Another Mission Accomplished!

A big thank you to all of you for your encouragement and suggestions for quick February knits I could knock off! The suggestion of The Last-Minute Purled Beret really grabbed me. Thank you, Emily of MLE Knits for the great suggestion. I hope you enjoy your treats! When Lilah goes down for a nap, I'll raid the stash and we'll head to the post office this afternoon.

Here it is, modeled by one of Lilah's penguins:


Details:
Pattern: The Last-Minute Purled Beret by Knit and Tonic
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden in Color #205 (less than one skein)
Needles: Size 7 dpns
Notes: This is sized for an adult, and for heavy worsted yarn. Instead of bogging myself down in math and actually thinking through re-sizing, I just winged it, which worked surprisingly well in the end. I used size 7 needles instead of 9 after swatching with several sizes. I cast of 64 stitches instead of 72, and only knit the brim to 3 1/2 inches instead of 4 1/2. I skipped the first decrease row and went straight to the k2, k2tog decrease row. I cast on too tightly, so when I put the hat on Lilah's head, it took a lot of tugging to get it on. I unpicked the cast-on edge (with mohair! fun!) and bound off loosely, and it was even tighter. I think with the smaller needles, I needed to cast on 72 stitches. I would say this is sized 6-12 months, too small for Lilah's big melon. But! I think it works out great, because Lilah actually hates hats, and I was a little delusional to think she would wear one. She has a little cousin who would love this, and we have friends expecting a girl in June, so I think I'll gift it. Either that, or I'll frog and knit a little bag for Lilah out of it, as she loves purses. But I'm calling it Mission: Accomplished for now. This is such a fun, easy, cute, cute pattern. But I forgot to make it "purled" and automatically wove in my ends on the purl side. Whatever. It doesn't even matter. It's cute regardless. Thank you, Emily!

You know what we haven't had in ages? Pictures just for fun! So here are a couple of Lilah and kitty pictures. Lilah absolutely loves the cats. Mirando isn't that thrilled with her, but Geronimo is such a sweet, tolerant guy. He lets her pet him (and due to constant "Pet the kitty nicely", Lilah isn't too grabby or smacky with the guys), and even put up with a hug and kiss (on his back). So cute. The cats make her so happy. Speaking of which, she's added the word "duck" to her repertoire. And if I ask her what the sheep says, she points to the nearest sheep and says "Baaa!" However, I have yet to persuade her that cows say "Moo" rather than "Baa." "Where's the sheep?" I ask when she's in the bath (she has a bunch of animal bath toys). She grabs the sheep and says "Baaa!" "Where's the cow?" I ask. She grabs the cow and says "Baaa!" "Cows say Mooooooo," I say. She glares at me and yells "Baaaaa!" Um, okay.




Other knitting: I've been working on the SKB a bit. I really need to cast on again for Matt's birthday socks, but I'm hoping to have SKB as my March FO.

Reading: I read Bubbles All The Way by Sarah Strohmeyer, then immediately went to the author's website to see if she has another Bubbles book coming out. Her answer is "We'll see." Hmmmm. She ended Bubbles All The Way with a doozy of a plot twist, and I really think another book is in order, just because I want to see the fallout from the revelation at the very end. Many amazon reviewers gave the book one star because of the last few pages. Here's the thing. It's not like there was no foreshadowing at all about this book. I had the feeling the entire book that something big was going on, and waiting for the other shoe to drop. So I thought Strohmeyer earned the ending. However, it was really abrupt. I still enjoyed this book, but a more drawn-out denouement would have been nice. I suspect she just wanted to drop the bomb at the end for maximum impact, and in that sense, it worked! I enjoy Bubbles books, as I've said before. Bubbles is immensely likeable, and her adventures are lots of fun to read about.

I also read The Purrfect Murder by Rita Mae Brown. I don't usually buy these in hardback, but I had a good coupon at Borders. The first in this series (co-written by Brown's cat, Sneaky Pie Brown, too cute!) is Wish You Were Here. This is something like #16 in this cozy series about Crozet, Virginia animals and their humans. To be honest, the earlier books are better mysteries, but I always enjoy visiting Crozet and seeing what everyone's up to. Later mysteries see less and less editing, and Brown does tend to put whatever she's researching or has a bee in her bonnet about in her books. Sometimes this leads to interesting information about say, growing grapes, and sometimes it leads to mind-numbing two-page discussions about what kind of truck is best to have on a farm. This one, dealing with the murder of a Planned Parenthood doctor, brings in a few political rants about abortion, but I just skimmed those. I just skip the boring passages and focus on the good stuff. I like the characters, both human and non-human, and these are really fun cozies. I wouldn't start with a recent one, though. Pick up a used copy of Wish You Were Here and see how you like it. I really got sucked into this series years ago, and I still re-read them occasionally.

I also blasted through Nip, Tuck, Dead and Dead on Arrival by Lori Avocato, the two most recent (I think) Pauline Sokol books. Both were cute and fun, as expected. We learn a bit about the mysterious Jagger in Nip, Tuck, Dead, and Pauline mentions it in the next book, but the implications are really being drawn out. This is a problem similar to Janet Evanovich's problem with Ranger. If you have a character whose big thing is being mysterious, character development is hard, but you can't just have a character stay exactly the same over half a dozen books. This is, as I've said before, a fun series.

Right now I'm reading Grime and Punishment by Jill Churchill, the first in the Jane Jeffries mysteries. I read this years ago, and I'm enjoying it again. I honestly couldn't remember who the killer was.

Writing: Futzing around with Chapter One rewrites. I thought I knew how I wanted to start this book, but I went to a creative writing workshop at Emory a few months ago with an emphasis on framing, and I realized my kicky and interesting start puts the entire novel in flashback, which is rarely good. And certainly not in a genre novel, in my opinion. So I have to find a good, grabby point in the story to start and figure out what backstory to reveal and when. I've collected quite a bit of backstory on my main characters that I've jotted down, and I need to let it trickle through. Anyway, my first three attempts at Chapter One have really been placeholders. Not the kind of first chapters that make you desperate to keep reading. You don't have to be a writer to know that's not a good thing!

Cooking: Let's see. I made hummus (recipe at left), baba ghanosh (I think I have a recipe at left, too lazy to check), and ful medammes with pita chips. I made two recipes from this month's Cooking Light. The vegetarian section this month was Malaysian cuisine, and I made Rice Noodles With Egg and Green Onions. Those of you who are always impressed by my cooking will really enjoy this story. The recipe uses fresh rice stick noodles, which I was able to find. The directions call for boiling the noodles for 2 seconds before stir frying them. I assumed 2 seconds was a misprint and boiled them for two minutes, drained, then stir-fried them. You can see where this is going if you have more common sense than I do (which should be EVERYONE out there). The boiling broke down the starches in the very-starchy noodles, and they turned into clumps of rice noodle starchy bits. Really, it looked appalling. I will try this again without any noodle boiling. I can't imagine they really need to be boiled before stir-frying. Anyway, the flavor of this dish was divine and it was very simple to prepare. I am looking forward to trying it with actual NOODLES next time :) Even Matt liked this one, and he's not much of a stir-fry fan. I also made Fettucine With Creamy Mushroom Sauce. Yum! I added fresh mushrooms sauteed in a bit of butter to the recipe, which used dried porcini mushrooms with their soaking liquid, and used fresh tagliatelle from the market.

Armed with a Borders Rewards coupon, I headed out with Lilah and picked up Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson. I've cut way back on my blog reading, given my Lilah duties. I've pared down my knitting blogs on my regular reading list, and I've reduced my previously huge food blog reading down to just one, Heidi's fabulous site. I've been wanting her cookbook for ages, and finally caved because I've managed pretty consistently to cook at least a couple of recipes from each new month of Cooking Light. I felt I could justify a cookbook purchase since I've actually been cooking. This book is awesome. If you're interested in trying more cooking with fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and natural sweeteners, this book will help you through the process. I admit, while I'm not afraid to try cooking with "weird" ingredients like unusual flours, exotic seasonings, and unfamiliar produce, I have been lazy recently, falling back on regular (though at least Barilla Plus) pasta, white or brown rice, and unbleached all-purpose flour. This book is just what I need to kick-start my healthier (and fun and experimental) cooking. Take a look at the many, many recipes she has on her site. If any appeal to you, you'll probably enjoy her cookbook. If you've ever looked at interesting things at the grocery store and wished you knew how to cook with that, this is the book for you. Honestly, it's fun just to read and look at the gorgeous pictures, but I have a list of a dozen or so recipes I want to go shopping for right now. Heidi has a conversational, approachable style that is really appealing, and each recipe includes a sidebar that includes further information on ingredients, substitutions (including ways to speed up prep time), and variations. One soup recipe includes two variations that are so different it's really three recipes in one. She's so good at explaining the use of uncommon ingredients that you'll feel confident to experiment and substitute them in your own repertoire (for example, the sidebar for Acai Power Popsicles notes that you can make them with any frozen berry, which makes me think, hmmmm, I could try acai in a recipe I have that uses frozen blueberries...). She's also not preachy (rare in the health food/vegetarian cooking venue), mentioning that she hopes when you run out of your current cooking oil or flour or whatever, you'll consider replacing it with a healthier alternative. This is in high contrast to health food cookbooks written with a snotty attitude that basically say you're killing yourself and your family with the junk you're cooking with now and you'd better throw it all out and start over. Hands down, my favorite vegetarian cookbook I've seen in a long time.

