Warming Up

...but not literally. It's still winter. But I swatched for the Knitting Olympics, sort of. Here's the thing, I'm not a big swatcher. I swatched for Leo because it was on small needles with a big number of cast-on stitches. The whole 4 x4 square, washed and blocked thing. But I can't even think of another time I've done a full swatch. Sometimes if I'm really not sure about the gauge, I'll cast on a few stitches and knit a couple of rows to make sure I'm in the ballpark. Yes, I know this is terrible and someday I'll end up with a sweater that doesn't fit. So, below is my "swatch" for Marie Louise's Lace Sweater. I did cast on the number of stitches just over 4" and swatched in the lace pattern, but I only made it a couple of inches. But the gauge looks fine, so there you go. In other training, I put the lace pattern (actually, a 6-row repeat with all the wrong side rows all purl stitches) on notecards. All ready to go for tomorrow night.



And the Heavenly Stole works for audiobooks, but not for television, so I cast on for Tempting II last night:

Writing: I was done with the first chapter until I decided to add a scene yesterday. Now I'm done with the first chapter!

Reading: Still on White Teeth. Good book.

Cooking: I've been on a soup kick lately. Here's yesterday's:

Alphabet Soup

1 tsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3 cups vegetable stock
1 medium zucchini, diced
3/4 cup frozen spinach
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup alphabet or other tiny pasta

Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is translucent, about 7 minutes. Add vegetable stock, zucchini, spinach, salt, and pepper, and bring to a boil. Add pasta. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. Adjust seasonings as needed.