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To wet to go out, too cold to play ball

Yesterday while the rain came down I pulled out the spinning wheel and worked on a corriedale fleece purchased at Rhinebeck a few years back. This is the 3rd prize winner for that year and since I wasn't feeling well Madame Purl valiantly fought her way through a barn full of crazed spinners to come out with fleeces for both of us. It's about time I put this fleece to good use!

and when it rains

For the most part, I cook during the week and Jason cooks on the
weekends but there are a few things that are exceptions to the rule.
Jason generally does the grilling (except for pulled pork which is my
dish) and I generally do any pastry type activities. When he decided to
bake a pie this weekend that meant that I did the crust for him. We
don't bake pie very often and I think it shows. I have some crust
shields but I forgot to put them on until quite late. It seems as if
the oven temp in recipes is always too low in our hands so it takes
much longer for the filling to get hot and bubbly. I forgot to make
enough dough for a double crust so we just had some scraps on top
there. All that said, it was really delicious!

I'm also beginning to knit a little bit again. In preparation for knitting with the group again I've cast on a mindless and not secret knitting project. This is Socks that Rock in the Nodding Violets colorway on size one needles. The pattern is Simple Skyp Socks.

While the sun shines

I know the rest of the country is baking but it's still mostly cool and rainy here. Yesterday the sun came out for most of the day so I picked greens for dinner. The neighbor cats are really loving the catnip and definitely spend more time lounging in the back yard. Fluffy, who lives across the street, found a cool spot of shade from which to observe the activity. We delayed our errands and took care of yard work in the morning since thunderstorms were forecast for the afternoon. Other parts of the state got pounded but we were lucky enough to have sun all day. In the afternoon I cut another stack of lavender and made some more lavender wands. I'm saving the leaves to make sachets to tuck into my yarn shelves to discourage nasty critters from taking up residence.

Mad scientist

Yesterday I had several recipes to try out in the lab err kitchen. I'd ordered some lanolin from Snowdrift Farms and some of the recipes were geared to use it. I made my own wool wash with lanolin, lavender essential oil and Castille soap. I tried a homemade shampoo with Castille soap and a bit of almond oil for conditioning. The main attraction though was a hand cream recipe using lanolin and almond oil as the main ingredients. It's definitely a bit of magic when you add a tiny bit of borax and it turns from clear to foamy white. I had to pour it out quickly as it really does set up fast. It's a wee bit tacky and it takes 5 or 10 minutes to really absorb but my hands feel nice and smooth. I think it would be wonderful for spinning or knitting with something really snaggy. It does smell like witch hazel when you first put it on but that dissipates in moments. Fun stuff!

Blogger to the rescue

QuilterSal wrote to me with some great tips for hand quilting so things are improving already. After her helpful tips I stopped at the store and picked up some betweens (shorter needles for hand quilting) and a new thimble to try. I'm about 3/4 of the way around with my first row of quilting. A bit of research informed me that this should be a "stitch in the ditch" row so I've moved it a shade closer to the applique, after this the rows will be space about 3/8-inch apart. Thanks for the tips Sally!

We did brave the rain on Tuesday to make it to the grand opening of the farmers market this season. We had some lovely halibut on Tuesday, some fresh spinach and goat cheese ravioli on Wednesday and last night we had beets and broccoli with our baked potatoes. I roasted off some garlic along with the potatoes for the most amazing baked potato ever. Why didn't I think of that sooner? While the potatoes baked I pinched off a little catnip for the girls who were blissed out, except for Gabby who we swear thinks she's a dog. She wasn't interested in the catnip at all.

The test goes on

I am well chuffed with the gusset since the designer had had some trouble getting it to do what she wanted and I was able to fix that. Now I'm having trouble at the top of the mitten though because it's not working for me as written. If I use a k2tog decrease as instructed I get a little line of dark yarn across the light but if I use k2togtbl my decrease points the wrong way. I'll have to tromp through my knitting books in search of a solution. (Suggestions are also very welcome!)

A sprinkle a day…

makes for a happy garden. Things are growing like crazy with the mild damp weather. The sweet peas are just about to burst into bloom and the daylilies are doing very nicely. We'll have English peas ready to eat by the weekend though they've covered over the green beans so we may not get any of those. The first few morning glories are peeking out but I never can seem to get a good photograph of such saturated color. We're told the sun will come out tomorrow and I'm sure the garden will be happy with that too!

Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3…

I'm doing a little test knitting for a friend who knows how much I enjoy colorwork. I haven't done a lot of mitten knitting so it's fun to dip my toes into that again. The picot cuff was a bit tough on my hands but after that it's "big"needles and yarn so it's easy peasy. The hardest part is to restrain myself from knitting straight through to the end but I'm sticking to short spurts for just a little while each day.

It’s all in a day

Yesterday we headed into Boston for an afternoon Red Sox game but the MFA was having another open house so we planned to visit there in the morning. As has become usual for us we walked from the MFA through the fens to Fenway and visited the rose garden as we passed by. The cool rainy spring has made this the loveliest visit to the rose garden yet. Of course, the cool rainy weather also made for a very chilly damp ball game which we did not manage to finish. The chill in the air really made my jaw ache so we left int he middle of the 7th inning and beat a hasty retreat home via the liquor store and Whole Foods. We had a really fantastic seafood dinner complete with clams and scallops braised in white wine with garlic, shallots and tomatoes. I think that will be visiting our table more often! You can find a full set of photos over on Flickr here.

Tin roof basted

Yesterday I popped into the sewing store for some batting so I could get started on the quilting part of this Hawaiian quilt block. I cut a piece to size and pinned the layers together in preparation for basting. It wasn't long before I was able to start working on the echo quilting. I've never done hand quilting before so my stiches are pretty wonky and large. I also need to search for a better thimble, the one I have isn't snug enough so I quit using it which has resulted in a sore bruised finger.