Oh, the humanity!

So, what's the best strategy for a person low on knitting time who really, really wants to finish a project before the end of the month? Choose a pair of socks. Check Ravelry to see if others have knit the same sock yarn on size 2 needles at a gauge of 8. Convince self that this will make perfectly fine socks that knit up faster than on your usual size 1 needles, despite voice in back of head that is sure it won't work. Knit the toe. Realize the fabric is unacceptably floppy (technical term). Rip out and knit a toe on a smaller set of needles. Realize the short row has somehow gone off-center (huh???). Rip out toe. Lather, rinse, repeat. Ugh.

Well, I was gone almost two weeks. Lilah and I went to California to visit my parents. We had a delightful time at Disneyland, then went to my parents' house, where Lilah promptly got the stomach flu and then gave it to me. I didn't feel well enough to knit for much of the trip. When I did knit, I just knit and ripped out short-row toes for no reason. No, not really. I only did that twice, once because I realized I needed to knit the Opal on size 1s, and the second time because I somehow screwed up and did the short-rowing off-center, not realizing until I had reversed shaping on almost every wrap. Oops. So, I have nothing to show for my vacation knitting. I'm trying the short-row heel one more time, then I'm doing these top-down since they're for my husband's birthday, which was Sunday.

This does not bode well for me finishing a project this month, though at least I think I said I wanted an *average* of one FO a month, not *at least* one FO a month. Sounds like cheating to me, though. I know there's no way I can do a whole pair of socks in a week. I don't think I can finish my SKB in a week, but I can give it a try. I might cast on for something with Lilah's Noro Silk Garden, since I'm sure I can knit one skein in that time. I just don't know what to knit. Hat or scarf for next winter? Shrug? Any ideas, anyone? I have a Borders coupon, so I could maybe take Lilah to get a one-skein type book. What are your favorite one skein patterns for a baby? Hey, let's have a contest! If you send me a great idea that uses one skein of Noro Silk Garden and works for a one-year old, I'll send you a treat from my stash. And not Fun Fur, either.

Reading: While we were sick, I read A LOT. Prepare for tons of reviews, mainly of fluffy books.
Death at Gallows Green by Robin Paige: This is #2 in the Kate Ardleigh series by Robin Paige, the nom de plume for Susan Wittig Albert and her husband. Beatrix Potter is a character, and I wonder if the research for this inspired Albert's Beatrix Potter mystery series that I love so much. I enjoyed the first, Death at Bishop's Keep, but liked this one even better. I'm told that this series eventually gets a bit tiresome, but not yet. A constable is murdered, and Kate and her new friend Beatrix Potter pursue an investigation, as does Sir Charles. The authors do a good job of invoking Victorian England, and the historical setting is not distracting in the least. Kate is very likeable, and the subplot about Kate's various admirers is sort of fun, given all the misunderstandings. Kate's friendship with Beatrix is fun, as are the references to Beatrix Potter's stories. The mystery is well-constructed, not obvious, but not out of the blue either. You could certainly read this one without reading the first, but you wouldn't have the background on how Kate comes to live at Bishop's Keep in the first place.

The Stiff and the Dead, One Dead Under the Cuckoo's Nest, and Deep Sea Dead by Lori Avocato: Since these are #2-4 in the Pauline Sokol series (beginning with A Dose of Murder), I'll review them together. I read A Dose of Murder quite a while ago, and was fairly entertained. This is the thing. This series was probably pitched as "Stephanie Plum but with a nurse-turned-insurance-investigator instead of a lingerie-buyer-turned-bounty-hunter." It is really derivative. You could write a list of characters in the Stephanie Plum books and find a corresponding character in the Pauline Sokol books. Instead of Grandma Mazur, there's Uncle Walt as the token elderly sometimes-sidekick. Instead of Lula, the plus-size retired 'ho, there's Goldie, the Creole transvestite. Instead of Joe Morelli, the "normal" love interest, there's Nick Caruso. Instead of Ranger, the mysterious, dressed-in-black master bounty hunter who serves as mentor/love interest, there's Jagger, the mysterious, dressed-in-black master investigator who serves as mentor/love interest. Instead of a Hungarian mother who has dinner on the table right at six, there's a Polish mother who has dinner on the table right at six. And these are just the similarities off the top of my head. Avocato doesn't do wacky/madcap as well as Evanovich, but the books are entertaining anyway, if you can get past the Plum parallels. In The Stiff and the Dead, Pauline goes undercover to investigate insurance fraud at a hospital. In One Dead Under the Cuckoo's Nest, she goes undercover to investigate insurance fraud at a mental institution. And in Deep Sea Dead, she goes undercover to investigate insurance fraud on a cruise ship. So you can see that the insurance fraud investigator job is more limiting than a bounty hunter one. And these are written as traditional mysteries, unlike the Stephanie Plum books, and you KNOW the murder has something to do with insurance fraud. Either participants in the fraud are killing each other, or someone found out and is killed, etc. All this might make it seem as though I didn't like the books, but they're actually enjoyable. Avocato writes snappy dialogue and engaging characters, and the books are a nice diversion if you're waiting for Fearless Fourteen to come out. Good fun!

Bubbles A Broad and Bubbles Betrothed by Sarah Strohmeyer: The first in this series is Bubbles Unbound, which introduces Bubbles Yablonsky, a single mom who is trying to parlay her eight years of education at Two Guys Community College into a reporting career. Bubbles was born in bred in her steel-town home of Lehigh, Pennsylvania, and her fashion sense runs to big hair and spandex. Strohmeyer has a gift for wacky humor, and Bubbles is a lot of fun. She's brash, street-smart rather than book-smart, and so darn motivated and earnest you just want to hug her. These two entries in the series (#4 and #5) are entertaining reads. Bubbles's skill as a reporter is improving, her relationships with other characters in the series progress, and there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. This is a fun series.

A Watery Grave by Joan Druett: Joan Druett is the author of many non-fiction books related to nautical history, and she decided to parlay this knowledge and research into a mystery series. Half-Maori Wiki Coffin is the sleuth, though he's briefly suspected of the murder. Once he's cleared, the sheriff deputizes him to do some detective work as he joins the fleet of the American expedition to explore the South Seas. The expedition is actually real, though Druett explains in an author's note that she invented several characters and one ship for the purposes of the novel. Her research is clearly thorough, which makes for occasionally dry reading, but lends authenticity to the proceedings. Wiki is a well-written character, and he has to deal with racism from several quarters, including the sheriff who makes him a deputy! The plot is well-wrought, with lots of red herrings and plot twists, and the solution is not in the least obvious, though there are lots of "a ha!" moments as you realize that various occurrences and details are connected. I enjoyed this, the first mystery in the Wiki Coffin series, and I'll be looking for #2, Shark Island.

Rhett Butler's People by Donald McCaig: This is the "authorized" sequel to Gone With The Wind (to distinguish it from that non-authorized gem of modern literature, Scarlett). I should have put a sarcasm alert before the Scarlett reference. Anyway, I imagine the Margaret Mitchell heirs are hard-up for cash and authorized this book to drum up sales for GWTW. One review I read said something like, "Was it strictly necessary to re-write GWTW from Rhett's point of view? No. Is it fun anyway? Yes." and I agree. I thought McCaig did a nice job. I probably wouldn't have picked this up myself, but my mom had it lying around and I was running through books like crazy during the stomach flu thing. We learn a lot about Rhett's background that isn't in GWTW, and no doubt many liberties are taken. I do have the urge to read or rent GWTW again, as it's been years and things were hazy for me. I thought the book moved well and I was sucked into the plot and historical setting quite well. Great literature? Eh, not so much. But a diverting read. I read one amazon review that was basically an impassioned defense of Melanie. The reader gave the book one star because of one scene in which Melanie does something the reader insists she never would have done. Hoo boy. So, if you liked GWTW too much, you might not like this book, but if you didn't like it at all, you won't be interested. If you're in that narrow category of "Yeah, I read GWTW and it was good," I recommend this book. Otherwise, you're in for 500 pages of either boredom or anger. And I'd wait till it's in paperback, too.

