I'm just a scarf machine!

So many scarves, so little time. This is Gift Scarf #3 (of 4):

Actually, that's half of what I've done. It's made by knitting two halves and grafting them together, so as I do with sleeves, I'm knitting both halves at once. I hate finishing something and then having to do to exact same thing again, so even though it takes the same amount of time overall, I'm much happier doing it this way. The pattern is Sister Scarves for Breast Cancer Awareness, appropriate for this month, though I really should have made it pink. I'm using KnitPicks Shine in Sky. I made the scarf narrower as well. For some reason, I like my lace scarves fairly narrow, and even the narrower of the two Sister Scarves seemed wide when I had about an inch. I'm happy with the pattern, and I think the Shine has nice drape. It's not all that warm, but it's sort of a fashion accessory type scarf, I thought.

Between Rachel's Soap-Holder Washcloth Type Thingy, the Lace Photo Mats in Handknit Holidays, and Coffee Cozies, I may do some Christmas knitting after all. Once I have the gift scarves and Vintage Beaded Gloves done, I may want instant-gratification projects to supplement my Butterbean knitting. I've decided not to make a Grand Plan, like last Christmas's spreadsheet with recipients matched to patterns and yarn, and if I don't get enough gifts done, I can just save them for next year.

Reading: Just finished Ten Big Ones. I actually don't have books 11 and 12 in print, just on my iPod, so I'll listen to those while knitting, and I think I'll start the Mr. Darcy book. My book club picked The Alchemist for next time, and there's a nonfiction book on the flu epidemic of 1918 that was recommended to me, so I may actually read stuff that's new to me and not a baby book. I know you're excited :)

Writing: Trying to get going on Chapter 7.

Cooking: Hosting book club went very well. I did not find any food hidden in napkins or anything, so I think people enjoyed it. I baked my sourdough yesterday morning, and it was fantastic again. I used the same recipe as last time, but I shaped it into wonky-looking batard type things instead of the boules. I love the look of the boules, but I don't have rising baskets to make them taller, so they are kind of flat, and the variation in slice size is inconvenient. The batards looked a little weird, but better than my usual dough shaping attempts. Here was my menu (theme of Fall):

Appetizer - Creamy Mushroom Phyllo Triangles (Cooking Light)
Breads - French Country Sourdough and Pumpkin-Walnut Focaccia With Gruyere (Cooking Light)
Soup - Tuscan Chickpea Soup (Cooking Light)
Main Dishes - Pumpkin and Gorgonzola Tart and Leek and Potato Tart (Cooking Light)
Dessert - Caramel Apple Cake

The phyllo triangles were really good. I hadn't made them before. The Pumpkin and Gorgonzola Tart (for which I subbed butternut squash) was super-easy and fantastic. Even our six-month-old guest enjoyed it, since the mashed butternut squash was something she's used to :) The cake part of the dessert was lovely, and could probably be made into muffins for an ostensibly healthy breakfast (though next time I make it, I'm cutting back on the oil). I didn't cook the caramel long enough, though, and I skipped the white chocolate that makes it so pretty. All in all, lots of cooking. I do enjoy a dinner party.

A note on recipes - I'm always a bit annoyed when I read a food blog and there aren't recipes provided, so I thought I'd explain why I don't always include them. I put in a link when it's available freely on the internet, but if it's in a book or magazine, or otherwise copyrighted, I'm not comfortable typing it up for the blog. Same with knitting patterns. I just don't feel it's fair to the author. Since I make a lot of recipes from Cooking Light, it means there are a lot of things I cook that I don't provide recipes for. But your library might carry the magazine, or you can always peek in a copy at the grocery store to get the month's password for access to Cooking Light's web page, which has all their recipes. If you are really intrigued by a particular recipe, email me or leave a comment and I will send it to you. I feel like that's okay, since I could share my copy of the magazine or book with a friend. Just no widespread re-publishing.

Like Wearing...Nothing At All

I'm relieved that my knitting pace has picked up a bit, and I can post this finished object, posed artfully in the window to show it's "airiness":


This was one of four gift scarves with deadlines this month. Two down, two to go! The details:

Pattern: Airy Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Heaven in Watercolors
Needles: Size 10

This was a breeze to make. The pattern calls for Kid Silk Haze, but I've had the Heaven in my stash for ages (left from a Meadow Flowers Shawl from Knitter's Stash). The color changes made it nice and interesting, as did the eyelet rows. It's a short scarf, meant to be tied at the neck as a neckwarmer type thing, about three feet long. The large-ish needles mean it goes pretty fast. It's definitely "airy" and very, very light. I was using a Clover Bamboo circ, and would have been happier with Addi Naturas on this one (more pointy). I'm happy with the final product, and I would definitely make this again.

I have two more gift scarves to make in the next three weeks, plus a baby shower gift (can anyone say Placket Neck Pullover?), plus finishing the Vintage Beaded Gloves (which, after my last beading attempt, may be bead-free). I still have Butterbean's garter stitch blanket on the needles, and it's nearly half done.

You have one week left to submit ideas for naming Lee's new business selling preserves, pickles, and chutneys. If you have a great idea, submit it, and if she picks yours, you get complimentary preserves! Having just had some of her fantastic Meyer Lemon Marmalade on toast yesterday, it's a great prize, and you creative people must have some ideas!

Reading: Ten Big Ones.

Writing: Chapter 7. Sort of on hold since I'm prepping for hosting my book club Tuesday.

Cooking; Friday night I made Curry Couscous. I made it the way my husband likes it best, with real cream. Usually, I try to fudge it with lowfat yogurt, but he's always a bit disappointed when it tastes healthy. You saute a clove of garlic (crushed) and 2 tsp curry powder in 3 TBL of butter, add 1 cup of liquid (half broth, half cream is what I usually do), and bring to a boil. Add 2 cups vegetables (cauliflower, potato, and frozen peas this time) and simmer until the veggies are tender. Along with the veggies, I like to add nuts and fruit, especially cashews and raisins. This time, I also tossed in some walnuts, coconut, and banana. Salt to taste. Serve over couscous, topped with toasted nuts and cilantro. This is from Allison's Vaguely Ethnic Recipe Collection :) I do cook more authentic Indian food sometimes, too.

Last night, I made Curried Butternut Squash Soup and Pumpkin Walnut Focaccia with Gruyere from Cooking Light. The soup is a fall favorite of ours, and I had just gone to the farmer's market and picked up a lovely squash. The focaccia probably isn't technically a focaccia, since it rises quite a bit, but it's fantastic. It's slightly sweet flavor is a nice contrast to the strong cheese. It's not a combination of flavors I would have thought of, but we love it.

This morning, I made brunch. Sweet Potato and Canadian Bacon Hash (with Canadian bacon made separately for Matt) and Cheddar Grits Cakes. Both recipes are from Cooking Light, and are yummy. I'm not normally one for grits, but the grits cakes are really good. They were actually a side dish recipe, but happened to be just a couple of pages from the hash recipe, and I just put them together (without the pepper topping for the cakes). This is one of the few savory breakfasts we make--usually we do waffles, pancakes, or French toast.

I have a lot of cooking to do over the next couple of days, as I'm hosting my book club Tuesday. There's quite a bit of prep I can do ahead of time that makes the event day much nicer. I'm doing fall food, with soup, squash, wild mushrooms, and Caramel Apple Cake for dessert. Best of all, Steph and Lula are ready to make bread, which means I have time to make sourdough before book club! (Thank you, though, for the biga offer, Stefaneener!). As a general rule, I go for non-healthy cookies, so Stefaneener and String Bean, bring on the recipes! Yum.

Better(?) Living Through Chemistry

Well, chemistry has failed me twice in the last two days. The first mishap was an attempt to make Pecan Pralines from this recipe (click on it--the title alone is hilarious). I boiled the stuff for the requisite 5 minutes and (rare for me) actually followed the recipe exactly, but I ended up with very flat, slightly gritty "pralines", actually a few very large ones that had to be broken into pieces, as the too-liquid mixture did not lend itself to the neat little candies pictured there. I think it needed to be boiled longer, which is why I prefer my candy recipes to tell me what temperature the stuff should be brought to (or at least a vague guideline like "soft ball stage"). The resulting...stuff...actually tasted very, very good, and there were even unsubstantiated reports of someone licking praline bits from the waxed paper after the stuff had been transferred to tupperware (vicious rumors!), it just wasn't exactly praline-like in appearance and texture. I think I'd try it again, but boil a minute or two longer.

The second problem is not so much a chemistry problem as a "living in an apartment with appliances selected by people who knew they'd never have to use them" problem. Our refrigerator is...well, this is a family blog, and I can't think of an appropriate term for mixed company. It has cold pockets in which things freeze, but if we turn up the thermostat, things spoil. It's a delicate balance that I've never really mastered, as the cold spots MOVE AROUND, so that a formerly safe spot to keep, say your *sourdough starters that took A WEEK to make,* turns into the arctic tundra. It is with great sadness that I must announce the unfortunate demise of Bert and Ernie. Yesterday, I mixed new starters, which I have named Steph and Lula since I am reading Janet Evanovich at the moment. I had planned to make sourdough bread for my book club, which I'm hosting Tuesday, but I'm not sure it'll be ready in time. I may have to do French bread or ciabatta or something instead.

