To Stripe or Not To Stripe...

I will spare you the whole mock-soliloquy on striping. But last night I got to the elbow stripes on the first sleeve, and all the indecision about striping I had had during yarn selection came back. (In the first stage, holding several balls of yarn, I interrupted my husband playing FIFA Soccer 2006 to ask desperately, "Do these go together? What about these? The light blue or the darker greeny blue?") It started when I used my originally determined sequence, with light blue as the first stripe next to the light grey. I just didn't like those two colors next to each other. So I switched the light blue and the charcoal. But then, did I hate the burgundy next to the light blue? I just couldn't tell any more. Are the stripes ugly? Will they look funny in the combination over the body? Do I want just a couple of stripes on the body? Or wider stripes, as in the original pattern? Would those make me look huge? If so, near the top, or near the bottom? And...do I even want stripes at all? Maybe I just want a grey sweater. Maybe I want a grey sweater with a little lavender or charcoal trim at the ends of the sleeves and the bottom. So, I've set Tubey aside until I can resolve some of these issues. Any thoughts on the stripes, or on the color selection (all my available yarn balls in this weight are in the second picture; I only have enough of the lavender or burgundy to do a couple of narrow stripes? I have lots of the charcoal, blue green, and light blue.

Reading: Same.

Writing: 12,500 words! Halfway through Chapter 3!

Cooking: So, Tuesday night, I decide to roast a bunch of veggies for a pasta dish I'd been contemplating. I had the veggies roasting and the pasta on the stove. And a small container with some leftover pesto in it that I thought would go well. The container was open, on the counter next to the refrigerator. There was a moth that had been driving the cats nuts. Geronimo followed it up onto the counter, then up to the refrigerator, stepping in the pesto on the way up and knocking the container to the floor. Urgh. After cleaning pesto off of EVERYTHING in the kitchen (Geronimo spent the next three hours grooming the pestoed paw on and off.) I regrouped. I had pasta and roasted veggies ready to be tossed and served, and no pesto, which had sort of been a major flavoring component. So I tossed everything with olive oil, basil, and oregano, and served with mozzarella cheese. It was so good, we were almost glad Geronimo had trashed the pesto idea.

Pasta Geronimo

2 TBL olive oil, divided
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 yellow bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large eggplant, cut into 1-inch pieces
5 plum tomatoes, seeded and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 head garlic, separated into cloves and peeled
2 tsp salt, divided
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 pound short pasta (penne, rotini, etc.)
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup Parmagiano-Reggiano, grated
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, return to pan.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Toss vegetables in a roasting pan with 1 TBL olive oil. Sprinkle with 1 tsp salt and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes, stirring once halfway through cooking. Combine with pasta, 1 TBL olive oil, 1 tsp salt, and dried herbs. Toss well. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Divide among 6 bowls. Sprinkle with cheeses, basil, and pine nuts. Serve hot.

Note: Next time, I plan to try this with diced fresh mozzarella.