Bell, Book, and Scandal by Jill Churchill: This is a late entry (#14?) in a well-established cozy mystery series, possibly one of the first in the genre. I used to read these Jane Jeffries mysteries and came across this one in Borders. I picked it up because I had vaguely fond memories for Jane Jeffries books, liked the title, and liked the setting (a mystery writers conference). I wasn't disappointed. The first few chapters are a bewildering account of Jane buying a new car and preparing for the conference. They meander and don't really seem to belong. I think they're pages that in earlier books, back when her editor still actually edited her books, Churchill would have written for herself as background but not published. Eh, that can happen in long series, and I was willing to overlook it. The story really gets going a few chapters in when Jane and best friend Shelly arrive at the conference, and this part is so much fun, you won't care about the clunky opening. Jane and Shelly are likeable sleuths and the conference is a fantastically fun venue for a mystery. Lots of crazy suspects, and Jane's attempt to get her mystery novel published is character-advancing and interesting. The first in the series is Grime and Punishment, and if you're looking for a light cozy mystery series, you can't go wrong with Jane Jeffries. I have to pick up some of the others I've missed.

Skinny Dipping by Connie Brockway: This is a contemporary romance novel putting on airs by calling itself "women's fiction," whatever that is. I think that's the PC way of saying chick lit. Mimi, a tele-medium who reports to callers what their dead friends and relatives tell her, is in her forties and well into a life of "letting it slide," with no real relationship, few possessions, and her life's only constant, a summer home on a Minnesota lake where her crazy extended family spends a few months every year. To say it's obvious that Mimi will find a guy and some kind of ambition is an understatement, but that's okay. Mimi herself is hard to relate to, since most of us want things, which she doesn't seem to do. The imminent sale of the family home, Chez Ducky, pushes her into close quarters with a workaholic, germaphobic businessman and his son. There's not a ton of suspense here, but this is a surprisingly enjoyable read because the extended family on the lake sections are so engaging. The ending drags a bit with a clunky denouement, but if you're looking for contemporary romance with humor and a fun wacky family setting, this one is worth picking up.

Daddy's Girl by Lisa Scottoline: Scottoline does legal thrillers, which I read from time to time, and she's very good at suspense. This one has all the plot twists you could possibly want, and more, and was hard to put down, despite a sometimes-annoying subplot about her interfering family and frankly annoying boyfriend bogging things down. Nat Greco is a law professor waiting for tenure. Her colleague Angus asks her to guest-lecture at his class for prison inmates. While Nat and Angus are there, a riot breaks out and Nat finds a dying prison guard whose last words are "Tell my wife it's under the floor." Nat gives the wife the message, and the wife is later shot, her house ransacked. Evidence points to Nat, who with Angus's help, bolts from the police and the killer at large. The premise is intriguing, and the plot moves fast. I enjoyed this one, though I tended to skim the parts with Nat's interfering family and was relieved when she finally kicked the boyfriend to the curb (among his many endearing qualities is a scene in which Nat calls him from jail, only to have him answer with a "We're in the middle of a game. Call you later!" and hang up without asking what she wanted. Seriously, ESPN rules this guy's life (and the lives of her brothers and father), and it's pretty obvious she's going to dump him eventually). Anyway, it was a good diversion from the stomach flu.

Writing: Not a thing. That's another thing I have a week to do, revise chapter 1. I hope I can work on it over the weekend.

Cooking: Nah. I made a lot of toast, though.

Pithy Title Goes Here

I wanted to do a quick-ish post today, with actual knitting content below! I'll hit comments first. A note: new Blogger doesn't let me reply to comments through email the same way I used to be able to. I've never been an "email reply to every comment" person, due to time constraints, but there are times I'd like to hit "reply" and give a quick answer to a question or something. For now, I'll stick with answering comments in my next post until I get email addresses saved. Kate, "sproingy" is one of my very favorite technical terms! Without it, how could I describe how much I like Lorna's Laces? Stefaneener, I've always loved to read. In fact, I was the only kid I knew who would actually get grounded from reading. It was the only punishment that actually had any impact. My little brother wasn't as into reading, but my mom got him into books about sports, even Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic books, and he is now a huge reader (in fact, his reading list is way more impressive than mine since he's really into history and military non-fiction, and to my knowledge never reads romance novels). My mom is now a principal, but she was an elementary teacher for years first, and she always got kids hooked on reading by finding something, anything that interested them. That's the beauty of the Harry Potter phenomenon: it's gotten millions of kids reading, and they love the Potter books so much they look for more like them and just keep going.

Thank you to everyone for the sock compliments! I'm very happy to have gotten them finished, and I like them a lot. I'll have to see if I can finish something, anything, for February as well, with the added goal of getting some writing done. I'd like to have a complete draft of my murder mystery by the end of the year. I have no idea how I will accomplish this, but I need to set some mini-goals. To finish this year is over a chapter a month, but I have several chapters in draft form, just needing some re-writing to incorporate my new ideas. So, for February, all I want is to re-write Chapter 1. It's a modest goal that I think I can achieve. I'll see how that goes, then re-evaluate and set goals for the rest of the year. My writing nook helps!

Knitting: Since I've nearly finished with ball #2 of Malabrigo (out of an expected maximum of 6 balls), I thought I'd post a progress photo of my Simple Knitted Bodice. I finally made it through the lace panel. I did a few repeats of the 4-row pattern, then measured: 2 1/2". That was great, since I was supposed to knit 3". I did another repeat, then measured again: 2 1/2". Huh. That was weird. Must have measured wrong before. Did another repeat, then measured: 2 1/2". Okay, now I was getting concerned. Would I ever finish the lace panel? Was I somehow making the lace panel go on and on because I didn't really want to do another set of purl ridges? But watching a repeat of Scrubs, I just knit and knit the lace, and at the end of the episode, I had 3". I guess I had to stop thinking I was almost done and just be in the knitting or something Zen like that. Anyway, I really wanted to have the purl ridges done before posting my photo, but I've got a busy couple of weeks going and wanted to get a photo up now in case I go a bit without posting. It's overcast today, which means the lighting in my house is horrid. I tried several spots and the kitchen counter ended up looking the best. Whatever.

I can't believe how far I've gotten. While I was working on the Waving Lace socks, I would sometimes do a row or two on the SKB if I happened to finish a section and not want to go on to the next quite yet. And suddenly, I was joining for working in the round. I like it quite a bit so far, but I doubt it'll be done in time for me to actually wear it, as it's warming up here already. I'm going to do a toe-up, short row toe and heel pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks, and I think I've settled on a pair for Matt first, out of Opal's TIger colorway (also a Mission Possible goal!), since his birthday is coming up. My only concern is the possibility of running out of yarn with a single skein for a men's pair. Going toe-up will help, but I have to re-wind the skein into two equal balls to make sure. Ugh.

Reading: Nearly done with Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. I have thoroughly enjoyed this book. I think you can tell from the title if you'd be automatically offended by it or not (Moore's "opening prayer" at the beginning starts something like this (can't be bothered to look up exact wording): "If you came here to laugh, may you find humor; if you came here to be offended, may your ire rise and your blood boil." I like Moore (though he can be a bit juvenile in his scatalogical and sexual humor), and this book is just fun. It focuses on Jesus's human life from childhood until the crucifixion, about which little is known. Moore clearly did quite a lot of historical and theological research, though he's careful to point out that this is FICTION, but the historical details give it authenticity. It's very, very funny, but the story is surprisingly engaging. I found myself getting caught up in the journeys of Biff and Jesus (called here by the Hebrew version of his name, Yeshua or Joshua, instead of the Greek Jesus). I'll post a full review when I'm done.

Writing: None, but see above for goals. Think writing-ish thoughts for me.

Cooking: Hmmm. Nothing interesting, really. I made chocolate chip cookies today, though. I don't want to brag, but I do make the best chocolate chip cookies. Sometime I'll post my recipe and tips for superior cookies, but not today.

Mission Accomplished!

So, I managed to start and finish a knitting project in January, and to knock off one of my twelve goals for 2008. ! I will create and update a Mission Possible 2008 link in the template as soon as I can. I finished the toe of sock #2 last night and grafted this morning. Here they are:




Details:
Pattern - Waving Lace Socks from Favorite Socks
Yarn - Opal Cotton in color #1957 (39% superwash wool, 13% polyamide, 48% cotton) - one skein with plenty leftover
Needles - size 1 bamboo dpns
Notes -
I like the color of the yarn. I came close to lining it up so the socks would match, but not quite. By the time I could tell it wouldn't match up, I'd gotten so far on sock #2 that there was no way I was ripping back. I like them anyway. The Opal isn't as soft and sproingy as Lorna's Laces, but it's fine. The socks are comfy. The pattern was great. The lace was super easy, and I could put the socks down and easily "read" the lace to see which row I was on. I did the scalloped edging instead of the ribbed, and I think it's really pretty. Yay!

I'm sure you're thinking, where are those photos taken? (Actually, I doubt you are, but it's a good transition.)