Knitting: Here is Gift Scarf #1:



Pattern: The Lacy V Scarf
Needles: Size 8 (dictated by yarn, and I wanted a narrower scarf anyway)
Yarn: Berroco Softwist in Burgundy, two skeins

I like this pattern a lot. It's a 14-row repeat that's quickly memorized. Simple, but elegant. I wasn't that crazy about knitting with the Softwist, as it was rather splitty, but I like the finished scarf quite a bit. It's nice and soft, and the drape is lovely.

Here is Gift Scarf #2, just started. It's the Airy Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Heaven in Watercolors.


Reading: To The Nines.

Writing: Chapter 7.

Cooking: Besides the fiascos described above, not much. It was too warm the last couple of days, but now our warm spell has ended (Stefaneener, I hope I sent it your direction...). Ha! Martha Stewart is the one who makes me long for better decorating abilities, too. Her darn royal icing in perfect colors. I try to remind myself that I don't have an army of minions to actually do all my work for me, but I'm still disappointed when my sugar cookies look like they were frosted by a five-year-old.

Yarnthrower, your challenge has intrigued me! Healthier cookies out of a cookie press...wow. A google search for "low fat" and "cookie press" yielded...nothing at all. Yikes. Low-fat baking isn't all that difficult, but it's harder with cookies because of their texture. In fact, searching Cooking Light for cookie recipes brings up almost nothing. They have low-fat bars and biscotti, but they steer clear of cookies, for the most part. I did find this recipe for Hazelnut Cookies in a press that contains only egg whites, ground hazelnuts, and powdered sugar that fits the bill. It's not going to taste like a traditional butter cookie, but well, there's a reason they're called butter cookies :) I think besides the nut version, your best bet is going to be to select a recipe with strong flavors that can mask substitutions. I'm thinking pumpkin as a substitute, maybe in this cinnamon recipe or this gingerbread one. You'll need to leave about 2 TBL of butter in the recipe or they'll turn out funny, but substitute the rest of the butter with an equal amount of pumpkin (or drained applesauce). Eggs can be replaced with egg whites or egg substitute. They won't be delicate butter cookies, but I think they could still be good, especially frosted to look like pumpkins. I also think there might be some potential in using reduced-fat cream cheese as a partial butter replacement. It would still have some fat, which should help with the texture. If I start playing with these in the press, I will post updates!

Outdoor Blogging-October Edition

My freezer is filled with broth, I have squash to roast, and it's...a high of 80 degrees today. But after our cool September, a few warm days are welcome, and the cats and I are soaking up some sunshine out on the porch. Some of the trees are starting to turn colors.

I recently acquired a pregnancy pillow (these have great names like Snoogle and Boppy, and even though mine is Boppy brand, we call it a Snoogle, because, well, it's a fun name), and discovered that the cats love it as a napping spot when I leave it under the covers during the day. (This prompts entertaining comments like, "Mirando's snuggling with the Snoogle!") Sometimes, there will be one cat on each side of the Snoogle. There haven't been kitty pictures in a while, so here you go. Kitties snoogling.


Knitting: I should finish the Softwist scarf today. Michelle, Softwist is 5 stitches to the inch. I also have another gift scarf figured out, using Lorna's Laces Heaven in Watercolors, which I think will be very pretty. I've added another two scarves to my "gift" list. I have also decided I'm ditching Christmas knitting this year, and I'm so much happier. I just don't have time, and I want to use my knitting time mostly on Butterbean projects. This means I may actually have to go (gasp) shopping this year, or maybe people will get Christmas cookies/candy. Hmmm...there's an idea....

Reading: Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich. This is not my favorite Plum book, but it's totally justified by the hilarious attack-goose scene, which makes me laugh so hard my husband thinks I'm choking. I've also been reading Harry Potter book 1 out loud to Butterbean. It's hard to say if she likes it or not. I wait until she's awake and then read for a while, and she usually moves around the whole time.

Writing: Chapter 7...non-boring edition...starting today.

Cooking: We had kind of a lot of food in the apartment over the weekend, so I didn't really cook anything interesting. Plus, it's too warm for my soups, stews, and curries I'd had planned. And Matt requested that I not bake anything else until we'd eaten at least some of the scones, biscotti, monkey bars, and bread I've made. He has a point :) I may do some practice Christmas cookies/candy before too long. I have been looking around for recipes, especially cookie recipes I can use in the cookie press I got for Christmas last year. I've talked before about my lack of decorating ability, and it'd be kind of nice to make non-ugly cookies.

It's all coming together...

And now! A knitting blog with actual knitting content! What a concept. I finally figured out my two gift scarves. Here's the first one.


It's a free pattern called Lacy V Scarf and is a simple, 14-row repeat that I think looks nice in the Berroco Softwist. I'm using size 8 needles, but not adjusting the pattern, as I wanted a narrower scarf anyway. The drape is nice. The Softwist is...okay. It's splitty, but it is nice and soft. The edges are curling, but I'm hoping a stern blocking will fix this. Anyone have great tips for blocking acrylic blends?

Reading: The eighth Stephanie Plum.

Writing: Starting over with chapter 7. Urgh.

Cooking: I had three rather iffy bananas crying out to be used, and I decided to go with scones and biscotti instead of my usuals, banana bread or monkey bars. The biscotti recipe is from Cooking Light and is pretty good. It's lightly sweet, and very low-cal/low-fat for a cookie. But I'm not convinced banana belongs in biscotti. Maybe drizzled with chocolate, or the cinnamon glaze for the scones. Or maybe with candied ginger and macadamia nuts for a more "tropical" flavor. I might try the recipe again with drained applesauce instead of banana. I also made banana scones. I adapted a recipe from one of the food blogs I read, quadrupling the quantities, subbing cinnamon for ginger, and adding pecans. I also had to sub out some of the all purpose flour with my new favorite ingredient, white whole wheat flour, but you could use all all-purpose flour. I also whipped up a cinnamon glaze. My husband pronounced these "cafe quality" and I agree. They are yummy!

Banana-Pecan Scones with Cinnamon Glaze
adapted from Bakingsheet
Makes 16

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/4 cup plus 2 TBL dark brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup unsalted butter, cold
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 ripe bananas, diced (about 1 1/3 cups)
2/3 cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 400. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray or line with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Dice butter and work it into flour mixture with two knives or your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.

Add milk and vanilla and stir until a soft dough forms. Add additional milk if needed. Stir in banana and pecans. Divide dough into fourths. Form each part into a disk about one inch thick. Cut into fourths and place on prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough.

Bake at 400 for 17-20 minutes, or until golden. Remove immediately to wire racks.

Cinnamon Glaze:
If you're thinking, "Wow, 2 tsp cinnamon is kind of a lot!" well, it is. But the intensely cinnamon glaze is perfect with the lightly sweetened scones.

1 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1-2 TBL milk

Combine sugar and cinnamon. Add 1 TBL of milk and stir well. Add additional milk as needed for a good drizzling consistency. Drizzle over scones.

Back to indecision

Well, I like my purple scarf, but I think I want to go back to my first inclination, which was to use nice yarn and an elegant pattern...nothing sparkly, with oversized needles, etc. I think I may use the Cashcotton. I also have another gift scarf I need to make, so I need to get started!

By the way, Stefaneener, you crack me up!

Other knitting: More on the garter stitch blanket.

Reading: The seventh Stephanie Plum. I was given An Assembly Such as This, by Pamela Aiden. This is the first of a trilogy that tells Pride and Prejudice from Darcy's point of view. They're supposed to be quite good, so I think I'll be starting this soon. Butterbean and I are reading Harry Potter book 1 out loud as well.

Writing: Well, Tim's going to fire me for missing my deadline, but I had to delete a whole lot. The funeral just wasn't working, so I need to re-write it. Ugh.

Cooking: Here's where the good stuff is today! I think I will keep the blog as it is, with one vote for, and none against :) Last night, I threw together enchiladas and chile rice. There's a similar enchilada recipe in my recipe section on the sidebar. I used pinto beans, corn, and cilantro for the filling, green enchilada sauce, and crumbled queso fresco on top. For the rice, I just used white rice cooked in a bit of the enchilada sauce plus vegetable broth, and seasoned with cayenne. I completely forgot that I'd bought a couple of poblano chiles to roast and go into enchiladas, so I'll have to make something with them later, maybe chiles rellenos.

Sourdough Madness Report: I made Rosemary and Almond Sourdough Gems yesterday, and they turned out very well. I was completely surprised when they rose as they were supposed to, since I was using my sourdough starter. My husband's assessment was that they were pretty good, but tasted very healthy. This was true. I would double (at least) the rosemary, and the almonds were completely lost in the nutty whole wheat flour, so I would either give up and omit them or toast them first to enhance the flavor. I baked my French Country Sourdough today! I was trying to truncate the process down from three days, so I actually got up at two in the morning to move the rising boules to the fridge. I realize this makes me completely insane, but I had started the next rising before realizing that the instructions weren't to rise 4 hours then refrigerate, but to rise 4 hours, then rise boules 3 hours, then refrigerate. Oops. The bread was amazing. Great crusty sourdough. My husband used some to make a ham and cheese panini today, and gave it an excellent review. And again, I'm completely shocked that it rose as expected. Thank you, Bert and Ernie! I'm planning my next breads as we speak. I'm also trying to figure out what to do with the three bananas I have slowly softening in the fruit basket. NOT banana bread, as I've made too many banana bread-ish things recently. Perhaps biscotti, or scones? Bananas aren't traditional in either, but maybe they'll be okay.

