Who Needs Gauge?!

Earlier this past week (Monday to be exact) I took a class about spinning on a wheel. It was a one-day class, and we did a little bit of everything. We learned about fiber, washed and dyed some, hand carded, drum carded, and Viking carded small bits of fiber, and learned how to spin. I borrowed a Lendrum wheel to learn on, and made a bit of yarn.

It was good, because now I know how to do it. It wasn’t very hard once I started, it just took some concentration. Me being the impatient person I am, I had to keep reminding myself that I needed to take some time to make it come out even. I am definitely not interested in cleaning fleece or making my own batts at the moment. I also am not intending to buy a wheel, (although a certain someone has promised to let me borrow/try hers, so I am going to hold you to that) anytime soon, since I have so much other ‘stuff’ I want to do, and I am not getting accomplished.

Does anyone else have an experience where their drives and ambitions seem to stutter and fall by the wayside for awhile? Where you are not ‘off’ of your passions, but it doesn’t seem as important anymore?

Anyway, I also did something completely dumb yesterday as well.

I stepped on a very, very sharp DPN, and had to go to the ER to get a tetanus shot. It happened in an accident completely of my own making, and the good thing is that I didn’t drop the baby. It didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would, even when pulling the needle out (it went in at least an inch). The wound bleed hardly at all, and the wound itself is unassuming. All in all, the most traumatic part was the 3 hour ER wait and the tetanus shot (which hurts!)

I told Davis that puncture wounds happens occasionally to knitters. So if you wouldn’t mind sharing your stories in the comments so he believes me, I’d appreciate it. (also, tell if you took pictures of your injuries to share. he thought that was amusing as well.)

I had an epiphany today.

A lot of knitters out there (including me) have at least at one time or another wished they knit faster. It would be great if you could finish more projects, or get to more of the items in your queue. Believe me, I have lots of things I want to make. I was just thinking of all the great things I would like to make for my daughter, that even if I started them now it probably wouldn’t get done in time for her to wear it. I can also think of all of the reasons it is good to knit slowly (mindful knitting gives benefits similar to yoga, the pleasure of each stitch for a process knitter, etc). However I compare my speed to other knitters and wish I could just go faster (or at this point, knit at all!).

Yet when another online yarn-store ad appeared in my inbox, I realized that there is another benefit of taking time to finish projects. Don’t feel frustrated if you are feeling like you can’t knit fast enough. Look on the bright side; you save money on yarn because it takes you longer to use it! (ignore the stash flowing from the closet!)

“Please supply me with local lamb. It should be delivered straight to my door, sans irradiation, and not frozen. Only fresh lamb. To go in my vegetarian baked beans. I helped get this blog started, put a lot of effort into making it work right, so it is time it started to work for me.”

*he is not serious, no matter how much he will try to claim otherwise

Our trip to CO was great! The baby traveled very well, only minimal crying on the way back as the plane came in to land. She slept through the whole flight out!

We had a good time. We did archery, rode a zip line, hiked, rode mnt bikes, ate, talked, laughed, and had a great time with family. And who wouldn’t in a place that looked like this?

I’m sorry I missed seeing some of my cousins, but it was a great time. I also finished a second washcloth for the reunion auction.

In addition to the two washcloths, I took some of my bags I sewed out, and they were a big hit!

I don’t get it.

If I go to the store, I take my own bags. That way, I’m not wasting plastic. However if, I’m a bit too slow in pointing out that I have my own bag, they might put it in a bag first.

And what happens if this occurs?

They take the items out of the plastic bag, then proceed to throw that bag away!!

In a few days we leave for vacation in CO, to visit our family reunion we have every 5 years. While at the reunion we have an auction to raise money to compensate the family that puts the reunion together and organizes everything.

So I am attempting to make some washcloths to auction off. It’s for a good cause, and they take nothing to complete!

See you when we get back!

I just wanted to share the pretty veggies that went into making my pretty stir-fry last night!

Looks like some good eating!

So yesterday was the team time trial (TTT) of the Tour. The group over on Ravelry decided to do their own version of the TTT, by knitting for an hour, calculate your hourly stitch rate, and then averaging the top five from the team.

In order to get in my best showing, I decided to work on the Cobblestone sweater, since it was the least fiddly UFO I have in the running for the polka-dot jersey.

So far my sweater measures 10.5 inches from the cast on edge. I’m supposed to knit until it measures 16 inches, where it will join the arms. To me, this is looking a bit short. 16 inches? still looks short. So I held it up to get a better feel for the length.

Yeah, it will probably be fine. Might need to add an inch or two for Husband#1 depending on his liking.

And my stitch rate? 1431 sts per hour. Not bad.

On to stage 5 today, and a visit to the Dr’s office for some shots! ‘Yay’! (If I start rambling incoherently, it’s because I have a cranky post-vaccination girly at home!)

Today I watched a few seconds of the tour, and did not do any knitting. Instead I was busy buying fabric for kitchen curtains that Husband#1 has demanded, and fed the baby.

I did some cooking last week though, enough that it sounds interesting, so here goes.

On Monday I had made some rice, then added minced jalapeno, cheddar, and some chopped tomatoes to the hot rice, which accompanied BBQ chili beans and veggie dogs. Very good! Didn’t get pictures though.

Later in the week I made my comforting Soybean Corn Chowder, which I have a bunch of times a year, because it is so good! Again, no pictures.

Then, I got the baby to sleep a bit, and made a chocolate silk pie with dark chocolate silken tofu. The only picture I got is when I added the chocolate chips after I prebaked the crust.

I didn’t get a picture of the finished product. It was good, trust me! Next time I might not bake the crust as long, it turned out a bit hard, so I might take off a minute or two.

I also made some other stuff that was good. I can’t remember what it was. But for drinks I made rhubarb sodas!

This was the syrup. It says to cook the syrup until it turns pink, but mine didn’t, so I added a small drop of food coloring. It was good regardless.

Then I made some bean dip for the party I went to on Saturday. I put the recipe below. It’s pretty easy, and you can season to taste! If you don’t have the beans, you can substitute whatever variety you want. I usually use one can of white and one of black, but I went with pink beans this time! (Again, no pictures)

Hope you had some good food this weekend! I did!

 

Simple Savory Bean Dip

1 15oz can of white beans

1 15oz can of pink beans

2 tbsp minced parsley

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste

2 tbsp cashew butter (if you don’t have cashew butter, you can substitute tahini or other mild nut butter)

salt and pepper

3 tbsp lemon juice

1/4 to 1/2 cup olive oil

Rinse and drain the beans. Add all ingredients to food processor, except the olive oil. Process until a thick paste is made. Taste for seasoning. Start processor again, and add olive oil in a slow stream to mixture until it reaches desired consistency. Serve with chips, pretzels, or veggies!

de France, that is.

I’m working on gaining my polka-dot jersey this year, which means I will be attempting to wrangle my UFO’s into completion. Today I started with my stripy baby pants, which I would like her to wear before she grows out of them (I still have some time, but she grows fast!)

This is what I have completed thus far. Hopefully I’ll get more of a chance to knit, I have about another 4 inches of waist then the drawstring!