It's my little writing nook, complete with desk! I love this little desk, and it was super easy to put together. Past furniture I've assembled has been of the Ikea or Target variety, with a huge bag of doohickeys to insert and lock together, and slightly nauseating pressed wood product smell. This was actually real wood, and came almost assembled. Eight bolts to put the legs on, two wood screws to secure the hutch, and bam, a desk! This is in the guest room dormer, and I think it's a good use of a weird space. Anyway, I hope to get to use it for actual writing from time to time, but at least I have somewhere to keep my return address labels and stapler.

More knitting: Still going on SKB. I've been doing a row here and there, and I'm now 2/3 of the way through the yoke. I'll put up pictures when it looks interesting. I'm deciding whether to focus on this or cast on for another pair of socks. I did pick up Sensational Knitted Socks (thank you, KnitPastis!), and might try something in there with a short row heel. And maybe toe-up!

Reading: Reviews, reviews, reviews!

Alex and the Ironic Gentleman by Adrienne Kress: At first, I wasn't sure what I thought of this book. I blame the publisher, who chose a rather misleading (though very cool) title and cover, which implied that this was a pirate adventure. We learn very early in the story that the Ironic Gentleman is a pirate ship, but much of the book is Alex *getting to* the pirate ship. So, because I was assuming it was a pirate adventure, the side stories on the way seemed meandering and off-topic. But what a fun journey! Kress's voice is enjoyable, earnest and adding fun asides in the Dear Reader tradition. The story seems timeless and placeless, and whimsy added to even the mundane aspects (Alex's interrogation at the police station, for instance) make the story move along easily and encourage suspension of disbelief. I had a lot of fun reading this. In a nutshell, it's the story of Alex, a 10 and a half year old girl (often mistaken for a boy due to her bowl haircut and name) who sets out to rescue her sixth grade teacher, a descendent of pirates who has been kidnapped by the descendent of rival pirates (still with me?). Along the way, she encounters a number of original and funny obstacles and meets truly memorable characters, like the Extremely Ginormous Octopus, who is a frustrated actor, Giggles the cat, and a quintet of scary old ladies. I had a lot of fun reading this. The pirate Steele is a complex villain and Alex is a fun heroine who manages very well on her own against all these obstacles.

Iris, Messenger by Sarah Deming: It's another Greek god juvenile fantasy, but is really completely different from the Percy Jackson series. For one thing, I could be wrong, but I don't think it's the start of a series. All the loose ends were tied up at the end and it seemed like a self-contained story. We'll see. Deming is a very good writer and Iris is an engaging girl. (By the way, here's another publisher-related annoyance--the cover shows Irish being held by a boy--it looks like he's rescuing her or something, but that NEVER happens in the book. What? There's actually a girl who can stand on her own as the hero of a book, and the publisher has to make it look like a boy is actually the hero?) Iris is a dreamer who doesn't have friends at her middle school. She is sent a mysterious birthday gift, a copy of Bulfinch's mythology, with directions on how to find the Greek gods (who now live incognito in suburban Pennsylvania), who need her help. Each god she meets tells her a story (an actual myth from Bulfinch, but with funny asides and dialogue) that leads her to an unexpected truth. This was a fun, well-written fantasy and really enjoyable.

Flush by Carl Hiaasen: I really enjoyed Hiaasen's first YA novel, Hoot, and I suggest that if you enjoyed Hoot (and if you haven't read it, go find a used copy), you will also enjoy Flush. Hiaasen brings his trademark zany humor and Florida settings to YA novels quite well, so if you've enjoyed his adult novels, give his YA ones a try. I felt the environmental message was handled well, not too preachy. What the bad guys are doing is so heinous that even people who wouldn't describe themselves as "green" will cheer when they get what's coming to them. Noah and his younger sister Abbey (a former biter, which comes in handy) become drawn into their father's passion for protecting nature. Their father is in jail for destroying a casino boat--Dad insists that the owner is dumping his sewage into the water instead of paying for it to be properly contained and treated (ew), but there's no proof. Noah overhears his mother discussing divorce and he and Abbey set out to prove Dad right. A number of encounters with an entertaining cast of adult and junior bad guys (the casino owner's son is a bully) lead to Noah's hilarious idea for proving the illegal (and very gross) dumping. An unlikely alliance with Shelly, the scary ex-girlfriend of a worker on the casino boat, makes the kids' success more believable. A funny, fast-paced juvenile novel with a message.

The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson: I've been on an Ibbotson kick lately. I really enjoy her fantasy novels, which are funny and warm. I summed up the book for Matt--there's a secret entrance to a magical world through a platform in King's Cross station--and he laughed and thought it was a Harry Potter rip-off. But this book was written in 1994. Anyway, the King and Queen of the magical world have an infant son. His nurses take him through the gump (the gateway between worlds that opens every nine years) and he is kidnapped by the horrible Mrs. Trottle who has no child of her own. She decides to go away and return with the baby, pretending he is her own. The gump closes before a rescue can be mounted. For nine years, the King and Queen mourn and plan a rescue at the next opening. A motley crew of magical folk go through the gump to recover the lost prince. They find a charming, wonderful boy at the Trottle home, but he turns out to be a servant. The prince is a spoiled, horrid boy, but they have to bring him back, anyway, as he is the prince. His mother learns of the plan and whisks him away. The rescuers have to track him down (with Ben's help). The plot twist is glaringly obvious, but I think the story is a lot of fun, anyway, and it ends very happily.

I also read Foop! by Chris Genoa, and really didn't like it. The premise sounded so good: a time-travel tourism company takes people back to see famous events in history. But the narrator was whiny, angsty, and completely self-absorbed, which ruined it for me. That and a lot of "weird for the sake of weird." Ah, well.

Writing: Nothing lately except setting up the desk.

Cooking: Nothing really noteworthy. Just the usual stuff.

Go ahead, make my day!

I'm not ready with real content to post today, but MLE Knits gave me the Make My Day Award, which really, well, made MY day. So I wanted to say thank you and continue the award:

"Give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times."

MLE
Knit Pastis
TurtleGirl
String Bean
KnittyPants
Stefaneener (Reading While Knitting)
YarnThrower
Marie (A Knit's Tale)
Rachel (Lickety Knit)
Annie

It's hard to limit the number of awards, isn't it? Anyway, you guys all make my day!

Mission Possible 2008

Here is the challenge:

The saying goes that yarn and fiber does not have an expiration date. This is about change. Fiber that has been sitting in your stash…

-Find it!
-Remember when you bought it!
-Remember what did you want to do with!

Look for:
12 things – could be 12 balls of sock yarn for 12 pairs of socks
12 balls of yarn that you refuse to throw out or that are left over from another project
12 balls of roving
12 WIPs
12 UFOs…

The clock is ticking. Everything – meaning the 12 things you picked - needs to be gone by December 31, 2008. It is up to you to achieve your goal and finish 12 possible missions.

You can…

…Fullfill its original destiny!
…Do something completely different!
…Donate it!
…Throw it out!
…Set it on fire! But then we want to see the video on YouTube!

The goal is to get these 12 items out of your stash by the end of 2008!

And here are a few rules:

1. You commit to the 12 tasks and put your list either on the Ravelry group or on your blog.
2. You finish all of your tasks by December 31, 2008.
3. If you don’t accomplish your goal, you will have to donate the selected items.

So, I am going to actually post my 12 goals, and maybe stick them on the template so I don't forget about them. My larger goal is one FO per month (I know, this is unbelievably sad and pathetic, but I didn't even come close last year), but here are my 12 stash items and my plans for them:

1. Gryffindor Sock Yarn: I want a pair of Gryffindor socks for me this year. I made a pair for Matt and then lost momentum and didn't make mine.

2. Opal Sock Yarn in Tiger: I bought this to make a pair of socks for Matt for Christmas 2005. Enough said.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! 3. Opal Sock Yarn from Christmas: I got this at Christmas, and I'm working on Waving Lace Socks for me. On the needles.

4. Lorna's Laces in Vera: socks for me.

5. Lorna's Laces in Happy Valley: socks for me.

6. Tons of Peruvian Silk from elann.com in orchid: Destined to be a Henley Perfected.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! 7. Malabrigo in Velvet Grapes: Simple Knitted Bodice for me.

8. Rowanspun 4-Ply in Siren: Tussie Mussie for me. On the needles.

9. Zephyr Wool Silk in Black: Irish Diamond Shawl on the needles for ages. Meant to be a Christmas 2007 gift for my mother-in-law, but fizzled out, and hanging out on the needles.

10. Sunshine Yarns in Strawberry Banana: either socks or something for Lilah.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! 11. Lilah's Noro Silk Garden: Only one skein, which makes it challenging. I have to find something to do with this and knit it for her before the end of the year.

12. 7 balls of Peruvian Silk in dark purple: Find something to do with it and knit it! Maybe for Lilah, because she loves purple.