For lunch, I made this Austrian Garlic Soup and it was lovely. Very creamy and garlicky (obviously), and the parsley really adds to the flavor. I ordinarily think of parsley as optional, or just garnish, but when all the flavor is coming from garlic, the parsley adds another dimension. I used toasted cubes of my sourdough bread!

'Round the Bend

This is where my husband thinks I've gone :) Yes, Sourdough Madness has taken hold. "Do you know how long this bread takes to make?" I ask my husband in what I admit may have been a scarily chipper voice. Matt: "Um, no." Me: "It has to rest between steps overnight TWICE! It's three-day bread! And that's after the starter is ready!" Matt: "Okay." Then I may have gone on a bit about how the people on the Oregon Trail made bread this way, since they only had sourdough starter, which was when he started inching out of the kitchen. "I'll just leave these dishes on the counter. I'll, uh, clean them later." I think baking bread has a lot in common with knitting. It's doing things the hard way, and ending up with exactly the product you hoped for. As with knitting, I'm both a process and product baker. And I think it's cool that I'm making bread (and a baby blanket) the same way people did a couple hundred years ago. But probably I could express that in a less scary enthusiastic way...

Knitting: A bit more on the scarf and the blanket. I also finished the ring finger of the Vintage Beaded Glove. I'm a bit concerned that these are going to be too small, which will break my heart and probably result in a permanent UFO. I chose the medium size and my gauge is right on, but when I tried them on they seemed really snug. It's hard to tell if the fingers are long enough when they're half-finished, but I suspect they might not be. Argh. I'm thinking I may just knock off the last two fingers plus thumb and try them on again. I wear a size medium in gloves, and I measured my hand to make sure of the size, so I dunno. I think my mother-in-law's hands are a bit smaller than mine, so I may be okay anyway. Perhaps I'll swipe one of her gloves next time we visit and I can compare.

Annie, I really couldn't knit through morning sickness. When I tried, it was on that blanket, and I would get really sick. But I felt really sick anyway, so it took me a bit before I realized knitting was making it worse. Then I just stopped for a month or so. Oh, I love Knitting for Two! I haven't seen the Louisa Harding, though--I will have to look for that. Thank you for the frogging support, everyone! It's hard to do, but sometimes you just have to just admit something's not working and move on. Anyone want some 4-Ply Cotton, gently used? :)

Reading: The seventh Stephanie Plum. So much fun.

Writing: Chapter Seven. I hear you, Tim :)

Cooking: I am making this recipe for Rosemary Almond Sourdough Gems, because I am impatient to use some of my sourdough starter to produce something NOW. I noticed that the recipe does not specify how many gems it makes, so that will be a nice surprise. It also says only to use one cup of sourdough starter, but since I assume that must mean proofed starter, I am proofing Ernie right now. I have also set into motion the three-day bread recipe, based on Bert. You may be reading all about my crushing defeat in sourdough attempts very soon. Bert proofed nicely overnight, and has a lovely yeasty smell, like a brewery (and I live in Wisconsin, so I know whereof I speak). Ernie smells a bit like very old cheese. Or possibly feet. I have read that smells can vary pretty widely (one blogger compared hers to the smell of vomit and her bread turned out fine), and there's no mold or other disturbing sign that it's gone off, so we'll see how the proofing goes.

Stefaneener, I have not come across the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book desem recipe, but after some googling, I'm intrigued (and want to buy the book, actually). The other nifty bread technique I might try next (assuming I don't fail miserably with sourdough and give up baking altogether) is bread made from fermented fruit. I found this recipe/technique for bread leavened with fermented apples, which I think would be very interesting.

General notes: I've made some changes to my links section. I decided to add a list of food blogs/recipe sites that I visit. I'm mostly a knitting blog, but I do talk about cooking enough that I thought I'd share these. Food blogs are loads of fun. I've thought about starting one of my own, but I really just sort of dabble, so I'm not sure it'd be all that interesting. (Although, then the knitters wouldn't have to read about my bread baking attempts and such.) I'd also have to get much better at food photography. The main draw would be participating in food blog events like Sugar High Friday. I do sort of like just having my one journal for all my activities, though. So, basically, this discussion had no point whatsoever :)

Aha! (I think)

After much more digging through the stash, I came up with this version of the Swing Scarf from Exquisite Little Knits as my quick gift project. It's one strand each of a dark purple and light purple version of Elann's Peruvian Baby Silk. And I think...I like it. Even though I went down a few needle sizes (from 15 to 11), it might still be a bit loose-looking, but I like the light and dark colors together. The scarf is basically garter stitch, but pointed at either end and tasseled. It's not shiny or sparkly, as I had originally planned, but I think it's an elegant combination, and the yarn is heavenly.

Of course, this means I still have all that stupid KFI Dazzle in the stash. Hrm.

Other knitting: I'm sorry to say that I have removed the Coming Soon for the Orangina Baby Blanket pattern. I wasn't all that enamored of the yarn, plus it was my morning-sickness knitting, so I still feel queasy when I look at it. Plus, who wants to knit a baby blanket on size 3 needles? Not me. I feel great relief at having removed it from the sidebar, and I will be even happier once I can bring myself to touch the yarn to frog it. I hate having UFOs hanging over my head. Once I finish the gift scarf, it's back to the garter stitch baby blanket and the Vintage Beaded Gloves.

Reading: Still on Hot Six. Fun, funny stuff.

Writing: Still on chapter 7 and shooting for chapter completion Wednesday.

Cooking; We're going out of town tomorrow, so we really needed to deal with all the leftovers in the fridge, so nothing new. Next week should be more interesting. I'm also hosting my book club in a couple of weeks, so I have a menu to plan. Fun! I love doing that.

I've added some cooking sites to the sidebar as well, including the sourdough links I've used.

It's Day 5 of Sourdough Madness! And...I think we might be about done. Bert and Ernie might not need to travel with me this weekend. They're nice and bubbly throughout, and Ernie has been rising quite a bit in the morning. I think Bert might be a bit behind, as I'm not seeing any rising, just the foamy bubbly layer. So next week you can look forward to sourdough bread baking adventures.

Knitter's block?

Today's photo is brought to you by YarnThrower:

Thank you so much! The no formatting option worked like a charm!

So, in knitting news...I spent quite a while yesterday knitting and unknitting scarves. Not whole scarves, just enough to realize that that wasn't what I wanted to be knitting. I mentioned that I was making a gift scarf, but I may not have mentioned that it needs to be a bit quick because I need to gift it early next week. I had vague thoughts of an Opera Scarf-like thing, only with different yarn because I'm out of Trendsetter Sunshine. And I'd like it to have one "real" yarn knit together with something sparkly to make it a bit more substantial. Sort of like the Swing Scarf from Exquisite Little Knits. How hard can that be? Urgh. You're going to be sorry you asked :) After digging through my (newly organized! so pretty! actually searchable!) stash and holding up several pairs of yarn balls to my poor husband and asking, "This one or this one?", "Do these go together?" and other questions of that ilk, I settled on Rowan Cashcotton 4-Ply in Seafoam, doubled and held together with Trendsetter Flora in complementary colors. They looked nice together, the Cashcotton is heavenly, and the Flora was perky, yet non-obnoxious. So I cast on and started knitting a scarf. After about four inches, I realized that while it was actually quite nice-looking, it was not what I had pictured. I wanted something brighter for the recipient. So I unknit that and went back to the stash. This time I picked Berocco Softwist in a dark red/burgundy kind of color and KFI Dazzle (this is basically Plymouth Eros, I believe). But the Softwist has some shine to it and it seemed a bit much with the Dazzle. So then it hit me...beads! I got beads to go with the Softwist for something I'm NEVER going to make, so I could knit with beads. How hard could that be? After 45 minutes of TRYING TO THREAD THE BEADING NEEDLE, I gave up on that. But I could thread the beads onto matching thread and knit that together with the Softwist! But that was going to take forever, since I've never knit with beads before, so I ripped that back. I still have no idea what I'm going to use. It seems like such a simple idea: Take one foofy yarn and one "real" yarn and MAKE A SCARF!!! Why can I not manage to commit to yarn choices? I may decide to just use my one ball of Southwest Trading Company Bamboo and do a Branching Out, though I'm not sure how fast I can do that.

Reading: Still on the 6th Stephanie Plum.

Writing: Still on Chapter 7.

Cooking: We had too many leftovers, so no cooking last night. Tonight is samosas, curry, and naan. Ooh, I did have one of my Honeycrisp apples. And I will not be cooking with them. I'm sure they'd make fantastic cobbler, but they are JUST SO GOOD on their own. If you live in a part of the country with Honeycrisps (and I believe they're only in the US...sorry, UKers), which I believe is north of the Mason-Dixon line, go to your farmer's market and get some while you can. Yum.

Day 4 of Sourdough Madness! I think I might pour off the liquid for Ernie next time, as it's much thinner than Bert. Unless that's just a whole-wheat thing. I dunno. They are starting to smell a bit odd, which for sourdough is a good sign, I think. If we were leaving the cats here for the weekend, YarnThrower, we'd have a cat-sitter, so I'd just ask her to feed my starters, but I think they'll just have to travel with us. Hee hee.

I know it's almost fall when...

