Fiber Fool

It totally sounds like the title to some fantastic fable, doesn’t it?

We have a seemingly happy, yet tender under her right leg and non-drinking dog in the household that is kind of sucking up all my mental energy right now. Spent a couple hours at the vet yesterday for no answers, some special dog food and GI antibiotics with discussion of xrays tomorrow if no improvement has been seen. She is also having to be taken on walks rather than let out into the yard so that we may monitor her bodily functions and that is eating up some time (though no doubt is good for the both of us, but doing so 5-6 times a day is a little tiresome). Brandon is not liking all this attention being paid to Emma and thus is also taking up more time and energy.

Yes, it is a bit early for Christmas, but if you’re going homemade it is never too early. There are only 67 days left! I believe only 45 until Hanukkah! Long-time readers may remember when I made these lavender sachets back in 2006. Well, I put together a much more detailed tutorial for the Rhythm of the Home blog as it can be a great cooperative project for the whole family. It is a wonderful chance to learn both weaving and sewing while using up scraps of fabric and yarn. And, the final products makes a nice ornament or something to tuck in with some handknit woolens. I even like to use them in place of bows on presents! So go check it out!

Crafty:

• I *really* want to try my hand at these Re-invention Scarves at Maya Made. I’m not quite sure if I like #1 or #2 the best…
• Spinners, knitters and weavers, have you seen the new e-mag Ennea Collective yet? The first issue is up!
• Socknitters take note - here is a new toe-up heel idea that makes using reinforcing thread easier!
• Textural embellishments are huge this year. Check out this tutorial on making fringe!
• A round up of 10 projects for putting old books to a new use! (via Chris at StumblingOverChaos)
• If you pack lunches, here is a fun way to dress up the lunch bags!
• Ana has a fun upcycled clock made from a thrifted clock and an old record album cover!

Yummy:

• Saturday night I made this Raw Tuscan Kale Salad (with seasoned quinoa) and a variant on this Cream of Wild Mushroom and Leek Soup. It was delish and put a sizable dent in this week’s CSA!
• While I love pumpkin, sweet potato doesn’t fall too far behind it so I’m intrigues by this Sweet Potato Chili.
• I’m going to make the leap any day now to making our own crackers. These whole wheat and cheese ones sound really easy.
• I get a daily e-mail from Rodale and have been enjoying their “5 Healthy/Satisfying/…” recipe series. The Parmesan Cheese and Rosemary ones have been especially fun lately.
• In the dessert category I’m jonesing for this Apple Chai Cake and Carole’s Pumpkin Whoopie Pies!
• And I’m going to have to make these Turtle-inspired cookies for my Dad the next time I’m back home. (It needs to happen soon, because if Dad’s making comments you *know* it has been much too long!)

Photography:

• Here are 10 ideas for capturing your family & the fall color for your photo album!
• Needs some help with repairing images in Photoshop? Check out this article!
• Ever wonder why you look different in the mirror than you do in photos? Read this! (via Chris at StumblingOverChaos)

If you can’t tell, I’ve gotten a bit caught up on my blog reading, but not so much in the photography category :-)

Halloween:

• For some Halloween fun, I love this Spooky Terrarium!
• Or how about this Zombie Barbie Garden?
• There are some fun FREE printable Halloween Treat box templates to print and assemble.

Humor:

• The Panopticon comes through again with some laughter, this time with a bit of photography post-processing humor!
• The Oatmeal has a list of 7 things that do not need photographed again.
• Sometimes you can’t beat the amusement of unintended humor. This on via Trek’s offspring on chocolate and devil’s food cake!

I had a fairly pleasant weekend. I stayed out of sick and studying DH’s way a good chunk of Saturday, attending the last French Nest Market and lunching with Amanda, Sue and Nancy. We watched Charade and I knit a tiny bit as my fingers that I cut on Monday are starting to heal. Then on Sunday we watched another movie, the name of which is oddly escaping me right now and I caught up on my DVR’d shows and knit a *ton.* Though the band-aids really do slow me down.

What did you do this weekend?

One of the projects that Amanda graciously modeled for me in 90+ degree heat a few weeks ago was this one - Fit To Be Tied. Don’t let the smile on her face and the lack of sweat fool you - this was hot. It was knit from ArtYarn’s Cashemere Sock yarn.

The yarn was the inspiration for the design, coming in at the $36 mark for 50 gm or 160 yds. I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time justifying $72 socks. But sometimes there is a yarn like this that crosses your path and you can’t not buy it, but you can’t justify more than one skein. Then what do you do with it?

After falling in love my Kate Shawl swatch that was just perfect to wear around the neck to chase away chills or over my head as a kerchief I decided that was a good use for special yarns. Worn that way the aren’t subject to high amounts of friction so they should last a long time and keep looking good. I didn’t necessarily wish to be stuck using the pattern I came up with to use only 160 yds of finger weight yarn. I wanted some flexibility as I see this pattern as working quite well with handspun yarns as well.