Mission Possible 2008

I've been waffling about goals for 2008 (in a number of areas of life, but let's start with knitting), and I found La's Mission through TurtleGirl's Bloggy Thing. It could not be more perfect for me! I have a lot of abandoned projects in-the-making, not much knitting time, and too much yarn to justify additional purchases. I've been organizing Ye Olde Stashe and thinking I really ought to do more de-stashing, but really, I need to make some plans for the yarn I want to use and figure out what is never going to happen.

Here is the challenge:

The saying goes that yarn and fiber does not have an expiration date. This is about change. Fiber that has been sitting in your stash…

-Find it!
-Remember when you bought it!
-Remember what did you want to do with!

Look for:
12 things – could be 12 balls of sock yarn for 12 pairs of socks
12 balls of yarn that you refuse to throw out or that are left over from another project
12 balls of roving
12 WIPs
12 UFOs…

The clock is ticking. Everything – meaning the 12 things you picked - needs to be gone by December 31, 2008. It is up to you to achieve your goal and finish 12 possible missions.

You can…

…Fullfill its original destiny!
…Do something completely different!
…Donate it!
…Throw it out!
…Set it on fire! But then we want to see the video on YouTube!

The goal is to get these 12 items out of your stash by the end of 2008!

And here are a few rules:

1. You commit to the 12 tasks and put your list either on the Ravelry group or on your blog.
2. You finish all of your tasks by December 31, 2008.
3. If you don’t accomplish your goal, you will have to donate the selected items.

So, I am going to actually post my 12 goals, and maybe stick them on the template so I don't forget about them. My larger goal is one FO per month (I know, this is unbelievably sad and pathetic, but I didn't even come close last year), but here are my 12 stash items and my plans for them:

1. Gryffindor Sock Yarn: I want a pair of Gryffindor socks for me this year. I made a pair for Matt and then lost momentum and didn't make mine.

2. Opal Sock Yarn in Tiger: I bought this to make a pair of socks for Matt for Christmas 2005. Enough said.

3. Opal Sock Yarn from Christmas: I got this at Christmas, and I'm working on Waving Lace Socks for me. On the needles.

4. Lorna's Laces in Vera: socks for me.

5. Lorna's Laces in Happy Valley: socks for me.

6. Tons of Peruvian Silk from elann.com in orchid: Destined to be a Henley Perfected.

7. Malabrigo in Velvet Grapes: Simple Knitted Bodice for me. On the needles.

8. Rowanspun 4-Ply in Siren: Tussie Mussie for me. On the needles.

9. Zephyr Wool Silk in Black: Irish Diamond Shawl on the needles for ages. Meant to be a Christmas 2007 gift for my mother-in-law, but fizzled out, and hanging out on the needles.

10. Sunshine Yarns in Strawberry Banana: either socks or something for Lilah.

11. Lilah's Noro Silk Garden: Only one skein, which makes it challenging. I have to find something to do with this and knit it for her before the end of the year.

12. 7 balls of Peruvian Silk in dark purple: Find something to do with it and knit it! Maybe for Lilah, because she loves purple.

I have older stash yarn, including a really annoying bag of Debbie Bliss Wool Cotton in various colors, Debbie Bliss Merino Aran in various colors, and a ton of feltable worsted weight in various colors, so I'll call it a bonus if I get rid of them this year. This list goes with my determination to knit socks this year, and except for the Irish Diamond Shawl, it may actually be do-able. We'll see! I'll save progress photos for next post, since this knitting section is pretty big.

Reading: I was reading, erm, romance novels. Ahem. But now I'm reading Alex and the Ironic Gentleman, a juvenile fantasy novel that I bought entirely for the title (but I guess a smidge for the pirate-y cover). It's extremely odd. I thought it would be more of a pirate adventure, but so far, not so much. It's very meandering, but I'll wait until it's done before deciding if that works or not. I like the voice, which is a narrator in the Dear Reader tradition, but I'm starting to wonder where the heck it's going. Still no sign of the Ironic Gentleman (a pirate ship) halfway through.

Writing: Not a thing, darn it. I need to have a goal for writing in 2008. Maybe "Do some writing" would work. Ten words a month? Actually, I'd like to actually complete a draft of the murder mystery this year, which requires some help from Lilah and Matt. As I was typing this, FedEx brought my writing desk! I'll set it up at Lilah's next nap, whenever that may be.

Cooking: I made some kickin' granola (well, if granola can be described as kickin'). My first attempt was not that great. I was inspired by a Cooking Light recipe in the December issue, and it just didn't work out that well. My husband said nicely that it was okay, but he didn't like "those chewy things." "Which chewy things?" I asked. "The apricots? The dried cherries?" He didn't know. I mostly thought it was sort of blah. So I took this granola recipe I found on allrecipes.com and cut it in half because it looked like it would feed a platoon. I also cut down on the honey and oil, because, well just look at the nutritional info. I added vanilla and cinnamon because of the aforementioned boring granola experience. I thought it was really nice, and Matt liked it too. I made it with the original proportion of sesame seeds, which was A LOT of sesame seeds, so I cut the amount (reflected below).

Great Granola

INGREDIENTS
3 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup walnut pieces
1/2 cup pecan pieces
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup ground flax seed
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cups honey
1/4 cup apple cider
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dried cranberries

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 300.
In a large bowl, stir together the oats, almonds, walnuts, pecans, sesame seeds, flax seed meal, coconut, sunflower seeds, salt, and cinnamon. Combine oil, honey, cider, and vanilla in a microwave safe measuring cup and microwave for 2 minutes on high, stirring every 30 seconds, until mixture is well-combined and warm. Pour over the oat mixture, and stir to coat evenly. Spread out in an even layer on a jelly roll pan coated well with cooking spray.
Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until the oats and nuts are toasted, stirring once halfway through cooking. Immediately after it comes out of the oven, stir in the raisins and dried cranberries. Let stand until cooled, and stir again to break up any large clusters. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

I also made hummus and baba ghanosh. And this awesome black bean soup from the Jan/Feb Cooking Light. Even Lilah loved it, and it was easy.

The State of Other Stuff

After doing my State of the Yarn post, I started thinking (especially prompted by Rachel's hilarious comment) about the State of Other Stuff. Thinking about it, I managed to accomplish a lot in 2007--it's just not as obvious as a pile of knitted objects. I still want to increase my knitting output and (for the love of Pete) get back to my writing (dare I say, complete draft finished in 2008?), but I'm not such a slacker, I guess. Scroll down if bragging annoys you, and you can see my knitting progress!

Things I accomplished in 2007:

1. Made it through a full year of baby-related sleep-deprivation, with sanity more or less intact. Lilah is a bad sleeper. A *bad* sleeper. She thinks sleep is a waste of her time. She hates going to sleep, and she hates staying asleep once she's finally succumbed. A friend of mine was talking wistfully about a friend whose baby goes to sleep at 7:00 pm and wakes up at 7:00 am WITHOUT WAKING UP ONCE. I could not comprehend this. "How long does your baby sleep at once?" I asked. He sleeps 10 hours, then goes back to sleep for two more after having his diaper changed. Oh, and he takes two naps, 1-2 hours each. I stared at her, dumbstruck. "And you're complaining? Last night, it took two and a half hours to get Lilah down, and she woke up four times, once for over an hour! And I'm lucky if she takes one one-hour nap." She seems (knock on wood) to be doing a bit better. For the last week, she's had one 6-8 hour stretch of sleep. Not to whine or anything (okay, I'm whining!), but constantly getting a maximum of 4 hours of sleep at once is tough. But if she takes a decent (over an hour) nap, she won't take a second one.

2. Made it through a year of breastfeeding. Lilah has actually never had formula. It was really important to me to breastfeed for her first year. And I made it!

3. Made all of Lilah's food, except for baby cereals (for the iron content). Lilah has never had jars of baby food, and I'm really pleased about that. It took almost no time for me, and she's turned into a great eater. We're transitioning to feeding her our food (sometimes with modifications), and it's going very well.

4. Made it through a year of cloth diapering. It actually isn't that much work, and when she's been learning to walk, the extra padding on her rear end comes in handy :)

5. Moved from Madison to Atlanta. The house is reasonably the way we want it, too, although we still have a few boxes here and there, and no pictures on the walls.

6. Increased our square footage at least threefold, and added a yard. And managed to keep the place, not spotless, but free from Health Department interference.

7. Made friends and got involved in our new community. (Remember all the bake sale posting?)

8. Kept up with my reading, even some literary reading (although the proportion of "comfort reading" (re-reading favorites or reading more fluffy fare) to literary is not exactly where it could be), which is nothing to sneeze at. I also started (and keep up with!) LibraryThing.

9. Lost all the baby weight plus 20 extra pounds that had been hanging around since college. Went down 2 sizes from just before pregnancy.

10. Kept blogging! Not always often, and not always interesting, but I've kept the blog going. I've enjoyed the people I've "met" through blogging, as well as having a record of my main pursuits, even when I just keep posting "nothing new" in the writing column over and over.