...I come back from the Farmer's Market with butternut squash, honeycrisp apples, and cider.
...we finally have the windows closed so the apartment doesn't get too cold for my sourdough starters.
...I've filled the freezer with vegetable stock.
...I've made the first cobbler of the year.
...I've baked bread for the first time in months.
...all I want to eat is soup.
...I need a sweater in the morning.
...the cats take advantage of every sunbeam. (I have a really cute picture of this last one, but blogger is GRRRR not letting me upload photos today.)

I grew up in a part of California that just didn't have fall, and it's my absolute favorite season. Last September was quite warm, but this one is definitely transitioning to fall. Very nice.

Knitting: A bit more on the garter stitch baby blanket. I hope to have Vintage Glove #1 finished by the end of this weekend. I'm going to start a quick-ish project...yet another sparkly scarf! It's a gift, and the recipient visits here, so no pictures till it's gifted.

Reading: On the 6th Janet Evanovich book, re-reading. These are fun and breezy. Six was the first one I read. Someone had given it to my mom, and she kept laughing out loud while she was reading, and said "You have GOT to read this" once she finished.

Writing: Chapter 7 continues...

Cooking: I did end up making cobbler last night, a peach nectarine cobbler from Cooking Light. Yum. The split pea soup and focaccia were fantastic, as well. Probably no cooking tonight, but tomorrow night I think I'll make samosas, curry, and naan. Butternut squash soup is coming up, and I can't decide whether to just eat the Honeycrisp apples or to bake with them.

It's Day 3 of Sourdough Madness! The starters are making bubbles and weird-smelling liquid, which they're supposed to. I've only been feeding and watering every 24 hours. I wonder if I should kick that up or not. From the reading I've been doing about sourdough, It seems that although this technique is based on science, there's a fair amount of art involved, as well. So, in the issue of what to do with the liquid produced, most sites say to pour it off if your starter is "plenty wet" or to stir it back in if it's "rather dry." Except I've never done this before, so I have no idea if it's wet or dry compared to normal. It reminds me of family recipes my college Italian professor would share. Half the amounts are given as "basta", which means "enough." So, you put in enough olive oil, then add some tomatoes, etc. Bert seems a bit less liquidy than Ernie, so maybe I should pour off the liquid next time for Ernie. I've also read in a few places that you shouldn't make your own starter because you never know what kind of yeast you'll be culturing, but all those sites were selling sourdough starter, so I think I can ignore them. We were supposed to be in town this weekend, but now we may be headed away, so I'm a bit worried about my starters. Maybe they need to come with me.

A Little Help From My Friends

My friend Lee, who is also a knitter, is a fantastic cook/baker who is starting her own business selling preserves, but she's having trouble coming up with a name she likes for this new venture. Since you all are a creative lot, I thought I'd post about her business-naming contest. I keep coming up with either lame generic names like "Season's Best Preserves" and terrible, cheesy phrases like "berry-rific" and "jam-tastic", so I'm sure you can do much better.

Here are the rules, paraphrased from her site:

1) It can't have my name in it.
2) It needs to be relatively short and end in preserves- i.e. "Naked Berry Preserves"
3) I do jams, jellies, pickles, chutneys and syrups using fruit and vegetables so it should be inclusive. Naked Berry is actually my favorite so far but I have nixed it for this reason.
4) You don't need a blog to win, though. If I choose a winner from comments left on the blog, the winner will get a six-pack of my favorite preserves from this season. Apricot vanilla butter, yum!

To enter, visit the contest entry here and leave a comment. Get your entries in by October 15! You will soon be able to buy her preserves online, and I can tell you they are wonderful. Thanks for helping out!

Here are the boys visiting my husband's parents' house last weekend. We are not the only ones in the family to pamper our cats! Their "cousins", Cassie and Hektor, each have a chair on the porch with a big cushion on it. Our boys like these, too. Mirando has a bath while Geronimo just hangs out.


Knitting: I didn't knit last night at all, so everything's still in the same spot. I did edit my last entry to add a second picture of my finished scarf, though. Blogger was feeling more cooperative today. I love the Cashmerino Aran! It's lovely to knit with, and machine washable, so I'm not surprised I'm not the only fan. It's just a garter stitch square, but the yarn is very soft, and what I remember most about my childhood blanky (actually a pillow creatively named Pillow which lost its stuffing at one point) is the texture, and I was thinking that garter stitch would be a nice texture for Butterbean, without holes to poke little fingers through. I am starting to think that the Vintage Beaded Gloves might be my first Christmas present, actually. I'm not sure how many I'll get through this year. I've left it so late that big knit gifts are pretty much out. I may have to figure something else out for this year. I'm starting to plan my Christmas baking a bit, too...I love Christmas baking.

Reading: Hmmmm. Constantly posting that I'm reading nothing of substance is making me feel bad. I think I'll have to poke through and find something.

Writing: Chapter 7. The funeral chapter! Will the killer show up at the funeral? Will there be an exciting confrontation? Well, duh!

Cooking; Last night I made Mediterranean Vegetable Stew Over Soft Polenta from Cooking Light and it was lovely, as always. It's a 20-minute recipe, but tastes like much more work than that. I have Red Onion Focaccia, also from Cooking Light, rising at the moment, and last night I soaked split peas for Alpine Split Pea Soup from Paola Gavin's Italian Vegetarian Cooking, a lovely and decidedly un-light cookbook (though the soup isn't that bad for you). These two dishes will be dinner tonight, in honor of the first really autumnal day of the year (very cloudy and high of 49). If I have time, I may put together cobbler from some peaches and nectarines we have.

It's Day 2 of Sourdough Madness! I just poured off a cup of the starter from each and "fed" them with fresh flour and water. I made two starters, one with bread flour and one with whole wheat flour. One site recommended naming them so as to create a bond that prevents me from just tossing them down the disposal. One food blogger named hers Mulder and Scully, which I thought was excellent, but I didn't want to be a lame copycat, so I'm going with Ernie and Bert. Bert is the whole wheat, because well, I'm sure Bert prefers the healthy, high-fiber breads. I'm referring to a few different baking blogs, as well as this very clear tutorial, but as with anything, there are variations. Some people recommend feeding the starter every 12 hours, some every 24. I hit it somewhere in between today, and I haven't exactly settled on which I'll do.

Anything else of note? Well, I'm going to paint my toenails tonight, while I can still see/reach my toes!

Back to posting

I ended up unexpectedly out of town for over a week, so I've missed out on several days posting. But I have lots of fun stuff to talk about.

I finished the gift scarf that was to be a narrow version of the Trellis Stole in Exquisite Little Knits. I decided I didn't care for the Athena as a substitute for the Flora in that pattern, so I ripped it out and did the Opera Scarf from the same book. I used only the Trendsetter Sunshine for the yarn-over rows, because I didn't like the way the Athena looked carried with it -- too busy. I also skipped the Athena in the fringe. I'm pleased with how it turned out; I think it's perfect for the recipient.

(I had a second photo showing the fringe, but blogger doesn't care to post it. Eh, you know what fringe looks like!)

Edited to add second photo when Blogger was more cooperative:


Details:
Pattern - Opera Scarf from Exquisite Little Knits
Yarn - Trendsetter Sunshine in Blues/Black/Purple and KFI Athena in multicolor
Needles - Size 13

I have finished two fingers on the first Vintage Beaded Glove, but I decided I want to have one glove finished before I post another photo. This is my first attempt at gloves, and I thought they'd be a pain, but they're sort of nice to knit. I've already forgotten what a pain the cable rib section was. I snapped a second Brittany Birch DPN (the first was taken down by a Jaywalker), and I'm not sure if I got a weak set or if these just shouldn't be made in sizes that small. Or maybe I'm too hard on them. My Clovers are all intact, at least, though they're longer (hence trying the Brittanys for the fingers).

I started a baby blanket pattern from Debbie Bliss Special Knits (if you can call instructions for making a garter stitch square a pattern) in Cashmerino Aran in a buttery pale yellow. The size 8 needles are lovely after the size 1s for the gloves. The pattern calls for a satin ribbon border, so I'm on the lookout for a pretty one.


Reading: I have been very lame in the reading arena of late. Lots of childbirth-related reading, but not much of substance. I'm afraid I've been re-reading the Stephanie Plum books :) I did collect a number of children's books from my in-laws' house over the past week, though, for reading to Butterbean. Some are older, like the Bunnicula books, but there are several younger ones as well. It was fun going through my husband's (and his brothers') childhood books.

Writing: A rough draft of Chapter 7 is due a week from Wednesday. My out-of-town-ness sort of derailed my plans to have it done by now.

Cooking: I made this peach coffee cake, but I substituted almonds for the pecans and used 3 cups peaches and 1 cup raspberries. It was fantastic. There's a nip in the air, which means I bought the ingredients for vegetable stock! Soon the freezer will be filled with it. I've also gotten a little obsessed with bread recipes. I love baking bread when the weather turns cooler; baguettes, focaccia, ciabatta. Yum. And cinnamon raisin bread, apple bread, cornmeal herb bread. I ventured into the food blogging universe (I always read Lee's food blog, and I often search the internet for recipes, but now I'm starting to bookmark more food blogs). I spent a bit of time on Saturday going through loads of them, finding wonderful bread recipes. I've decided to delve into the world of sourdough a bit. I've made bread from an overnight sponge, but nothing more complicated. Sourdough requires a starter, which has to be tended to daily until it's ready, and I've always been too chicken to try it. But some wonderful bloggers have posted tips and recipes that make me think I can do this. I'll post links once I see the sourdough has worked out :) It will be a while before the starter is ready, so I'll probably give a poolish-based bread a try in the meantime, and probably make red onion-rosemary focaccia. If you've never baked bread, it's a lovely, relaxing experience, and I recommend giving it a try. Sometimes I use the dough hook on my KitchenAid mixer or the bread machine, when I'm more interested in the final product, but all the resting, rising, kneading can be very enjoyable.

