[travel] Catching up...

It's been a little more than two weeks since my last post. Teaching, traveling, teaching. 

My travel was to Fort Worth, TX for a meeting. It was good to see colleagues whom I email frequently but only get to actually see once or twice a year. Fort Worth itself was... hot. Like, so hot. I wasn't ready for that kind of heat yet (real feel around 104F).

I was able to visit a nice local yarn shop: West 7th Wool



It was a lovely shop. I took a picture of this pattern because the pattern is Papillon / Butterfly by Marin Melchior (a Vermont designer). I bought the actual, recommended yarn (Urth Uneek and Harvest) for the pattern. It's going to be an expensive project overall but I'm certain it will be lovely.

I'm anxious to cast on for it, actually. I want to make it for the fair this fall. I've just got to wrap up the travel doily.

In Texas, I went to stay at my cousin's on my last night (she lives north of Dallas). And I finally got some delicious Texas pit BBQ:



I know it looks like a dessert there on the left- lumpy ice cream with a cherry on top- but it was coleslaw with some red peppers. That was great, too, but the ribs were stellar. This was the best dinner I had in Texas. I wouldn't have minded Ubering to reputable places during the week for dinner but my coworkers are all about staying within walking distance of the hotels- so our dining options were a little mediocre.

Apart from some FINE cocktails that we had at Acre Distillery in downtown:



Bloody Mary. In a boot. I need boot glasses in my life. And all the happy-hour mules I had before we great (a blackberry mule, a peach mule...). This place is a MUST VISIT if you're in Fort Worth.

I made all my flights home on time (with only a 20 min layover in Chicago) and it was nice to see Vermont again:



Actually, now that I think about it, I did have excellent Mexican food in Texas. Which put me in the mood for Mexican at home. It's nice to be cooking at home again- and it's all homemade refried beans and tacos and burritos since I've been back.

[knitting] Kitchen Towels

Using some Lion Brand Re-up cotton yarn to make kitchen towels:

The pattern is free on Ravelry and simply called "Kitchen Cloth in Mosaic Design". I think this is the first time I've mosaic knit before and I like it. You're only working one color at a time and slipping the stitches of the color you're not working on. There is also no purling.

It's a little loose- I think I used US 7 needles with this Re-up yarn but I plan on machine washing/drying these towels, which should shrink things a bit. This yarn is lighter than Lily Sugar 'n Cream.

I finished the pink one and started a yellow one:

This yarn is only $2 per ball at Michaels. It takes about two balls each of the natural and colored yarns (with some leftover), so it's $8 in supplies per towel. 

These were my Outlander knitting projects during my vacation. Seasons 1 and 2 appeared on Netflix and during the rainy days, it was knitting and watching Outlander. I'm almost done with Season 1.

Both towels are actually done- I just have to sew in ends. There are instructions for a crocheted lace trim, which I like, but I was having some trouble with the chart and I was worried about the trim making the bottom of the towel flare out. I think I'll give these towels a wash/dry and then add the trim.

[quilting] Old Windmill

I had the sewing machine out last week and worked on a quick quilt block:

All the original fat quarter fabric pieces for this quilt are dwindling- I've started randomly sewing together small pieces together and will continue to merge them. Then I can cut scrappy strips as needed. I should probably start laying out all the blocks and pieces that I have, to see how everything looks. And that should help motivate me to finish it.

[cooking] Matcha Swirl Bread

Vacation last week was just what I needed. I did a lot of gardening and sewing and knitting. Some cooking. I made a trip to Hmart with my mom and picked up a canister of culinary matcha powder. At home, I looked up some baking recipes and decided on a swirled loaf of bread:

It didn't rise as much as I would like liked but it's still tasty. I was unsure what to eat it with- normally I have matcha in the form of KitKats or ice cream. I toasted a slice and tried it with butter, jam and peanut butter. In the end, I broke down and bought a jar of nutella. With nutella is the way to eat this.

Still on the lookout for more matcha recipes...