Okay, bragging over. Onto the content.

Knitting: I'm on the foot part of Sock #1 of the Waving Lace Socks from Favorite Socks. I'm using Opal, which is not my favorite, but I think the colors, which are vaguely oceanic, complement the waving pattern nicely. I wore my only handknit pair of socks yesterday (Jaywalkers), and I may rip those out after I finish knitting all my current sock yarn (in addition to what I posted last time, I have Opal in Tiger (for my husband), a Sunshine Yarns skein in Strawberry Banana, and Gryffindor stripe). They look nice, they really do. Only it's a huge pain to get them on and off my feet. I read that the pattern was inflexible, but I assumed that since it was a sock pattern, they'd at least be functional, but they're really not. So, I'll be screening my sock patterns more carefully.



I also cast on for the Simple Knitted Bodice with my Malabrigo. My word, this is soft. Knit bloggers are always going on and on about Malabrigo, and I get it now. It is luscious. And the colors are just out of this world. But I knit a few rows on this, then switched to my sock, and the Opal felt like sandpaper in comparison. This sweater has been on my list since I saw Rain's lovely version. And the Malabrigo is perfect. I have four balls and ordered two more. There are no dye lots, so I'm really crossing my fingers and praying to the knitting gods that they look okay together. This may be the worst progress photo ever. The lighting in our house is really challenging, especially on cloudy days, and I need to find somewhere I can consistently get decent photos. The other problem with the sweater is that it's just a couple inches of stockinette right now, and so likes to roll into a ball. But here's an idea, anyway:



Rachel inspired me to get the Winter issue of Interweave and add the Henley Perfected to my queue. If you haven't seen it, check it out here. It's the kind of knitted sweater about which a non-knitter would say in awe, "Wow, that looks like something you could buy in the store!" and think it's a compliment. I have Baby Alpaca from Elann in a light orchid color, and lots of it. I had started a tank, but wasn't really into it, so I ripped it out, and I have more than enough for the Henley Perfected. I stopped getting Interweave, mostly because of a lack of knitting time, but also because there aren't that many patterns I was into. But there are a few sweaters in this issue that I might like to knit (I really like the Gathered Pullover). Although, if the skirt makes the size 2 model's rear look big, there's no way I would ever attempt it. And there's a ruched tank that looks like a maternity top, again on the size 2 model. So those won't make it to my queue.

Writing: You know the story: no time, no energy.

Reading: Not Just a Witch by Eva Ibbotson: Heckie can turn anyone into an animal and Dora can turn anyone into stone. The two are best friends until a falling-out over a hat. They end up duped by a furrier looking for exotic pelts, but join together to make everything right in the end. Not her best effort, but a cute story nonetheless.

Which Witch? by Eva Ibbotson. Tired of waiting for the next dark wizard to take his place, Arriman the Awful decides to marry. He auditions all the local witches with a contest--whoever performs the darkest magic wins. Belladonna desperately wants to win, but flowers and fluffy bunny rabbits tend to spring up all around her and she finds dark magic impossible to perform. With the help of an orphan named Terrence, she comes up with a plan. This one is really cute and charming. Terrence is adorable, and Belladonna's inadvertent white magic is very funny. Arriman is a hoot. This is one of my favorite Ibbotsons, and that's really saying something.

Books 2 and 3 in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. The first is The Lightning Thief (the author is Rick Riordan), and 2 and 3 are NOT a disappointment. If anything, they're even better than the first.

I also read Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich. Everyone says the between-the-numbers Plum books are not as good, and they're right. But this was still fun. Grandma Mazur at the slots, Lula modeling underwear, a guy who thinks he's a leprechaun...what's not to like? And it's a fun diversion while waiting for Fearless Fourteen to come out.

Cooking: From this month's Cooking Light, I made Tomato-Braised Beans Over Polenta and Orange-Cranberry Wheat Germ Muffins. This beans were really good. Every year, they tweak their format a bit, and for 2008, the Inspired Vegetarian column is looking at a different world cuisine every month. This month was the Veneto, the region in Italy that includes Venice. The recipe calls for cannellini beans, although the notes say that cranberry beans are authentic if you can find them canned. I found dried cranberry beans with no effort at all, and prepared them. (Seriously, how hard is that? You dump them in a pot with water and leave them overnight. The next day, you drain them, add more water, and simmer them for an hour and a half or so.) Lilah LOVES cranberry beans, as it turns out. Matt thought the muffins tasted rather healthy for him, but I like them. They're not big, though, for 200 calories per muffin. I could eat three pretty easily. From the December issue, I made
Peanut Squash Soup. I'd made this before, but this time I started out doubling the recipe, and made it thicker, like a stew. I only had one squash, so I added a sweet potato. I also took some out for Lilah before adding the peanut butter and chile. She loves the mild, peanut-free version. She's getting really insistent about eating what we're eating. She'll point vigorously past her own dish to indicate ours. My little brother mostly pointed and grunted until he was, like, four, and then we couldn't shut him up, so I'm trying not to worry that Lilah mostly points. She says Dada, Mama, Ki-Kat (for kitty cat), and Meow. When Matt comes home, she rushes to the door, saying "Da-Da!" and smiling up at him. She yells "Mama!" and pounds on her tray when I'm not making her dinner fast enough. Hmmm. Anyway, I also made oatmeal cookies. Nothing fancy, just the recipe from the barrel of Quaker Oats. But yum!

Peanut Stew (adapted from Cooking Light)

Ingredients
1 TBL peanut oil (I used canola for Lilah)
4 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash (1 medium)
4 cups cubed peeled sweet potato (1 very large)
1 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons minced garlic (about 6 cloves)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
4 cups vegetable broth
3/4 cup natural peanut butter
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation
Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add squash and next 6 ingredients (through coriander); sauté 5 minutes or until onion is tender. Add broth, peanut butter, tomato paste, and pepper, stirring well to combine; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes or until the squash and sweet potato are tender. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve over brown rice.

Note: Cooking Light called for reduced-fat creamy peanut butter. I have never seen the point of this. It has the same calories, and they just replace the fat with sugar. Or high-fructose corn syrup. Once I tried natural peanut butter, I can't even eat Skippy or Jif, with the corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oils (or palm oil). It's completely different, and it's real food. Worth the slightly higher fat content.

The State Of The Yarn

First, a quick comments round-up. Rachel, thank you for the cousin information. I've always been fuzzy on those distinctions. And thank you for Lilah's happy birthday wishes. We went to the aquarium for her birthday, and she loved the penguins and the pink and purple fish. Her penguin thing is a crackup. She's loved penguins since she was 5 or 6 months old. Thank you to everyone who was nice about my Branching Out and Fuzzy Feet. I was really pleased with both of them. I want to do more gift knitting this year, if I can fit it in.

Well, I updated my 2007 Finished Project list (to the left), and I was pretty appalled. Really???? That was it??? No sweaters and only eight items. Boy, motherhood has really slowed me down! We've been doing lots of cleaning and organizing while my mom is out visiting for two weeks (which is totally like having Mary Poppins over), and I decided to catalogue my stash and take a look at the projects I'd like to add to my to-do list. And maybe set a goal like, one FO a month at least! I want to knit socks for me, because I have only my Jaywalkers as far as hand-knit socks go, and I was suddenly bitten by the sock bug. I would like to expand my sock-knitting capabilities, as I have only done top-down, heel-flap socks on dpns. I am a newbie sock-knitter, though, and kind of a spaz about it, so I don't feel like I can modify patterns to suit my needs at this point. So when people say, "Oh, I did XYZ pattern, but I changed it to toe-up and magic loop and short-rowed the heel" I am in awe. I need a pattern to spell out what to do right now. Fortunately, there's my Christmas sock knitting book, and also knitty. I have some goodies to show you because I got a big box of yarn for Christmas.

Here is the Noro Silk Garden that Lilah picked out:

I have one skein and want to do something cool with it. No idea what, yet.

Christmas gifts:
Lorna's Laces in Happy Valley:


Malabrigo Worsted in Velvet Grapes:


Opal Cotton:


Lorna's Laces in Vera (I love this color):


(By the way, I started this post ages ago, and I'm only partly through my cataloguing. Not that I have a huge stash, but I had to unravel some UFOs and move things around.) I have so many good yarn pictures up that I think I'll wait to post my current project, socks on the Opal yarn. The yarn is nice, but I think I like Lorna's Laces better. I love the colors, though, like the ocean. I'm not all that thrilled with the dpns, which are still awkward to knit on. Turtlegirl helpfully pointed out that her Red Dwarf Sock pattern was on two circs and toe-up, both sock techniques I really want to try. I love the pattern, but all my sock yarn is fingering weight, and I have no sport weight. I have Interweave Knits' Favorite Socks book, and I'm starting with a top-down, heel flap sock since it's been a while for me and sock knitting. I like it quite a bit so far, despite the dpns.

