo coming when I have a chance to download my photos)

Eggplant stuffing on pasta with pasta sauce

• spaghetti sauce -- , canned last year from local ingredients
• eggplant, Olin Fox Farms, Reedville, VA (81 miles)
• garlic, Potomac Vegetable Farms, Purcellville, 40 miles
• basil, Olin Fox Farms, Reedville, VA (81 miles)
• parsley, Potomac Vegetable Farms, Purcellville, 40 miles 3,
• ricotta cheese, Natural by Nature, Avondale, PA (98 miles)
• egg, Olin Fox Farms, Reedville, VA (81 miles)
• mozzarella, Lancaster County Fresh, Lancaster, PA (94 miles)

Non local -- pasta, salt, pepper, Parmesan,olive oil

Mail love

I was going to post my finished monkey socks which were completed several weeks ago but I was distracted by the mail carrier knocking on the door -- with a package.

My mother sent me an e-mail last week that said keep your eyes open for a surprise in the mail.  Not having any clue, I didn't dwell on it too much but knew I had something to look forward to.  Imagine my surprise when the mail carrier brought me a package from Jimmy Bean's Wool.  I hadn't ordered anything from there.  I wonder what it could be -- then I remembered the e-mail from my mother, a non knitter for all intents and purposes (although I have taught her or maybe she learned on her own and I do have a wash cloth she made).  Hmm, what would she be doing on the Jimmy Bean site? 

Well, it seems she got me some super cool Sox Stix, made by Lantern Moon.  What a great surprise!!

Thanks mom, you're the greatest!!

One Local Summer, week 8, 2007

Sorry for the dark picture -- this is part of a meal that is in my regular rotation -- it is the filling for roasted vegetable enchiladas.  I just ate it as is with a little local feta for a yummy local dinner with a bottle of Dominion beer.

• yellow squash, Olin Fox Farms, Reedville, VA (81 miles)
• sweet potatoes, Olin Fox Farms, Reedville, VA (81 miles)
• corn, Olin Fox Farms, Reedville, VA (81 miles)
• garlic, Potomac Vegetable Farms, Purcellville, Va (40 miles)
• bell peppers, Three Way Farm, Warsaw, VA (62 miles)
• onion, Three Way Farm, Warsaw, VA (62 miles)
• tomato, Olin Fox Farms, Reedville, VA (81 miles)
• chard, Potomac Vegetable Farms, Purcellville, 40 miles
• hot Chiles, these are from last years market frozen in cubes in my freezer
• cilantro, Potomac Vegetable Farms, Purcellville, 40 miles
• feta cheese, Lancaster County Fresh, Lancaster, PA (94 miles)
• Dominion Beer, Old Dominion Brewing Co, Ashburn, VA (26 miles)

non local:  spices, olive oil

Tea in the mail

Well, I thought I might join a swap as a way to get a little mail love.  There are still a few more hours to sign up.  So pour your self a cup of tea and welcome to my swap questionnaire.

Knit 1 Tea 2 Color Swap Questionnaire

1. Do you like loose tea or bags, or both – something you want to try?  I use both loose tea and tea bags although I find that I often drink my tea at work and so the convenience of tea bags tends to win out.

2. What is your favorite kind of tea (Brand, flavor, variety, etc)?   Red Rose tea because this is what my mother always drank.  While it isn't fancy or special it is comforting (and you get those silly little china animals in the box)  I had a mentee who was from Hawaii and would bring me this great mango flavored black tea - -yummy stuff.  For a long time I drank nothing but Jasmine Green tea -- I liked that the jasmine gave it a sweetness without sugar or honey.

3. Favorite color in regards to tea or one you would like to try? (black, green, red, and white)   My everyday tea is black although I drink a lot of green tea too.  I have never tried the other two colors.

4. Would you say you were a tea pot kind of person or just a hot water heater kind? I usually only make a cup of tea at a time (again I drink most of my tea at work) and don't often pull out the tea pots.

5. What tea accessories would you like but have never purchases for yourself?  There are a few things that I could use but to say I would never purchase them for myself wouldn't be accurate.  Maybe I just procrastinate -- like my stove top kettle died...like 6 months ago and I have just been heating water in a pot since then.  Not ideal but have I gone out and bought a kettle?  I could also use a tea ball or a proper strainer for using loose tea in a tea pot since I just have a single cup strainer (that fits a particular cup for steeping right in the cup.

6. How do you prefer to be pampered? (examples: mani/pedi, bubble bath, yummy treat, etc)  I do love a manicure and pedicure but I don't get it done often enough.  And chocolate is always yummy but even better than just plain chocolate is chocolate on something salty (like chocolate covered pretzels or popcorn)

7. If you were a kind of yarn what would you be and why?  I would love to think I would be something fancy and posh and luxurious but that wouldn't be very realistic.  I would probably be something like Shetland wool.  A good standby, something you could count on but not too fancy or fussy.  Practical and dependable.  Maybe a little scratchy or containing a little vegetative matter but overall a reliable yarn, but look at all those colors...

8. If you had to knit/crochet baby booties, a fun fur scarf, or a fair isle sweater, which would you choose and why?  The fun fur scarf is definitely out as the stuff drives me crazy although if one of my nieces asked politely... I would have to go with the fair isle sweater because I love a challenge and am so much about process that I have been known to wait years before seaming so the fact that it would take a while is not a problem.

9. What other event would make you skip a tea party? (A garden party? A book club meeting? A yoga class? Opening night for a new action thriller? etc?)  Something involving champagne...