Works in Progress

I have yet to cast on for a single Christmas gift and it's September! So, what do I have on the needles? Christmas presents? No...

This, which is a gift, just not for Christmas:

That's Trendsetter Sunshine (smooth yarn) and KFI Athena (ladder yarn) being made into a scarf based on the Trellis Stole from Exquisite Little Knits. I've gone back and forth on whether the Athena has too many colors to go with the Sunshine, and I'm still not sure. I have a similar yarn in just blues and blacks that would maybe work better. Thoughts?

And, in a totally unnecessary knitting project:

This is the cuff of a Vintage Beaded Glove from Handknit Holidays. I love looking through that book, but honestly don't see myself knitting much from it. I really liked the look of these gloves (I don't like wearing bulky gloves/mittens) and I love the Blue Sky Alpaca Silk. The cable rib was a nightmare, though. Those 16 rows took me over two hours, I think. Maybe even longer. And the size 1 needles are fiddly after the size 13 I'm using on the shawl. My hands kinda hurt today. I like the look of the cable rib, but the execution was awful. I actually do have the beads for these as well, but we'll have to see whether or not I actually sew them on.

Reading: I think I'm giving up on Persuasion for the moment, but I'm not sure what to read next.

Writing: Meandering along on Chapter 7.

Cooking: Nothing really of note. I think I'll make a peach-raspberry coffee cake tomorrow, though.

Look how cute!

Sure, Sirdar Snowflake is unpleasant to knit, seam, weave ends in, but....look how cute!




(A special thanks to Walter Bear for modeling!) The details:

Pattern: All in One/Sleeping Bag Pattern, Sirdar # 3928
Yarn: Sirdar Snowflake, Tutti Frutti and White Shimmer (alternating every two rows)
Needles: Size 9
Notes: With alternating the two colors (out of necessity, but I like the effect), there were about a million ends to weave in. It would be nice to modify it to be at least partly in the round, but I wasn't motivated to do that. Picking up and knitting is tricky with this yarn, as is seaming, but the good news is that mistakes don't show at all. Overall, it was a pretty easy, quick pattern, and just so cute I've already forgotten what a pain the Snowflake was.

Another little project I undertook was to organize my bag o' buttons into color-grouped ziploc baggies. This really helped, because I found four matching pink plastic buttons that were perfect for this!

Reading: I finished listening to Sour Puss. It was okay. I'm tempted to get a hard copy to see if I like it any better in print.

Writing: On Chapter 7.

Cooking: Hey, I posted two recipes yesterday. I took the night off :)

Something's cooking

Around this time of year, I start to have Cooking Light issues strewn about the apartment. I decided to stack them up in one place, and found that I'm not the only one who likes the magazine:



Thank you for your kind thoughts about Butterbean! We really didn't have a preference, but it's awfully nice to know. Turtlegirl, all name suggestions are welcome :) I know the old wives tales are pretty hit-and-miss, but it's fun that they were all right!

Knitting: I should have finished photos of the bunting tomorrow. It's a cute little thing, very snuggly. Snowflake is rather hard to seam (no stitch definition at all), but it's so soft. I just have the hood to put on today. Then I'll cast on for my gift scarf.

Reading: I've been listening to Sour Puss by Rita Mae Brown while working on the bunting, and it's...okay. I've enjoyed her past ones more, I think, though I'm not sure if it's the story or that this is the first I've listened to on audiobook. I'm not sure if she has all these random rants in all her books, and I normally just skim past them. What brand of work boots used to be really good but isn't made well anymore, a long discussion about the best way to irrigate, what kind of car/truck a character should buy. There are a million of them, and they make the story kind of drag.

Writing: Back to writing work tomorrow. I hope to bust out Chapter 7 next week.

Cooking: Lots and lots! It's finally cool enough to want to cook all the time. This morning, I made waffles with a banana-pecan-brown sugar caramelly topping. Yum. We had some rice leftover from eating out at an Indian restaurant, so I made a quick curry, in the genre of "Vaguely Ethnic Food"--not necessarily authentic, but good. And last night, we had a pizza night, and it was the BEST pizza we have ever made. And I did decide to make Cookies and Cream ice milk :)

Quick Chickpea-Spinach Curry

2 tsp vegetable oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tsp curry powder (or to taste)
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 cup cooked chickpeas (canned is fine, rinse well)
2 cups frozen spinach (no need to thaw)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 cup cream

Heat oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic; saute one minute. Add curry powder, saute one minute. Stir in all remaining ingredients except cream. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in cream; simmer 5 minutes more. Serve over basmati rice.

Mushroom Lovers Pizza (makes 2)

My new thing is white whole wheat flour, which is much lighter than regular whole wheat flour and can usually be substituted for all-purpose flour, except in very light pastries (I haven't tested this much, but that's what "they" say). My husband was unable to tell there was anything whole wheat in the crust at all, and he can usually detect when I'm trying to make something healthier. Our homemade pizza is always a bit soggy in the middle, which I had previously assumed was just a side effect of using a 400 degree oven instead of an 800 degree one, but this time I tried blind baking the crust before adding toppings, and it was fantastic! The first time, I forgot to poke holes in the crust, and it created a really interesting hilly landscape, so we had to poke holes in the hills and squish the air out. The second time went much better :) If you don't slice the mushrooms very thinly, they will need to be pre-cooked.

Crust:
1 cup water, warm
3/4 cup milk, warm
2 TBL olive oil
2 TBL sugar
1 tsp salt
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
2 tsp active dry yeast

I put all ingredients in the bread machine on the dough setting. Brush or spray with olive oil. Pierce the crust with a fork several times. Bake at 400 degrees on a preheated pizza stone for 6 minutes, or until golden brown.

Toppings:
8 oz. white mushrooms, cleaned and thinly sliced
1 14.5 oz. can pizza sauce (or about 2 cups homemade)
5 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
6 oz. portabella mushroom caps, cleaned and thinly sliced
1 can black olives, halved
2/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 tsp dried thyme

Spread pizza sauce evenly over both crusts. Arrange white mushrooms over sauce. Cover with mozzarella. Arrange portabellas and black olives over cheese. Sprinkle with Parmesan and thyme. Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes, or until cheese bubbles.

Extra Special Bonus Post

We had our ultrasound this morning, and saw our healthy baby girl!

*off to knit cute little pink dresses*

No Muppets were harmed in the making of this post!

If you know me, you may be thinking, "But you're a vegetarian! How can you post a photo of a Muppet pelt?" But not to worry, this is 100% synthetic. The Muppets are safe from me. This is the back of this pattern for a bunting/all-in-one made from (yarn snobs turn away) Sirdar Snowflake. I myself am something of a yarn snob, and I rarely knit with anything this blatantly unnatural. It's the darn WEBS clearance sales! Some time ago, I bought two balls in each of four colors (baby blue, sparkly white, white with mottled pastel bits, and a color Sirdar calls "peach" that should have been called "My eyes! My eyes! It's just TOO orange!" but perhaps that wouldn't fit on the label). This is the same time that I acquired my stash of KFI Dazzle and Athena (and any ideas about what the heck to do with that would be welcome), but that's a different story. So I thought I'd finally use some of the Snowflake to make a little something for Butterbean. Googling led me to that pattern, and maybe it's the pregnancy hormones, but I couldn't stand how cute it was! It takes four balls, so I'm alternating every couple of rows between the sparkly white and the white with pastel bits. I have convinced myself that it's unnoticeable, and there will be no need to disillusion me :) I'm making the version with legs so it'll fit in a carseat. Snowflake is not all that fun to knit with, and if you drop a stitch, you're never going to find it again. But on the plus side, I accidentally knit half a row instead of purling, and you completely can't tell. So after this, I just have to find a use for the "peach" and the blue. The construction of this pattern is kind of interesting. You knit one leg, move it to a holder, knit the other and then across the first leg stitches, keep going for the back, then cast on the sleeve stitches. Pretty easy. Of course, the ears may be more difficult. We'll have to see.

I'm also getting ready to cast on for a scarf that's a thank-you gift, using Trendsetter Sunshine (again with the polyester!) and possibly carrying along some Dazzle in complementary colors, more or less based on a pattern from Exquisite Little Knits.

Rachel, I had no idea I was only letting blogger people comment! I think I've fixed that now, but let me know if it's still not working right.

My husband says thank you to everyone for your congratulations. He was a bit taken aback (and very pleased) that people who don't even know him are happy about it! We are pretty darn excited, that's for sure.

Reading: Everyone, thank you for children's book suggestions! I actually love children's books, and I'm delighted to have a real excuse to buy a bunch :)

Writing: I've been having an attention span problem this week. I'm hoping it's due to the end of summer (Labor Day Weekend in the US), and that next week will be all Chapter 7 all the time.