Knitting it sideways seemed the perfect answer. You can weigh your yarn, increase until you have used nearly half, then start the decreasing. Perfect! Or, if you have a specific mind in size you can just go until you get to half the total span you desire. There is also flexibility in the blocking. You can block it hard to eek out more width or length or you can just lay flat to dry!

I also wanted the pattern to be pretty easy, but not just plain garter stitch. So I opted to edge the kerchief in a small 4 row repeat garter stitch lace pattern. That simplified things greatly because the body of the pattern is also based on a 4 row repeat. While knowing how to make yarn overs and basic decreases is recommended, I think this project is within grasp of adventurous beginners. Experienced knitters will appreciate the ease of memorization. It could even be KIP appropriate if you’ve found the rhythm of the pattern first.

While the pattern specifies a gauge and size, it is totally flexible. I just recommend using a needle 2-3 sizes larger than recommended on the label so that the garter stitch fabric has some nice drape. I’m kind of anxious to see it in some finer fingering or even lace weight. But, alas I have other things that are cooking up right now so I’ll have to rely on you all. The pattern is FREE! For October anyway. It is part of My Sister Knits’ October 2010 newsletter which can be downloaded on their web site in the Community News section (there is an article I wrote in there as well on what impacts the softness of yarns to aid you in choosing yarns for chemo cap knitting). The Ravelry page has a direct link to the PDF as well.

Faced with a kohlrabi the size of my head in our CSA box I figured my best bet was to cook it and cook it well. So I opted for a cauliflower and kohlrabi curry that I threw together, pretty much by the seat of my pants. It was pretty good, but definitely needs some refining if we happen to get both kohlrabi and cauliflower in our weekly share again.

I assumed like many vegetables that once kohlrabi got that large that it likely was a bit woody. It didn’t seem bad, but I figured roasting it in addition to simmering in the curry sauce would be a good way to go. While I’m not sure it required it, it did mellow the flavors of both veggies which for some are acquired tastes. While they roasted I rinsed split green lentils and the brown rice and prepared them for cooking. I put the heat on both when I removed the veggies from the oven.

This is how one of my favorite curries from 660 Curries starts out - onions, pepper, garlic and ginger whirred around in the food processor until a fine dice is achieved. This then forms the base of the sauce.

I melted some ghee in a pan and popped cumin seeds. Then I added the mixture from the food processor and sauteed until it started to turn golden and released some of the juices back into the pan. Then I added diced tomatoes (normally I’d use canned, but we had just the right amount on hand fresh) and a small can of tomato paste. This was where I went off a bit. The paste was a bit too much tomato flavor and sweetness. A tablespoon and some water or stock probably would have been a better choice here. I also added a tablespoon of garam masala. Then the lentils which had been cooked with a bit of tumeric were added followed by the roasted cauliflower and kohlrabi. Then it was set to simmer for about 20 minutes while I finished the rice.

Normally we go for safforon or tumeric scented brown basmati rice, but I got inspired by leafing through our curry cookbook and decided to give a yogurt dressed rice a try. It was a recommended pairing of several of the cauliflower curries in the book.

You again pop some cumin seed (and often mustard as well) plus a small sprinkle of skinned black lentils in rather hot oil, then add a pepper or two and turn down the heat. Remove and add chopped cilantro, being careful because it will cause the oil to sputter some. Then this mixture is stirred into yogurt with some salt and mixed in with the warm rice. The yogurt cools the heat of the curry and adds a nice tang to counter the sweetness of the tomato-based sauce. I will definitely be doing this more often when we make curry!

I love curry, but man it leaves one *huge* mess of a kitchen in its wake. Thankfully, DH cleaned up after me :-)

It has been quite a while since I’ve been on a road trip. So this will be a bit of a challenge…

1. Good sing-along music is a must! The driver controls the music since he/she must remain alert.
2. If you are tag teaming the driving an easy, yet enjoyable knitting project is also a must.
3. Satellite radio is fun because they have a radio drama station.
4. Along similar lines, audiobooks, especially those with good voice acting can be really enjoyable and help the miles fly by.
5. Play the state license plate game.
6. I also am constantly making phrases from the letters on license plates in my head, even just driving around town. But doing that with other people and seeing who comes up with the best one can be very amusing.
7. A favorite in our family was the alphabet game, “I went on a trip and on my trip I saw…”
8. We’ve also adapted Scattergories for the car. A passenger rolls the die, then reads one of the items on a list and the first person to come up with something gets the most points equaling the number of players and each person there after gets one less point. If someone doesn’t come up with something they get zero points. Oh and you get extra points if there are multiple words starting with the letter in your answer.
9. Have a “scavenger hunt” - put together a list of things that can be seen on a road trip and check them off as you go. Include things like cows and horses, and for the CO to MN trip Wall Drug billboards :-) First one to get all the items wins and gets to choose the music for a while.
10. Get out of the car regularly. It gets really tempting to just put pedal to the metal and get to where you are going. But getting out regularly can really help with road fatigue. Especially if you take a short, brisk walk and get the blood pumping a bit. I use it as an excuse to get the camera out too. One of my favorite photos ever was from a rest stop on an overnight drive from CO to MN for Christmas.