10. What treat would you consider essential at your tea party? (Sweet? Salty? Scones? Those petite pastry trays with a couple of all sorts of things? Little crust less sandwiches?) maybe those little cucumber sandwiches, or anything involving whipped cream (it is a true weakness) maybe over fresh berries.

11. When buying yarn for a project how do you choose - do you buy the one called for or do you substitute?  Oh, I substitute freely and will change the pattern to fit a new gauge if need be (after making four or five swatches that look great but aren't the right gauge)

12. What do you carry your knitting/crocheting in when on the go?  I had one of the original Jordanna Paige bags until it wore out and now throw it in just about anything and there is usually a sock project just jammed in my purse.

13. Favorite movie to watch while knitting/crocheting?  No idea on this one maybe Tea with Mussolini?  I do love Judy Dench

14. Are you a traditional tea cup kind of person or a mug type of person? Do you care if they match?  I will go either way on this one.  Mugs work just fine but sometimes it is nice to go for the more traditional tea set up

15. Favorite childhood birthday party?  I love birthdays -- they are the best and my parents always made them a big deal -- we had a birthday fairy who would decorate the dining room and leave a pile of presents for you to wake up to -- kind of like Christmas only more selfish without the mixed messages about baby Jesus (why do we give presents on Christmas?).  This was all about you and being the center of attention.  But name a favorite -- it would likely have been one with just my immediate family in attendance or one of the luncheons with my grandmother on my birthday shopping spree.

16. Favorite type of scone and jam?  While my all time favorite thing are baking powder biscuits, I would have to go with scones with dried fruit in them, maybe dried cherry and chocolate chips or apricot and white chocolate.  I am not a huge fan of cinnamon.

17. If you use candles, what is your favorite scent?  My favorite scent would likely be vanilla

18. If you could choose 3 people to have 'tea' with, who would they be and why? (famous or not, living or dead).  My mother's best friend Pooka, who taught me about proper tea -- I haven't seen her in over 15 years, and my Irish friends Mary and Pat who hijacked my Irish vacation for a weekend and are some of the funniest people I have ever had tea with (although it would likely lead to a few pints).

19. You've been invited to a tea party, what 'props' will you wear (formal or casual)?  Oh, is this the place I can finally wear my grandmother's kid skin gloves?  I always liked the stilted formality of gloves when we had to wear them to "Junior Assembly" back in 7th grade.

20. Any allergies/preferences you have or are willing to admit to? None that I know of for allergies and I do prefer natural fibers for yarns.

Working on Abandoned Knitting

Wendy, who I knit with on most Tuesdays, outed me on her new blog as trying to finish up some long marinating projects.  While she mentions the sweater I was working on has been sitting around for a year, it is really closer to 3 years.  I bought the yarn as my first purchase from  Elann in  May of 2004 after getting the spring Interweave Knits.  You remember the one?  It had that pink chunky off the shoulder sweater designed by Debbie Bliss on the cover?  It sold out that same season. 

(photo shamelessly borrowed from Interweave Knits)

This was about the time I started getting back into knitting after taking a hiatus for several years. About a year before I had started cranking out baby hats for my expectant mother friends but I hadn't really discovered the new "knitting scene".  This issue began my love affair with Veronik Avery.  I immediately cast on for Salt Peanuts, and as soon as all the pieces were finished I put it away unfinished and cast on for my second Veronik Avery, Polka Purl Dots.  Well, I soon completed all the knitting on this (I am guessing it was summer of 2004) and got to the part of the pattern labeled "finishing" which instead of consisting of a few short lines talking about seaming and neck-bands was two solid columns with instructions that contained the lines (and I paraphrase here) pick up 400 bazillion stitches and by the way you are going to Kitchener all those suckers together.  I remember asking a knitting friend about some hints for picking up quad-zillion stitches and then shortly thereafter shoved the thing in the corner with my other unsewn sweaters and cast on for a third sweater from the magazine.

Well, it is documented in this here blog that I finished Salt Peanuts.  It was time to finally conquer a few of the other projects that had been thrown in the corner.  I have completed the tubular bind off on the fronts and neck and now must just pick up less than 150 stitches for each armhole's edging -- piece of cake after what I have been through.  So stay tuned for a finished object.

One Local Summer, Week 7, 2007

A lot has been going on here at Chez 40shades, I am back at work, I am still having computer problems (the computer is going back for the 4th time -- they didn't replace it last time, I wonder if they will this time), and I have had some things going on in my personal life that have kept me pretty busy (my friends have starting saying that my life is like a TV show and asking for updates).  There has been knitting and cooking and trips to the farmer's market, but less often than I would like (although I haven't been over buying either).  I realize I have missed the last few weeks of posting my local meal but since I spent all morning cooking for the week and most of it is a balance of local and non-local, I will post a meal from last week before it got hot since you haven't seen it.  The meals I have made at home have been pretty simple and the heat and drought has had some strange effects on what is available from my CSA and the market.

THis is the same vegetable mixture I use for my Roasted Vegetable Tart but I am out of local flour and feeling a little lazy about making pie crusts.  I really should make some and freeze them -- like the ones you get in the store to make savory tarts a weeknight affair.

Smith Meadow Kitchens' Pasta with Roasted Vegetables

• Spinach Pasta  Smith Meadows, Berryville, VA 53 miles
• eggplant  Olin Fox Farms, Reedville, VA (81 miles)
• zucchini  Olin Fox Farms, Reedville, VA (81 miles)
• tomatoes  Three Way Farm, Warsaw, VA (62 miles)
• garlic  Potomac Potomac Vegetable Farms, Purcellville, 40 miles
• bell pepper   Olin Fox Farms, Reedville, VA (81 miles)

Non local:  pepper, olive oil, a little Parmesan