Cooking: Besides the monkey shortbread cookies (which everyone loved--primatologists go nuts over that stuff. In fact, people were debating over which species it represented), I made chocolate shortbread wedges and Monkey Bars, a Cooking Light recipe for "snack cake" featuring rum-soaked raisins, walnuts, and bananas. The shortbread recipes were from a Martha Stewart special issue called Holiday Cookies that has 100 recipes in it. I don't normally go for her magazines (though I love her hors d'oeuvres cookbook), but the cover photo on this one was just too good to resist, and it was at Barnes & Noble at just about the same time I'd decided to bake Christmas cookies that year. I've made several recipes from this, some simple like the shortbread, and some insanely complicated, and they've all been wonderful. I'm not sure if you can still find this issue anywhere--it's from 2001, but I would imagine she has the recipes in some book or other by now.

I'm going to make what may be the last ice cream of the season. I'm debating between cookies and cream and something fancier like turtle.

Done, and Done!

I have two big projects to talk about. The first, and smallest, is the Candle Flame Shawl:




The details:
Pattern - Candle Flame Shawl, free from Knitpicks
Yarn - Cherry Tree Hill Fingering Silk, two hanks (666 yards each)
Needles - Size 4

Notes: I really enjoyed this pattern. It's a 36-row repeat, interesting enough to keep knitting on, and repetitive enough so I didn't do any tinking. I love the yarn. It's so soft, strong, and has rich colors. But it's natural tendency is to tangle. Winding it was a major pain, and pulling from the center, I ended up with a few major entanglements. I think I prefer wider rectangular shawls. If I had been paying attention and noticed the 16" finished width, I probably would have added in another pattern repeat. The finished project is soft with a very nice drape.

The other project is my husband's Ph.D! He defended his dissertation yesterday, and he's all done! Wow! He studies animal behavior, specifically monkeys, so I made these shortbread cookies to celebrate:


Writing: I have some Chapter 1-6 changes to make.

Reading: Persuasion. I'm also listening to Sour Puss on audiobook. It's one of Rita Mae Brown's Mrs. Murphy mysteries, which are generally pretty cute.

It's not easy being green...

Well, I took a break yesterday from the Candle Flame Shawl (15 inches to go!) to bust out this:


That's the Child's Placket Neck Pullover from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, in Knitpicks Elegance in Grass. I went for the jaunty mismatched button thing again, but this time, I think it worked much better. I did an extra 3/4 of an inch after the decreases were finished, purely by accident, and liked the effect because I could now turn over the collar. It's size 0-6 months, for Butterbean, and two under two skeins (less than 220 yards) of the Elegance. I used size 5 needles this time, and gauge turned out about right, with a nice fabric. I like the Elegance--it's lovely and soft to knit with, the colors are vibrant, the stitch definition is quite nice, and it has a bit of "give" to it. I've said before how much I like this pattern, and I was thinking about its versatility. The last one I made had a very different look, and this time, the accidental collar made me think about other possibilities. Instead of seed stitch borders, maybe ribbing. Or rolled-edge stockinette. Maybe a v-neck. I may play with this pattern a bit more.

Stefaneener, I have added 'snoofling' to my 'words I must use as often as possible' list. That's so cute! Thank you, Rain :)

Reading: Marie, I plan to read mostly whatever I'm reading to Butterbean, just for voice recognition, but I do want to pick one more rhythmic children's book to read regularly. Maybe Oh, The Places You'll Go.

Writing: Done with revisions! On to Chapter 7!

Cooking; Not much. Baking cookies today.

A long time ago in a land far, far away...

That's about when it feels like I started the Candle Flame Shawl :) It's looking gorgeous, if I do say so myself, but it's only gotten longer since last I posted a photo, so I won't post another photo till it's done. So, here are cat pictures instead.

I'm not sure where this plastic rose came from, but Geronimo claimed it from the table, and I decided he could have it. We tied a ribbon to it so we can swing it around as kitty entertainment, but he quite enjoys just laying on his flower. He's very secure in his masculinity.

Mirando loves shoes, and often naps near/on them. It doesn't look comfy, but he seems to sleep well there.


Knitting: On and on with the Candle Flame Shawl. I still love the pattern, but shawls are loooooooong. I've also felt not quite halfway done, since I hadn't attached ball #2 yet (which I did yesterday), but upon measuring, I found it's 50" long (the pattern calls for 70"), so I'm not only farther along than I thought, but I should have enough of this lovely yarn left to make a couple of scarves. I'm a bit impatient to finish the shawl, as my list of "stuff to knit for Butterbean" is *really* long :) I may start a placket-neck pullover from Last Minute Knitted Gifts (yup, String Bean, that's where the booties came from!) out of some Knitpicks Shine in Sky leftover from Picovoli, since that's a gender-neutral enough color.

Reading: Persuasion. I'm having a little trouble getting into it this time. Not sure if it's that I've just finished reading four Jane Austens and I'm ready for something else, or what. I'll give it another try tonight, and then I might pick something else. It's about time to start reading aloud to Butterbean, too.

Writing: I've called an end to the revision madness. I know there are things I'll need to work on, but it's time I started Chapter 7. And the whole thing will undergo revision at the end.

Cooking: Not much here. I've had a bit of a cold, so lots of soup and such lately.

Spring Cleaning Part II

Yes, it's nearly autumn, and I have just resumed my spring cleaning. Or maybe it's nesting. I last posted about spring cleaning in May, before morning sickness derailed the whole project. At any rate, since we never throw anything away and our apartment has very small bedrooms/little closet space, there's no room for a baby in the apartment at the moment, so I'm trying to attack one area at a time to get rid of junk we don't need. Yesterday, I collected my entire yarn stash from various corners and organized it into the two Rubbermaid tubs that had had yarn piled haphazardly in them. I made room for one of the tubs in the closet (the other is an under-bed) and put away the piles of books I have everywhere. I definitely accomplished something, but there's a lot more to do. I kind of wish we could have those Queer Eye guys come and throw away our junk and tell us how to make the most out of the space we have.

When I was organizing the yarn, I also tackled abandoned WIPs to reclaim the yarn. This was super-fun in the case of the Sirdar Snowflake baby blanket (that stuff is a nightmare to frog...and to knit with). I also had started a sweater made with Cascade 220 held double. When I wound (thankfully only one ball) the yarn, I decided to "save time" by winding the two hanks together IN ONE BALL. Do you have any idea how insane that is? Or how long (almost two hours) it takes to unwind and recreate two balls??? Ugh. But you can't beat the feeling of accomplishment.

Blogger says no photos today, which is too bad. I have really funny cat pictures to share.

Knitting: Working on the Candle Flame Shawl. I'm more than halfway to 70"! I will probably not be able to resist casting on for another baby project soon, though.

Reading: Persuasion.

Wriitng: My deadline for finishing Chapter 6 revisions is Wednesday.

Cooking: I made this Stracciatella Gelato yesterday, and it was fantastic. I made a couple of changes necessitated by ingredients I didn't have. I used 2 tsp vanilla extract instead of the vanilla bean, and I used 2% milk instead of whole. The recipe didn't specify an amount of chocolate to use, so I used 1 cup of Ghirardelli chocolate chips (the double chocolate ones), which I melted in a glass measuring cup in the microwave (this was perfect for then pouring into the gelato). I'm sure it would be even creamier with whole milk, and I'd like to try that sometime. The "chocolate chips" turned out beautifully. That's the part of gelato in Italy that was great--the non-uniform chocolate threads throughout the gelato, and this method of pouring a thin stream of melted chocolate into almost-solid gelato was perfect. We were trying to remember if it was like the Italian gelato, and we think it might not be quite creamy enough, hence trying whole milk next time. It firmed up better than I've ever had ice cream firm up in my little countertop unit, and the texture was excellent. It's really not that hard to make, either.

I also made stuffed zucchini. I got a large zucchini at the Farmer's Market and stuffed it with breadcrumbs, tomatoes, spinach, and parmesan. It was very nice paired with fettucine tossed with pesto.

Free Pattern - Baby Bunny Hat

This simple, rolled-brim stockinette baby hat is made with super-soft angora. I used the yarn leftover from making the Angora Baby Booties from Last Minute Knitted Gifts for the contrast color, and one full ball of the cream. Total yarn needed is less than 80 yards, and this could obviously be made as a solid-color hat.

(Yes, the baby hat *is* being modeled by a decanter of Scotch. There were no baby models available.)

Above, the hat with "matching" booties.

Yarn: Valeria di Roma Angora (100% angora), 55 yards per ball.
CC - Red - less than half a ball (or leftover from Angora Baby Booties); MC - Cream - one ball
Needles: Set of four dpns - size 5
Size: Newborn to three months

Cast on 91 stitches with CC. Divide between three needles, with 31 stitches on the first needle and 30 on the second and third. Join for working in the round, being careful not to twist. Work 1.5" stockinette stitch. Break yarn. Attach MC. Work additional 3.5" in stockinette.

Decrease Rounds:
Row 1 - k1, (k2tog, k8) 9 times (82 stitches)
Row 2 - even
Row 3 - k1, (k2tog, k7) 9 times (73 stitches)
Row 4 - even
Row 5 - k1, (k2tog, k6) 9 times (64 stitches)
Row 6 - even
Row 7 - k1, (k2tog, k5) 9 times (55 stitches)
Row 8 - even
Row 9 - k1, (k2tog, k4) 9 times (46 stitches)
Row 10 - k1, (k2tog, k3) 9 times (37 stitches)
Row 11 - k1, (k2tog, k2) 9 times (28 stitches)
Row 12 - k1, (k2tog, k1) 9 times (19 stitches)
Row 13 - k1, k2tog 9 times (10 stitches)

Break yarn. With a tapestry needle, pull the end of the yarn through the remain stitches twice. Pull tight. Weave in ends.

