April « 2007 « Stoneview

What came home with me

I did manage a few purchases on Saturday. I picked up Alice Starmore’s Celtic Collection, a bar of soap and some lotion from Sleepy Moon Soaps, a little felted ball kit for this plying off a ball I’ve been hearing about, a fiber bump and a few silk hankies to play with from A Touch of Twist. There’s about 2 1/2 pounds of purply blue roving which should be enough for a sweater if all goes well.

Daytripping

Christine and I got up quite early yesterday and headed down to meet Kathy and L. for a carpool down to CT Sheep and Wool. As always I really enjoyed watching the sheepdog work the sheep. I resisted patting the bunnies and quite enjoyed all the colorful surroundings that a fiberfest usually entails.

I think the festival grew just a little over last year and there were more outdoor vendors and more vendor packed into the indoor spaces than I recall from last year when Grace and I went along with Kathy and co. I was so pleased to meet "in person" some lovely ladies whose blogs I so enjoy reading.

And now for my Monkey Swap questions:

The
basics:
How
long have you been knitting? It’s been just over 3 years.

Do you consider
yourself a beginning sock knitter, an intermediate, or have you been
doing this so long you could probably knit a pair in your sleep? I think I’m a fairly adventurous sock knitter and I do have something on the order of 20 pairs under my belt.

The
measurements:

Shoe Size:
8ish
Foot circumference: 9

Foot length: 9

Yarn
Preferences:
What colors do you love? jewel tones, blues, deep intense colors ( but sometimes I like pastels too)

Do you prefer
solids or variegated? both

Do you prefer wool,
cotton or acrylic yarn? wool

What colors would
you never wear? mustard, "muddy" colors

Knitting
Gadgets
Favorite
needles. Plastic, metal, bamboo or wood? Addi’s and Brittany’s

Are there any
knitting accessories you don’t have in your collection but would
like? sock blockers

Would
you be willing to have an international Monkey Pal or do you prefer
one in the US? Either is fine

Do
you have any allergies? I can’t have caffeine but no allergies to anything you might send

It’s all about the round

This morning while watching a couple old reruns of The Rockford Files I finished up the arms and legs for Spherey and attatched them. Now I just need to drop these off with mom and daughter and it’ll be on to the next project (or back to an old one more like!).

For dinner I wanted something that would also work as a take-along lunch for the CT Sheep and Wool today so I went for Thai noodles with veggies and tofu. I based mine off Tyler’s recipe but I added red bell pepper and tofu to create a main dish rather than a side dish. I used fresh lemon angel hair pasta from the market instead of the wider Asian noodles. I think it should travel well.

If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. J.R.R. Tolkien

The weather is cool and rainy again at the end of the week so I took the opportunity to make soup again. Daniel was a bit grumbly about it but then he cleaned it right up so I guess it wasn’t so bad after all. This can be caloric or not depending on what and how much you garnish with.

Baked Potato Soup

2 russet potatoes
1 medium sweet onion, finely chopped
1 bunch broccoli, rinsed and coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
1 clove garlic, finely minced
4 cups chicken stock
pinch crushed red pepper
chopped crisp bacon
shredded sharp cheddar cheese
thinly sliced green onions
sour cream

Bake one of the potatoes until fully cooked, cool to room temperature. Sweat onions and garlic in olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-low heat until translucent. Peel and chop remaining potato. To the Dutch oven, add chicken stock, potato, seasonings, and broccoli. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook 20 minutes or until potato is soft. Meanwhile, peel and chop the baked potato. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup leaving it just a bit chunky. Stir in chopped baked potato and serve topped with garnishes of your choice.

Rhubarb is not something I had ever cooked but last year, or maybe the year before, Jason’s mom visited and made an apple rhubarb roll. When I saw beautiful rhubarb at the market I grab some along with a box of strawberries and proceeded to search for something to make with them. This is the resultant dessert with met with general approval.

2 pounds rhubarb, chopped (be sure to discard any leafy bits)
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
sliced and whole strawberries

Combine rhubarb, cinnamon, and sugars in a small saucepan and cook over low heat with frequent stirring about 15 minutes until rhubarb is soft and a syrup has formed. Strain off rhubarb and reserve syrup for another purpose. Whip the cream with 2 tablespoons sugar and the vanilla to soft peaks. Layer rhubarb, whipped cream and sliced strawberries in alternating layers in fancy glasses, topping each with a whole strawberry.