Any ideas for the Malabrigo? The chunky would work perfectly for Cherie Amour, but I'm not sure about the worsted. It's 864 yards, and I adore the color.

Reading: I've been reading quite a bit. I'm trying to read What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy by Gregory Maguire and having trouble getting into it. I may need to read something else first.
The Lightning Thief: I had such a great time reading this book. And I took one of my Christmas B&N gift cards and ordered 2&3 right away. And probably I'll be pre-ordering #4. This was such a fresh take on juvenile fantasy. And such a sneaky way to get kids interested in learning about Greek mythology. There are two ways to go with this sort of story; either put the hero into a magical world or bring the magic into this world. Harry Potter goes the first way, and the Percy Jackson books go the other. Matt asked what I was reading and I told him "post-Harry Potter juvenile fantasy." He laughed and asked if we were already at the post-Harry Potter age of literature. I guess I just think of juvenile fantasy written since Harry Potter became an unstoppable force as inevitably influenced by it (at least authors publishing new books, especially series--authors who were already writing don't really have this problem). And Riordan really could have pitched this to his publisher as "Harry Potter, but in New York and with Greek gods." But his writing is crisp and witty, Percy is an immensely likable hero with whom kids will love to identify (especially kids who tend to not like reading, those with dyslexia and ADHD, both of which Percy has as a result of being half-blood), and the book was just plain fun and action-packed to the hilt. He's charting Percy's hero journey, and the necessary archetypal elements make comparisons to Harry Potter inevitable. It didn't bother me, though, because Riordan's story is original and inventive, and the ways he finds to bring Greek gods into modern-day America are endlessly creative. I can't wait to read the next installment.

The Beasts of Clawstone Castle by Eva Ibbotson: Madlyn and Rollo go to spend the summer with distant relatives who live in Clawstone Castle, a crumbling money pit opened to the public to raise funds to preserve a herd of white cattle. The children audition ghosts to help bring in more visitors, but a terrible fate befalls the cattle, leading to their quest (together with the memorable collection of ghosts) to save them. Ibbotson has written several ghost stories with a twist. In the tradition of Dial-a-Ghost and The Great Ghost Rescue, the ghosts are good guys and the bad guys are very human. She has subtle anti-animal-cruelty and environmental messages in the text, but nothing preachy or extreme. Madlyn and Rollo are good kids who want to help out their great-aunt and great-uncle as well as the cattle. Ibbotson, as always, is very, very funny in a dry, witty way that I really enjoy. I would definitely recommend this, as well as her other books.

I read Died in the Wool and Knit Fast, Die Young by Mary Kruger. I thought these were fun mysteries, not the best, but enjoyable reads. I'd pick up #3 once it's in paperback, but I wouldn't rush out to buy the hardback. In Died in the Wool, Ari discovers the body of tightwad customer Edith Perry in her shop, and she sets out to help the police solve the murder. In the second, Ari is at a wool festival when she stumbles into the well-hated knitting magazine editor as she's dying (stabbed by a knitting needle). With yarn an important clue, Ari is in a better position than the police to find the culprit. Ari is likable enough and Josh, the cop in charge of the case, tries to keep her in the real world. I have a few gripes: there's almost no comic relief (except some extremely bad puns), in each book, there is a second murder that seems really unnecessary (almost as though Kruger got halfway through the first book and thought the death count was too low and so threw in another), and in each, Ari confronts the killer Jessica Fletcher-style. However, unlike a lot of cozy mysteries these days, the writing is very good, the book is well-edited, and I thought the character development was well-done. If you enjoy cozies and/or knitting, chances are you'll like these. I thought they were better written and the characters more fleshed out than in the Maggie Sefton knitting mysteries.

I also read The Tale of Cuckoo Brow Wood, the third Beatrix Potter mystery by Susan Wittig Albert. These have all been utterly charming. As a bonus, you could easily read these to kids, as there's no adult content of any kind. The first is The Tale of Hill Top Farm in case you're looking to start these. Talking animals, nosy villagers, charming children looking for fairies--if that sounds saccharine and cheesy to you, well, you might not like these. They're gentle tales that evoke Miss Potter's own charming tales for children, and the mysteries take a back seat to the intrigue of the village and of the animal communities. If you're looking for pulse-pounding suspense, this is not the mystery for you. But if spending a couple of hours in the company of a cast of charming characters, both human and otherwise, then light a fire in the fireplace, make some tea, and sit down with one of these novels.

Writing: Just notes, but I've been able to work in some plotting and ideas.

Cooking: Nothing special I can think of. Just the usual stuff. Maybe I'll come up with something good for you guys before my next post :)

2008 Finished Knitting Projects

Novelties:
Octagonal Washcloth
Z Scarf and Drawstring Bag
Going Green Coffee Cozy
Arrowhead Lace Headband

Sweaters:
Simple Knitted Bodice

Wraps, Shawls, and Scarves:

Bags:

Baby Stuff:
Pink Placket Neck Pullover
Striped Placket Neck Pullover
Placket Neck Pullover
Alpaca Baby Shawl
Last Minute Purled Beret

Socks and Hats:
Waving Lace Socks

Month-by-month:
January: Waving Lace Socks
February: Last Minute Purled Beret
March: Simple Knitted Bodice
April: Going Green Coffee Cozy
May (but really finished June 1): Arrowhead Lace Headband
July: Alpaca Baby Shawl
August: Ummmmm....
September: TWO Placket Neck Pullovers
October: Pink Placket Neck Pullover, Z Scarf and Drawstring Bag
November: Octagonal Washcloth

Just Under The Wire...

Two more FOs for 2007!

My husband's Fuzzy Feet:

I had just read an entry from Turtlegirl's Bloggy Thing in which she was making Fuzzy Feet and had chosen to double the yarn for a sturdier slipper. Since my husband has worn holes through his last two pairs (the most recent lasted one winter plus a bit of this one), I decided to try this. I had plenty of Cascade 220 in my chosen color (leftover from Pinup Queen from SnB, which I think I did pre-blog...I should do a Blast from the Past post with my early work--heh heh!) so I started, using size 11 needles and knitting the foot to 11 inches before decreasing for the toe. I felted the heck out of them and they're a bit snug. These loosen up, though. I usually wear them over two pairs of socks while still damp and let them dry.

Pattern: Fuzzy Feet from Knitty
Yarn: Cascade 220 (held doubled) - 2 skeins and a bit of a third - no idea on the color, a dark greeny-blue
Needles: Size 11 for men's feet
Notes: I already went on and on quite recently about loving this pattern and I still do. Doubling has made for an extra thick slipper. We'll see if it keeps them hole-free for longer this time. I knit longer as directed for my husband's longer feet, and the fit is great. I actually finished the knitting on December 31, but felted on January 1. Since only the washer did any work on it today, I'm counting it as a 2007 FO.

And my Branching Out gift scarf:



Pattern: Branching Out from knitty
Yarn: Rowan Cashcotton in Pretty, one skein
Needles: Size 8
Notes: Love the pattern, love the yarn!

Knitting: I started a pair of socks for me with Christmas presents. I got Favorite Socks (an Interweave collection) and Charmed Knits. I also got a box full of delightful yarns, but I think I'll introduce them on my next post.

Reading: I read The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell. Wow. After I finished it, I sort of sat for a few minutes, then decided I needed to read something fluffy (Died in the Wool by Mary Kruger--thank you, Holly!!!). This is a rather slim (under 250 pages), poetic novel about family secrets and betrayal. It was literally relentless, with no chapter breaks, which made it even more difficult to put down. Three voices are balanced (ambitious for such a short book): Iris, a young woman who discovers she has a great-aunt in an institution (for whom she is now responsible), Esme, a woman committed to an asylum over 60 years ago as a young woman for being difficult and inconvenient for her family, and Kitty, Esme's sister who is now afflicted with Alzheimer's, and always spoke of being an only child. This could easily have been a mess of a book in less capable hands. O'Farrell's writing is stunning and she handles the three voices brilliantly. The book doesn't so much have plot twists as revelations that gradually tease out family secrets to reveal the betrayals of Iris's family. The pacing is flawless. I wanted to find out what had happened, but I didn't really want the book to end. It's haunting and horrifying and beautiful. I can't recommend it enough. To my delight, O'Farrell has written three previous novels, which I will have to look into.

Writing: Ha! I figured out that the person I thought committed the murder didn't actually do it. This is great progress, as I was never that happy with the solution. While my mom is here, I want to re-write the first chapter, which I have loads to change in.

Cooking: Not too much. My dad and I did Christmas dinner. He handled turkey and his famous Macadamia Garlic Mashed Potatoes, and I made Simon & Garfunkel dressing (parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, along with apple, onion, celery, and pine nuts--yum, I love dressing), cranberry relish (my Aunt Mindy's recipe with lots of orange), and apple-pear cobbler. I made Black Bean Corn Enchiladas last night (recipe at left).