Congratulations, it's an Hourglass!

I have to entertain myself somehow while waiting the two more weeks until the ultrasound, so I make up cheesy post titles :) I had some things going on, which is why I missed a couple of days posting, but then I got really stubborn and decided I was NOT going to post until I had finished Hourglass Sweater photos. And, now...I do! My photographer was unavailable, so I don't have modeled shots (the bathroom mirror shots didn't work out at all). So here it is, hanging in the atrocious hallway lighting, then reclining on the pappasan chair in natural light, then with a closeup on the neckline/raglan edge:




The details:
Pattern - Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, 2nd largest size
Yarn - Jo Sharp DK Wool in Seashell, 12 balls (had at least half of the 12th ball left)
I enjoyed this pattern quite a bit. I like the folded-down edges instead of a border to contain the rolling of the stockinette (which, you may be able to see, is still trying to roll, but I haven't washed and blocked yet). It was a fun knit--make sure to look up the errata, as you should with ANY pattern in this book. The sweater is very close to off-the-shoulder on me, so if you want a tighter neckline, you might want to consider some modifications. I didn't do the whole pick up stitches on cotton yarn to sew down the neck edge thing, and I was just fine. It seems like that was a pretty paranoid instruction, since you increase three times on the part that will be folded over so it'll match the number of stitches six rows down where you're attaching. As long as you go one stitch at a time, I'm not sure how you could end up with too many or too few. Whatever. I also used a 16" circular for the sleeves. I just hate 12" circs, and I can't justify buying them when I have dpns and 16" circs. The smaller sizes would need to either start the sleeves on dpns or use a 12" circ, but the 16" was fine for mine, if a bit fiddly for the first couple of rows. I was so excited on this project that I suddenly understood Kitchener Stitch! I've always hated Kitchener Stitch. I forget where I am partway through, and while following the instructions in LMKG, I also realized I've been doing WRONG since I started knitting, so it always looked wonky. I'm not sure if it was the LMKG instructions or that the 98th time is a charm, but it just clicked. It was a beautiful thing. The yarn...I'm not sure I'd recommend it. I'll have to see how much it softens with washing. This is NOT merino, people. I ended up getting two bags on sale at WEBS, but I'm not sure I'd pay full price for it. It's strong, and there were only a couple of knots in twelve balls. I definitely think Holly's sweater will be much more cuddly than mine.

Stefaneener - I hadn't even thought about the cats being able to hear the baby. With Mirando's super-cat hearing, that wouldn't surprise me! Or that they make good labor companions--they were always very sweet and concerned while I had morning sickness. Okay, Rain, the wedding ring test says girl, too :) In fact, I found a quiz with all the old wives tales about gender, and it was 84% certain I'd have a girl. It'll be fun to see whether they're right! Yajb, welcome and thank you for the link!

Other knitting: I also made a Manly Hat for a friend. I'm posting the pattern. It's so easy, it's almost not a real pattern, but I love this as a "guy" gift, and it's usually well-received. Back to the baby angora hat and the Candle Flame Shawl.

Reading: Nearly done with Emma.

Writing: I have got to STOP revising and just move on. I need to save something for the next draft. I think I'll just zip through (read: slog through 100 pages) just to make sure there's nothing glaring, then get on with the show. Otherwise, I might revise forever.

Cooking: Wow, there is NOTHING to report here. It's been warm, I've been busy.

Free Pattern - Manly Hat

This pattern is based on one I stumbled across somewhere for a child's hat. I have made this hat three times; once with Mountain Colors 4/8s wool in Mountain Twilight, once with Debbie Bliss Merino Aran in charcoal, and most recently with two strands of Jaeger Baby Merino DK in indigo. (Notice the manly colors.) It's fairly stretchy and will fit a wide range of head sizes. The bottom can be turned up or pulled down to cover more of the face and ears. The Jaeger hat is VERY WARM with the doubled yarn, and I made it for a friend moving to Canada (Hi, Tim!). I did NOT make him wear the hat in the August heat so I could get a picture, and the cats declined to model, but here it is reclining on the pappasan chair.



Yarn: Any worsted or heavy worsted yarn (or even doubled DK)
Gauge: 4 stitches per inch in pattern
Needles: 16" circular needle, size 9; dpns, size 9

Cast on 92 stitches. Place marker and join, being careful not to twist.
Row 1: k2, p2 to end
Row 2: k1, *(p2, k2); repeat from *; end k1
Repeat these two rows until the hat measures 9" from cast-on edge, ending with Row 1.
Decrease row: ssk, p2tog to end (switch to dpns when needed)
Work Rows 1 and 2, then Row 1 once more.
Decrease row: ssk, p2tog to end
Knit one row.
Cut yarn, leaving a long tail. Using a yarn needle, pull yarn through remaining loops twice. Pull tight to close top of hat. Weave in ends. No blocking required.

Optional matching Manly Scarf:

Cast on 20 stitches. Work Rows 1 and 2 until scarf is desired length. Bind off. Weave in ends. For a wider scarf, cast on 32 stitches.

Ode to Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream

Just kidding about the title--I have other stuff to talk about, too. Annie, my husband and I have both had family cats all our lives, and we've NEVER met cats with this much personality! They are really something else. I've had a "girl" vibe for a while, and my husband and I keep saying "she" and "her" about Butterbean. I also keep almost casting on for cute little dresses (and Reid, from knitty.com), then remembering that I can't do that yet! When we talk about baby names, we sort of half-heartedly go through a few boy names, but concentrate on girls'. I hope if it's a boy, I don't give him a complex.

Just when you guys thought I couldn't get any more "crazy cat lady" than I already am...I think Mirando might know I'm pregnant. I've read about dogs knowing their owners were pregnant, but not about cats, so I may be imagining things. Here's the thing: Mirando is a really snuggly cat. He hops up on the bed between us and just snuggles away. It's really sweet. For the last couple of months, he's been hopping up on my side of the bed in the early morning and snuggling up to my belly. It's not something he'd ever done before and now he's doing it every day, but they do go through phases, so it could be a coincidence. One morning, Matt looked over and said, "Huh. It looks like Mirando is snuggling with Butterbean." And it kind of does!

Knitting: Still going on Hourglass sleeve #1. Thank you for the link, Holly! Yarnthrower and Rain, thank you for the reassurance. I know it won't be noticeable, but staring at the "line" halfway through every round makes me unable to NOT see it :) I will definitely try the paired m1 increases next time I do something like this, though.

Reading: Mansfield Park. I'm also listening to Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon by Donna Andrews sometimes when I knit.

Writing: Good stuff happening here. 29,000 words, and let me tell you, it's a trip to look at the bottom of your Word document and see that you're on page 56 of 100. That's right! We're in the three-digit word count. I have one more scene to add (I know, it's always "just one more scene") to carry on a new character, and then I think I'm ready to start Chapter 7. I should breeze through the whole thing to check the timeline and make sure none of the characters/subplots seem too thin.

Cooking: I made Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream tonight, and let me tell you, it is GOOD. I spun off from this Peanut Butter Swirl Ice Cream recipe, which I almost made, but then decided that peanut butter ice cream with no chocolate in it was just wrong. I thought about making a batch of the Peanut Butter Swirl and one of chocolate and then swirling them together, but it seemed much easier to just add chocolate to the PB recipe. And what peanut butter ice cream is complete without some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups? And if you get the big bag of the miniatures, you'll have a lot left over. Yum. This is also husband-approved, despite the reduced-fat quality. He really likes what I call "pain-in-the-butt ice cream", where you have eggs and there's cooking, then everything has to cool and it takes FOREVER and produces loads of dirty dishes. I love just chucking milk, sugar, and some sort of flavor in the ice cream maker, partly because I'm lazy, but I was also the weird kid who preferred the ice milk to ice cream at the local ice cream shop, and the first time I had frozen custard (I am not a Wisconsin native) I almost threw up, it was so rich. But this recipe is just so good, and I would make it again. Three eggs seemed like a lot, but it didn't seem overly rich to me, so I doubt I'll tamper with it. And I know this is awful (again with the laziness!), but I didn't feel like refrigerating it for 6-8 hours, so I stuck the bowl in the freezer and stirred every ten minutes until the mixture was cold, and it worked fine. I would also probably use a bigger bowl to beat the eggs and re-use it for mixing the whole thing.

Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream

3 cups 2% milk, divided
3 oz. chocolate chips or semisweet chocolate
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup smooth natural peanut butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
20 Reese's mini peanut butter cups, quartered (1 heaping cup)

Heat one cup of milk with chocolate in a small saucepan over medium heat until chocolate melts, stirring frequently. Beat sugar and eggs together in a medium bowl until frothy.

Gradually whisk hot milk into egg mixture, then pour back into saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the peanut butter. Pour into a large bowl and let cool 10 minutes. Stir in remaining two cups of milk and vanilla. Chill thoroughly.

Process in the ice cream mixture until nearly churned. Add peanut butter cups and continue to churn until desired firmness. Transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze.

As the sands through the Hourglass...

