Saturday, April 12, 2008

Endless Winter

It's been spitting snow today and the wind is blowing quite hard. I am so sick of this stoopid winter. UGH. We had a fire last night, and I'm going to start it up again momentarily. It's also a good day for French Onion Soup. I've started caramelizing the onions. The soup and the fire make the cold blustery weather bearable.
I've turned the heel and finished the gusset of the second Landscape sock. For all you sock knitters, you know this is the Home Stretch.
Five more weeks to go until my sabbatical begins! Hopefully, I'll have the majority of my knitting projects completed. In addition to knitting, spinning, and felting, I plan on getting this place organized. It will be The Great Purge of '08.
Tomorrow, I take my first wet felting class. I bought a couple of round bars of soap to make felted soap for gifts.
I've got Friday off of this coming week. It's Big Trash Day Eve. I plan on ripping out the carpeting in the family room and dragging it out to the curb.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Glorious Night

Wednesday Spinning Night needs to be renamed Glorious Night. I was ready to go about an hour early last night, so decided to grab a bite at Whole Foods beforehand. I picked up a salad and a small cup of cream of asparagus soup. It was lovely. They had a different type of salad dressing there that was just delightful! It is Wild Thymes Meyer Lemon Salad Refresher. I know I've said I've sworn off bottled dressings, but this was light and refreshing. So, I bought some!
Then, it was off to the spinning group. This was the monthly meeting for the KC Fiber Guild, so some gals attended that. Then, a whole bunch of women joined in afterwards. There were lots of spinners and one woman brought a drum carder. And, the shepherd brought her lamb.

My spinning is getting a bit more consistent. I even got a few remarks that I was doing much better. I found out that PJ from Cottage Fiber has a Fiber Club, so I signed up for that. I'm getting pretty sick of spinning the uncolored roving.

I got the Chinese and Indian Cook books in the mail yesterday. Yippee.
I'm up to the heel flap on the Landscape socks. I love this sock yarn. The colors are so pretty.
Tonight, we are having roasted cauliflower with soy-ginger sauce and scallions, roasted salmon, and a simple green salad with the new dressing.
When I drove home from work today, it was blinding sunny AND raining at the same time. Big alligator tears were plopping on the windshield. There was a little boy in the passenger seat in the car in front of me leaning his head out the window trying to catch the drops in his mouth. Spring is in the air.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Tate on Tuesday

Tate came over after work last night and we made Eggplant Parmigiana, Asparagus with Citrus, Parsley and Garlic, and a simple green salad with a vinaigrette. The recipes are from Molto Italiano. It's one of my greatest joys to cook and eat dinner with my kids. She's gotten quite good at cooking too. (She works in a hip restaurant kitchen here in Midtown.) It was fun gabbing and cooking. She indicated that she is now thinking of taking some fashion design classes.
I was wiped out afterward. Probably from staying up way past my bedtime Monday night to watch the NCAA basketball game. (I still can't believe the Jayhawks won.) Plus, Piddles barfed all night long Monday night. I spent most of Tuesday washing towels. Poor thing. She's all better now.
Tonight is Spinning Group. There is an actual Fiber Guild meeting tonight. But, there are always a few renegade spinners who skip the meeting and hang out in the kitchen. That's where I'll be.
Time to pad down the hallway to work.

Monday, April 7, 2008

Twisted

I've been trying to spend a little more time practicing spinning. While I'm still producing yarn barf, it seems to be going a bit better. I'm getting a tad more comfortable with my wheel. Best of all, the wheel isn't as interesting to the pets, so I'm interrupted less. The only problem is that this takes away from knitting time. Oh well. My goal is to get good enough to be able to attend Yarn School next year. And then, someday, I really, REALLY want to go to Rhinebeck.
I'm still plugging away on the second Landscape sock. I have really wanted to cast on using the Manos Tate gave me. I just can't come up with a good idea for two skeins of Manos. I've already made one "My So-Called Scarf," so I don't want to do another one. I really love this colourway. Any ideas?
Friday, I went mental on Amazon. I bought Jerk: Barbecue from Jamaica, Simple Chinese Cooking, and 660 Curries. Barbara recommended the first two; I can't remember how I heard about the third. It was probably Barbara. Oh, I can't wait to start cooking with the CSA produce!
Kim recently posted pictures using different color settings on her camera. What a FINtastic idea. I had to try it. Unfortunately, I don't think I have as nice a camera as Kim does.





I found out today that we are getting a substantial tax refund. Hoo Boy.