Fashion doll?

Well maybe not but she’s finished. I started watching "How Clean is Your House?" and suddenly there seems to be much less knitting time around here but I did stop long enough to finish Dolly and get started on Spherey.

Flower talk and wheels that spin

Yesterday, thanks to a gentle reminder, I filled the birdbath and cleaned and filled the oriole feeder which is a favorite for the hummingbirds as well. Monday’s scorching heat dried out the daffodils and muscari a fair bit so I cut quite a few and brought them indoors.

Sometimes a wild guess pays off. Thanks so much to Liz who sent me this fab roving for guessing closest in her blogiversary contest. I’ve never spun possum before so that’ll be fun! There’s also 8 ounces of gorgeous blue roving. The poor spinning wheel has been neglected of late and for inspiration I joined the Weekend Whirls. Although I was pretty tired after all the painting Sunday I did manage to get out my wheel and work some more on the alpaca silk I bought at Rhinebeck last fall and yesterday I finished up the bobbin. We have a pretty busy weekend coming up but I do hope to find time to ply this as I’ve now got two bobbins full of this fiber.

For those of you going to the Connecticut Sheep and Wool Festival on Saturday I’ll be there. Please say, "Hi" if you see me! I’ll most likely have my Indy Hat and my black Relay for Life (please donate!) backpack with a NETA name tag hanging on it.

I realized that If I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes. Charles Lindbergh

On my way to the market yesterday I spotted this wild turkey crossing the road. Since there were no other cars on the road I snatched little camera out of my purse and snagged a few snaps of it. I’m not familiar enough with them to know if it’s male or female but there was definitely a bit of red on the "chin". It’s not really the best area for a turkey to be wandering since not even 100 feet away was the border of the Sportsmen’s club. Usually I see these guys in groups of four or five but this one seemed to be a loner as there were no others around that I could see.

Spring garden prep continues. I’ve spread some rock along the side of the raised bed where it often gets muddy. I picked up pansies, violas, and Johnny-jump-ups yesterday and installed those in the patio pots along with a rosemary and some creeping thyme. Anything else will have to wait until after the frost date but these will provide plenty of lovely color until then.

While Daniel was away on April vacation with his dad he was able to create coasters from the wood I’d bought him. All they need now is a bit of sanding and a coat of varnish. It took a bit of hunting in the basement but I did manage to unearth a can of clear finish for him to use on these so perhaps this afternoon while it’s still warm he’ll get around to that.

The Road goes ever on and on down from the door where it began.

I did go to knitting yesterday morning but most of my day was spent painting the door. I did two coats of red on the outside of the door and two coats of white on the trim inside and out as well as two coats of white on the inside of the door. The cats had to spend the day in the basement and were very vocally unhappy about that. They’ll have to do it again today as I need a third coat of the red and some of the trim needs another coat of white.

The bulbs have begun blooming like crazy although with the warm weather finally arriving I think it’ll be the end of the crocus. We’ve enjoyed a full month of lovely crocus this year which is quite unusual. Rainy cool weather brought at least a little bonus with it. Today is going to be a veritable scorcher compared to recent weather so I may cut many of these and bring them indoors so they’ll last a bit longer.

How it warms a mother’s heart

You know your boy loves you when he brings home Tony’s at the end of April vacation with his dad. (Even if he does only want to "shake hands like a man" in the airport.) I used to buy it at a shop in Faneuil Hall but that’s been closed awhile and I haven’t found another local source. Thanks to Daniel my gumbo and red beans and rice will taste like I want them too again.

Unusual Toys

A friend of mine is due to have a baby in 3 or 4 weeks and I’m knitting "Dolly" from Jess Hutchison’s "Unusual Toys For You to Knit and Enjoy" for her 3-year-old daughter and "Spherey" for the baby to come. Kathy gave me this adorable booklet many moons ago and I figured this was the perfect excuse to dip into it’s patterns. Dolly still needs her arms and legs and the second armhole of her dress needs it’s picot edging. I have no clue how to crochet so the edging is exceedingly wobbly but I’m thinking a girl of 3 isn’t really going to care. It’s a very quick knit with 40-odd rows for dolly’s body and 20-some rows for her dress. I should finish this up fairly quickly and move on to Spherey in a day or two.