I finished up the body of Hourglass Sweater over the weekend. I toyed with the idea of adding a bit to the length, but I ran into a weird tape measure paradox. I'm hoping to wear this at least early in the fall, so I made a larger size, and I was thinking I might want it to be longer to serve as an interim maternity kind of sweater. The body length is written as 15 3/4". When I measured from my armpit to where I thought I wanted the sweater to end, I got something ridiculous like 18". But when I got the bright idea to measure a sweater that has about the same length as I'd like for this one, I got 15" from armpit to the bottom. huh. So I just went with the original length. Here it is so far:

Here's a closeup of the increase/decrease "seam." It's kind of bugging me. I did the increases and decreases as stated in the pattern (ssk/k2tog and kf&b), and I feel like it looks unspeakably sloppy. This might be my execution, or I might prefer less visible increases. I don't feel that the decreases look as bad. I guess this is where a seam would be on a not-in-the-round sweater, so it probably doesn't matter. Any thoughts?


I like this pattern. I am a bit nervous about the sweater's fit, since the book includes a great photo of the sweater laying flat on something, but not one of someone actually WEARING the sweater. (Knitting book pet peeve #427: Skip the artsy crap and show someone wearing the sweater so I can see the length, hang, ease, etc.) We'll see. I'm excited to be using up quite a bit of my impulse sale-buy tan yarn, with the added bonus of getting a sweater at the end.

Annie, that's really interesting! I'll let you know Sept. 1 :)

Reading: Mansfield Park. Rachel, I haven't read Anne of Green Gables in ages! I have to dig out my copy.

Writing: Revision this week.

Cooking: I made the Doughnut Muffins yesterday. Mmmmmmmm.... They are pretty easy to make and just fantastic. Tender crumb, lightly spiced, and the cinnamon sugar really makes you feel like you're eating a doughnut. I'm curious how these would be made in mini muffin pans. Maybe even more doughnutty. Anyway, Matt loved them. He's used to my whole grain-fruity-reduced fat muffins, which he likes okay, but he thought these were delicious. They are particularly nice with a cup of coffee. Notes: I only got 21 muffins out of this, not 24, using a 1/2 cup measure. I originally got 18, but did some batter reorganization and managed to create 3 more. Also, I was a little mad that I had over 1/2 cup of melted butter left at the end. What do they do in the original recipe, soak the muffins in butter? I brushed pretty liberally and didn't even use half. I would definitely only melt one stick of butter next time, and probably reduce the cinnamon sugar by 1/3 or so as well.

Where have all the mousies gone?

The kitty TV has been shut off...we came outside this morning to find that THEY MOWED THE GRASS!!! So, the field mice have moved on. Geronimo is sad about this. See the Extended Paw of Deep Distress?

And here are the boys hanging out together. After all, there are still birds, the occasional squirrel, and people walking their dogs.

The a/c is working just fine, but Mirando thinks we could turn down the thermostat a bit. These are two of his favorite summer spots. Geronimo mostly hangs out under the bed when it's hot.



Uh oh, Stefaneener, I may just have to start keeping a notebook to write everything down on. Sounds like it might be awhile before I have more brain function :) I seem to have lost my coordination, too, but that may be nothing new. Yesterday, after tripping over the same thing for the third time in an hour, I asked my husband, "Have you noticed I've been pretty clumsy?" And he said, "Yes, I first noticed it ten years ago (when we first met)." Hmmm. I may paint my toenails today, since I'm starting to appreciate that I may not be able to see/reach them for much longer.

Knitting: I think a steeked version of the French Press Cozy is a great idea. It would be a nice, stress-free first steeking attempt, I think. If it goes wrong, it won't take all that long to re-do. For anyone interested, here are the specs:
Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted (Silver Sliver and Red Baron) - Less than half a skein main color, very little of the contrast.
Needles: Size 6 dpns (set of 5)
Gauge: 5 stitches per inch
Height: 10" (mine is a bit short, closer to 9")
Circumference: 16" (you could shave an inch or so off if you were going to have a slit for the handle
I cast on 88 stitches (2 coffee cups on each dpn) and after it was the height I wanted, I did three rows of k2tog all around, cut the yarn and pulled it through the remaining 11 stitches (NOT pulling tight so there's room for the ball on top)

Other knitting: I'm on the last set of increases on Hourglass Sweater, and still going on the Candle Flame Shawl.

Writing: Nothing new to report. I hope to have all revisions done by the end of next week.

Reading: Mansfield Park. Has anyone seen the film version of this that has Lady Bertram as an opium addict? Really awful adaptation. I don't remember the BBC version being much better, either. And I'm not just being an Austen purist--I actually quite like the Emma Thompson Sense & Sensibility, even with the changes that are made (and for a two-hour version, changes are going to have to be made, obviously). I felt it was in the spirit of the book. And I even liked the Gwyneth Paltrow Emma, though she's not my favorite actress. But I don't think they've ever done Mansfield Park right on film, unless there's an older version I haven't come across.

Holly, Matt's pretty stubborn, so I'll have to see if he really refuses to read Book 7. I think curiosity and HP addiction will triumph over stubbornness. Rain, I don't think 1,000 pages would be uncalled-for :) It's been such a long wait, and it has to last a long time! It looks like both Book 7 and Movie 5 might be out next summer...wow, that's a lot of Harry Potter all at once. I've seen the film Chocolat, but I've never read any Joanne Harris. I will have to add her to my list. I'm not sure if it's pregnancy hormones, but I'm in a comfort re-reading place right now. First, the Harry Potter, now Jane Austen, and I'm thinking it might be time for the Thursday Next series again. Maybe it's to do with preggo brain, and I sort of know I won't process something new properly. Not sure.

Cooking: In my very first weird pregnancy craving, I made pancakes for dinner Thursday night. I had been feeling a bit left out with no cravings except an increase in my fruit consumption.

Finally!

It's actually cool enough this morning that we have the windows open, and I can sit out on the porch without getting heat stroke. The cats are enjoying the novelty, as we've been shut up in the (now working!) a/c for several days. (By the way, Tim, so jealous of the Calgary weather...) In addition, the morning sickness is gone, right on schedule (I'm 16 weeks today). And thank you, Snowdrop! So I'm having rather a nice morning on the porch with a bit of espresso. The cats are being entertained by a man walking his dog down below, and even more so by a family of field mice snacking on the tall grass directly below our porch. I have a great shot looking down over Geronimo's ears to a mouse, but blogger is being mean to me today. Mirando can obviously hear/smell/sense in his own special way the mice, too, since he orients towards them and follows them as they move. Frickin' amazing. Rain, our cats always crack us up, so I'm glad you enjoy them, too! They're such characters.

Ha! Blogger finally let me upload the photo. I'm not sure if you can see the mouse...if you drew a vertical line from the top of Geronimo's left ear, the mouse is about in the center of the photo.


Knitting: Thank you to everyone who said kind things about my French press cozy! StringBean, I do think a slit in the side would be good, but I wasn't motivated to do all the purl rows of knitting it back and forth, and we don't have a problem getting the cozy on and off, so it'd be cosmetic. The steaming coffee mugs are really growing on me, and anyone's welcome to swipe the motif :) StringBean, I *loved* Shel Silverstein as a child, and I think I still have that poem memorized! My husband's been putting the cozy to almost daily use with his coffee habit, so I feel it was well worth the effort.

I've made more progress on the Candle Flame Shawl. I am going to LOVE this when it's done. I am so glad it's for me and not a gift, because I don't think I could part with it. I love the colors, I love the silk, I love the pattern. And Holly is ahead of me now on the Hourglass Sweater, despite my math impairment (which Holly assures me is a symptom of "preggo brain" and will go away eventually), so I will have to get going on that, too. I do promise that I have not been deliberately sabotaging Holly's sweater so she won't beat me in finishing, which is sad, because it means that my brain is really incapable of basic math. Has anyone read Flowers for Algernon? I have a queue of about 18 (boy, I exaggerate a lot, don't I? It's really 3-4) baby things to make for Butterbean after that. I think Christmas knitting will be whatever I can fit in after doing my shawl and sweater and Butterbean's stuff. I have a feeling the Butterbean knitting will get out of control once I know if I'm knitting for a boy or a girl (4 more weeks!).

Reading: I finished Sense & Sensibility, which I hadn't read in a while. I usually re-read all my Jane Austen once every year or two, but I think it's been longer this time. I'm on Mansfield Park now. I go back and forth over which Austen is my favorite. I think it might be P&P, though that's not really original. Rachel, you be proud about your emotional involvement with the HP books! Maybe we should start a support group for after we've read Book 7. I read Book 6 on a plane (note: Matt and I share the HP books. We generally get day-of-release delivery from amazon.com, and I read the book first because I read faster. Then the British version comes a few days later from amazon.co.uk and I read that while Matt reads the U.S. version.) because it turned out we were flying out to CA on the Saturday the book was released, so I bought it in the airport. And I read it ON THE PLANE, trying not to sob embarrassingly loud. After he read it, Matt announced that the series had ended at Book 5 and he would not be reading Book 7, he was so mad at JK Rowling. We'll have to see if he sticks to that :)

Writing: I'm back to this, which is lovely. Working today to finish revisions.

Cooking: Nothing at all. I may try a new kind of ice cream soon, and I very much want to make these Doughnut Muffins but it's too hot to have the oven on. Maybe first thing in the morning.