June Fiber!

I got my first Spunky Eclectic Fiber Club today. 6 oz. of merino with 30% mohair. The colourway is called "Flowering Weeds." I spent most of the evening spinning. I've got about half of it spun up. It was a nice break from knitting.

Plus, the weather was nice enough today to scour some wool. It looks as if the weather will be cooperative enough tomorrow, too. I can't believe June is over. I'm on my last week of my sabbatical.

It CAN be done!

Okay, so I did complete a pair of socks in less than a week! Cast on June 21 and was finished June 27. And that was even taking a day to work on the cowl.

I found out, though, that some folks finished a pair of socks in a couple of days. That just seems impossible to me. Even so, I was glad to see that I could, indeed, knit a pair in a week.

I've cast on for a new pair of socks.

This is the Mud Season yarn from Spunky Eclectic. It was between the Koigu and the Spunky yarns, so I did a little drawing and Spunky won. I also decided to "come out" and photo ALL of my sock yarn.

I actually thought I had more. And for this week's challenge, I am attempting to knit two socks at the same time on one long circular needle. I'm using the Tofutsie's yarn for that pair. Right now, however, it just looks like a tangled mess.

I had the house to myself last night, so I watched HGTV. I noticed that a gal I went to high school with is a host. I smell a boob job and dental work.

CSA Booty, FO, and one down

The first tomatoes of the season! And a bag of FRESH green beans. We had catfish last night using Barbara's recipe last night along with the green beans. I'm a convert now too. This is a terrific and easy recipe.

Today, I made a vegetarian cabbage Borscht soup using the cabbage from this week and the beets from the previous weeks. Tonight, I will make the very first BLT's of the season. It's hard to beat BLT's with vine-ripened tomatoes.

The Peacock Cowl is done.

Cowls are a terrific short project. Perfect for gift giving. I highly recommend them. They are also good because nothing is hanging down. Nothing gets in the way when you are picking up dog poop or riding your motorcycle.

I've completed the first British Columbia sock and I'm about 5 1.2 inches on the cuff of #2. Thanks to the craptastic picture, my foot looks like a tree stump, oui?

Please cast your vote for the next sock or I might be forced to draw numbers!

Cast Your Vote!

The British Columbia Socks are coming along swimmingly. I love this sock yarn, by the way. For some reason, the center pull ball I wound was all in knots last night. It was a massive PITA to rewind.

Without further ado, please cast your vote for my next pair of socks.

The first one is Koigu. The second is Tofutsies. Third is Bonkers. Fourth is Spunky Eclectic.

Tonight, I am making Royal Chicken Cooked in Yogurt (Madhur Jaffrey) and Cabbage & Cauliflower in a Spicy Tomato-Mint Sauce (660 Curries).

Finished!

Here is the Baby Surprise Jacket.

What I learned: Be sure to slip the first stitch when making this for cleaner selvages.

Yesterday was the first day of Summer of Socks '08, which I am participating in on Ravelry. I cast on for a pair of socks using the sock yarn I bought on vacation. By last night, I was making the heel flap. Consequently, my fingers were a bit sore. So, today, I've taken a break from actual knitting and finished up the jacket and plied the multicolored roving. The yarn is drying. I plied it with a purple-ish sewing thread.

We also made garlic scape pesto.

One Month

It's hard to believe that I've been on vacation for more than a month. It sure doesn't feel like it at all. As usual, I guess I had lofty goals set.

Recently, we made some Limoncello to add to our homemade moonshine. It uses 2 pounds of lemon zest to one quart of liquid. So, I have tons of lemons to use up. We used some of the lemon juice to grill some shrimp on the barbie along with chipotle pineapple. I just love grilled pineapple.

I've finished the Baby Surprise Jacket. I just need to sew it up and add buttons. I'm particularly proud of this because it's the first thing I've made made with my hand spun. The colors look like a sunrise to me. I rented the DVD from the library to help me out. I'd love to make another one, but I don't really have a baby to give it to. I just thought this pattern would work well with hand spun yarn and I wanted to give it a whirl.

While making the jacket, I had to stop and ply some more yarn. So, in a fit of startitis, I cast on for a cowl. Kim says that cowls are all the rage to make instead of scarves. These are great projects for gift giving.

The yarn reminds me of peacock feathers.

Here is the booty from our CSA bag this week.

Check out the wild purple cauliflower! I just love it when Dan gives us wonky veggies. I've made Cauliflower with Panch Phoran for my lunches this week. Later today, I'm going to make some Cabbage Borscht Soup with all the beets I have.

Here is the latest spinning. I love the colors of this one.

Happy Birthday Piddles

Piddles is one year old today. Here's a picture of her right about when we got her. I tried to snap a photo with her birthday hat on today, but I can't seem to get her to sit still long enough for a picture. I'll keep trying.

Piddles is such a silly puppy. We play with her using the laser pointer (her name is Dottie) quite a bit. She still hasn't figured out it's not alive. We wondered what would happen when she saw her first lightening bug. Sure enough, she ran all over the back yard chasing them and eating them until she puked. I also like to put a few ice cubes in her outside water dish. She likes to stick her nose in the bowl and blow bubbles as she bobs for the cubes.

I've been working on the Baby Surprise Jacket out of my hand spun. Fortunately, I rented the DVD with Meg Swansen from the library. Right now, it just looks like a lump to me.

I've also been spinning up some roving I bought at the community organic farmer's market in Victoria. I forget the breed of the sheep. It's a natural brownish gray. I plied it with black crochet cotton. It's kind of boring looking, but I think it will make a nice pair of fingerless gloves. Spinning and knitting with black (or almost black) is monotonous, but everyone loves to wear those colors. I think it will be someone's Christmas gift.

The walnut tree in our back yard has been the bane of Sam's existence for years. Recently, I found a recipe for Nocino, so we made some today. I'll have to have a nocino party around Christmas to try it out. I'm also thinking of making pickled green walnuts. Later on, I can use the ripened hulls to dye wool. It makes a lovely brown.

The weather was clear enough over the past couple of days that I could process a small amount of wool. It seems to be raining about every other day here, so it's slow going. I'm not worried about it all that much, as it stays quite hot here until October.

Here's some more photos of Buchart Gardens.