Lilah has a new cousin (first cousin once removed, I guess). My cousin's wife had her baby on December 27, the day after Lilah turned one, by emergency c-section (mom and baby are fine). They live on opposite coasts for now, but I hope they can meet soon. Welcome to the world, Maggie!

The Crock Pot Chronicles

Haha! Not really. But you may recall that I bought a Crock Pot and used it to augment my vegetable broth making capacity. And I have done NOTHING with it since. I didn't have time to assemble recipes in the morning, and a helpful commenter suggested assembling the night before and plugging it in in the morning. Brilliant! I used it to make Black Bean Chili, a Cooking Light archive staple in our house. And it was BETTER than on the stove top. The onions got much softer and the liquid absorbed better, making it thicker and yummier. So I decided to try it for a lunchtime soup for me. Scroll down for the recipe and comments on my Split Pea Soup.

Knitting: The beginning of my gift Branching Out:

Yeah, that's it for knitting news.

Reading: Re-reading Suzann Ledbetter's Hannah Garvey mysteries. I'm on the fourth, West of Bliss. These are really fun.

Writing: I picked out a desk that will fit in the tiny space I have available (the dormer in the guest room). I am very excited about it. Here it is if you're interested. I just need to find a good chair to replace my boring rolling office chair that's not all that comfy.

Cooking: Yesterday was a rough day. With my parents coming in the following evening, the house was still a disaster. Lilah declined to take her afternoon nap, which plays havoc with my sanity, and prevents me from getting anything done. I realized that I had to have rice pudding. Right now. This hardly ever happens--generally, chocolate is my stress-reducing food (Matt starts to worry about me when he notices I'm stockpiling chocolate in the pantry). And so I couldn't find my recipe. Searching CookingLight.com just made me mad (which is strange; I usually find something there that will work or can be adapted). So I broadened to a Google search. After looking at one recipe, I whined, "But I don't WANT to bake it! I want to make it on the stove!" At another, "I don't WANNA cook the rice first!" And another, "I don't WANT eggs in it!" Seriously, I was whiny yesterday. I knew I wanted cardamom. I knew I wanted it on the stove. I knew I wanted no eggs, and no pre-cooking the rice. I wanted almonds and I wanted raisins. So here's what I made. And it was AWESOME. Exactly what I needed!

Rice Pudding My Way

4 cups vanilla soy milk
1 cup basmati rice
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/2 cup blanched slivered almonds
1/4 cup golden raisins

Combine soy milk, rice, and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a gentle simmer, then reduce heat to low. Cook until thickened (about 20-30 minutes), then add remaining ingredients. Cook until desired consistency is reached. Remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes. Serve hot.

Crock Pot Split Pea Soup

This is based on assorted vegetables I had in the fridge and needed to use up. If I'd had any that weren't well past their prime, I would have used leeks, celery, spinach, and potatoes and left out the green beans. And dialed down the turnip a bit. And I'm not sure I'd use parsnip. But I'm glad I didn't have those things, because this was fantastic as written. Even my husband, who secretly wishes I'd throw in a ham hock, loved this soup. Very, very thick, and it filled my big Crock Pot to capacity. The flavor was earthy and subtle, and it was just excellent.

2 cups chopped parsnip
3 cups chopped turnip
3 cups chopped carrot
3 cups chopped onion
2 cups frozen green beans
1 lb yellow split peas
2 TBL chopped rosemary
2 tsp dried thyme
2 bay leaves
4 cups vegetable broth
4 cups water
2 TBL olive oil
2 tsp sea salt

Combine in Crock Pot and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours+. Puree using an immersion blender.* Adjust salt and add black pepper.
* I love my immersion blender. I think mine cost $10 in 1999 and is still kicking. It has a little attachment for whipped cream, too.
+ I put this in the fridge overnight and plugged it in at 8:00 am. At noon, it was nowhere near done, and I think using hot broth and water would have made it do-able for lunch, but starting from cold, it took 8 hours on high. I did add between 1-2 cups of boiling water in the morning because the split peas had absorbed so much liquid overnight that the liquid wasn't covering.

Happy Feet!

I have made many pairs of Fuzzy Feet, and I finally have a pair of my own! One Christmas, I knit gifts for everyone (everyone!) and the only thing I could come up with for my uncles and male cousins was Fuzzy Feet. I had my husband sort of block them for me after felting (my feet were too small), and he loved them so much, I made him a pair. He wore those out, so I made him another. This all started two years ago, and I have just now made my own. They are fantastic! So comfy and warm.

The details:
Pattern: Fuzzy Feet from Knitty
Yarn: Cascade 220 in a light grey
Needles: Size 10.5 circs and dpns (for guys, I went up to a size 11 and knit the foot longer and that worked perfectly)

I love, love, love this pattern. It is quick, easy, and fun. And the end result is wonderful. Everyone loves these. Now I just have to make a third pair for my husband, who has worn through his pair from last winter.

And a happy story! Our next-door neighbor had asked us early last week if we had seen her cat, who hadn't come home the night before. She's an outdoor cat who comes inside every night. (This is why we're indoor cat people. But lots of people around here have roaming cats.) It's a credit to Matt's love for animals that he was really worried because Natasha is sort of his nemesis because she prefers our landscaping as her litterbox. We were thinking the worst for over a week, when my neighbor came knocking on our door and said, "I think Natasha's stuck in your shed!" I found the key and opened the door and we waited, and waited, and waited (for about 20 minutes) and Natasha came tearing out of the shed and ran to her front door. Our neighbor told us she ate and drank quite a bit and then wanted back out, but she's an indoor kitty for now. What's weird is she went missing on a Tuesday, but my husband was in the shed getting gardening gloves to carry in the Christmas tree on Sunday and she didn't come out. She is really skittish, though, since even with her mom calling her she waited and waited before bolting out. It was Friday when we found her in the shed. So, yay! Kitty's back home where she belongs.

Other knitting: I am making a Branching Out for my brother's girlfriend as a last-minute Christmas present. This is another Knitty classic that I make over and over. These make excellent gift scarves and are fun to knit. For this one, I'm using RYC Cashcotton 4Ply in Pretty, which is a pale blue that will be perfect for the recipient, who is elegant and blonde and now lives in San Francisco where it can get chilly enough for a scarf. I've done a smidge more on my cardigan, but when it got cold here, the Fuzzy Feet took top priority and now I want to get the scarf done before my brother's Christmas visit so he can bring it to his girlfriend.

Reading: I have been in another re-reading rut. I suspect the reason for this is twofold. First, I finished a pretty huge literary novel and I usually need some downtime. Second, re-reading is a de-stresser for me, like a bubble bath or chocolate. It's very comforting to re-read my favorites. It's been mysteries recently, the Donna Andrews series about Meg Langslow, the Dorothy Cannells, and now Suzann Ledbetter's Hannah Garvey series (starts with East of Peculiar), which I've recommended recently to friends and realized I'd like to read again. Hannah is the manager of a retirement community and gets mixed up with an elderly Mod Squad. Delbert and the other senior detectives are a hoot and these are very fun, good-natured mysteries. There's a newish one out, Halfway to Half Way, but the older four are out of print. Easy to find used and cheap on amazon and bn, though. I really want to re-read the Harry Potter series again and also the Thursday Next series.

Writing: No time :( So many ideas that my "Mystery Novel Notes" file is getting LONG. But I think I have a lot of good stuff when I get the time to re-write. You know, when Lilah's 18 or something.

Cooking; I mentioned the bake sale for my Playground Revival Committee over Labor Day weekend. It was a huge hit, so we decided to offer some of our high-volume sellers for pre-order so people could have them last weekend as holiday gifts or just to enjoy around the holidays. It went quite well and I had six pans of gingerbread and four loaves of rosemary focaccia to make. Wow. So dinner for us lately has been, "Honey, what do you want from the Chinese place?" and "How about veggie burgers again?". I did healthy up a banana bread recipe from Cooking Light (the Molasses Oat Banana Bread) for my neighbor with chemical sensitivities (she looked after our guys over Thanksgiving, and she actually comes over and spends time with them, which is wonderful). Basically, the less processed, the better, for her (and she can't have dairy either). So I used raw honey instead of sugar, white whole wheat flour, canola oil instead of butter, organic bananas, and such. It came out really welll. (For those who want to try it, subbing honey for sugar has some tricks--lower the oven temp by 25 degrees, use 3/4 cup honey per 1 cup of sugar in the recipe and reduce other liquid ingredients by 2 TBL).

Molasses Oat Banana Bread (Chemically Sensitive Version)
Adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup regular oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup honey
2 TBL canola oil
1/3 cup dark molasses
2 large eggs
1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 2 bananas)
1/4 cup vanilla soy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.
Combine flours, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

Place honey, oil, and molasses in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, soy milk, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Spoon batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan lightly coated with canola oil. Bake at 325° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean (check starting at 45 minutes). Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.