[knitting] Glamour Socks

My travel knitting last week was a new pair of socks:

The pattern is free on Ravelry- Glamour Socks. I'm using Knit Picks Stroll yarn and Harmony DPNs. It's a thoroughly enjoyable, addicting and quick knit.

It also has a pretty beaded cuff:

The beads actually dictated the yarn for this project. I went into my seed bead stash- found blue beads and matched it closely to this yarn. For beaded projects (normally shawls), I bead as I go but for this, I did pre-string the beads onto the yarn.

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We had some lovely rain last night that cooled everything down by at least 15 degrees. And all the flowers needed it. 

Oh yeah, and I did make Vermont Curry for Avengers Endgame:

Had to break out the crocheted Infinity Gauntlet.

[gardening] Daylilies

This post is just going to be pictures of daylilies.

Gold edge to the above daylily:

I love daylilies so much. There are at least 6 different varieties that haven't even started blooming yet.

I know that I have at least 30 different kinds but I'm sure it's actually closer to 40. They are hardy and need little care other than keeping weeds away. And they are so beautiful- I feel so lucky to have a special daylily garden/grower so close so that I can get interesting new specimens every year.

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Made some kimchi stew for dinner last night. Vermont Curry is the plan for tonight- with Avengers: Endgame. 

Just found out that the American Cheese Society Conference is happening this week in Richmond, VA. The winners will be announced this weekend and then I can go on my annual cheese scavenger hunt next week!!

[knitting] Foxy Mittens

Wrapped up my super special mittens:

Pattern: Foxy Mittens from Winter Knits from Scandinavia by Jenny Alderbrandt

Yarn: Brown Sheep Nature Spun fingering, one ball each orange and white (with plenty of yarn leftover)

Needles: US 2

This was not a particularly difficult knit, you just had to pay attention since every single row on the fox face side was different. I'm happy with my tension and how they blocked.

I love my Estonian mitten blockers for this type of mitten with an afterthought flat thumb:

These end up rather long mittens, but that's okay by me.

There's only a bit of duplicate stitch left to do (black for the nose and around the eyes, yellow or green for the irises) and then it's done done. And ready for the fair.

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Was in DC for the end of last week. Upgraded to first class for the flight down for $46. Worth it. Had good food in the city. Happy Hour oysters at Clyde's, which is always a treat. Delicious and spicy dandan noodles at Farmers and Distillers.

And at Urbano in Alexandria, a revelation: house pork rinds and guacamole. You may be skeptical. I was. But it's the best combo and I'm kind of angry that this secret has been kept from me for so long. The pork rinds came out still crackling and popping. The guacamole was fresh and creamy. Together, it was dynamite. And it's keto or whatever if you're into that no-carbs life.

The only downside to this trip was no sleep. I stayed in a different area of downtown than normal and it was just police siren after police siren after police siren all flipping night. And street lights- I couldn't figure out how to close the curtains (it was harder than it sounds). And I tried to keep the room cool but the noisy AC would kick on and off all night. It was two nights of poor sleep in 45 minute increments. I was happy to get home.

My travel knitting was a new pair of socks (already done with one- going to cast on for the second tonight). My travel listening was the podcast Conan O'Brian Needs a Friend (I'm totally hooked). 

Back at home, over the weekend I cooked and watched the newest season of Jerry Seinfield's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. It was so good I binged all the episodes on Saturday morning.

Avengers Endgame comes out for digital purchase tomorrow so... I know what I'm watching tomorrow night!!!!

[gardening] Harvesting Lavender

Harvested the lavender this weekend:

I started these lavender plants when we first moved to this house, 8 years ago. That first winter I winter-sowed a crazy amount of seeds. The English lavender did well and I planted it in a few spots along the rock wall.

Over the last couple years, I've dug up a few small divisions and tried putting them around in some new places. Those plants are still small but growing. Progress is slow but the new plants did produce flowers this year.

I grab a handful at a time and snip without much deference. It only take about 10 minutes to do all the plants.

Back inside, without a fan, I sweat at the table while I stripped the lower leaves from the stems and bundled them together for drying. I was fussy at first, trying to group the stems together by height, but after an hour, grumbling and drenched in sweat, I reached the "Oh F- it! I don't care!" moment and started bundling them faster. 

And then I hang them upside down in the basement stairwell to dry:

I'll be making simple sachets and picking over some of the buds for culinary use. I made lemon lavender cookies last year that were the bomb. I'll try the recipe again and try to perfect it- I would like to enter them into the fair this year.

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I finished the mittens last night! Knit the thumbs, closed the gaps, sewed in ends, blocked... now I just have to wait for them to dry and then do the duplicate stitching.

I have a pile of yarn that I want to wind for misc projects but I'm traveling for work tomorrow. My plane knitting will be socks... but what pattern? I think a solid color with pretty cabling would be nice.

[cooking] Black Raspberry Bars

I went walking around on Friday afternoon, looking for more chanterelles. I found only one but I did see many wild black raspberries beginning to ripen along an old 4th class road on the property. I convinced Dollar to come help me pick in the 400 degree weather on Saturday. Ugh, the weather this weekend was brutal. But we managed to get about a pint and a half's worth:

Which was more than enough for some oat-y black raspberry bars. Before baking:

After:

I did want to do a thin tart with a pretty lattice top but the thought of bringing together pastry dough and rolling it out and cutting it and weaving a lattice... I felt hot and tired just contemplating all that work. This bar recipe is easy- mix some stuff together with melted butter, press most of it into the bottom of a pan, add a layer of sugary fruit, sprinkle the rest of the crumb mixture on top. Easy to do even when it's 500 degrees outside.

We had this with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. And the 600 degree weather didn't seem so bad.

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We watched all of Good Omens- so funny and good. We've started Killing Eve and that's been excellent, as well. I think we'll check out The Boys once we're done with this series.

[vermont] Foraging for chanterelles

I went out yesterday, hunting for chanterelles. I keep seeing pictures of them popping up at my local farmer's market so it must be time (drenching rain followed by oppressive hear- yup, that sounds about right). I've never looked for them before but did some research on proper identification.

What I brought home:

Not a lot. I wanted more but I've never picked/eaten these before so I decided it was the right amount for the first time.

I picked small ones. There weren't any big groups- just a few here and there. When I saw one and knelt down to cut it, I would inevitably see cap-less stems nearby. Something was eating them. (Deer?)

What to do with the small amount? Mushroom toast. I sauteed the few I had...

At the end, I finished with some dulce butter that I made a couple nights ago and scallions. I put it onto a slice of 12-grain toast and sprinkled a little parmesan on top:

C'est magnifique. (chef's kiss) 

Picking yesterday was tough. Stomping around for an hour (trying to be noisy because bears), the bugs, the heat, the relentless bugs... But the toast was sooooooooo nice and worth it. I have to go looking again this afternoon.

[spinning] Chartreuse and Blue Tunis Finished

10oz of Tunis fiber, purchased at Maryland Sheep and Wool in 2018, spun into a light-worsted 2-ply:

It's a lot of yarn. I don't know what I'll do with it, I'm just happy to stash-down my spinning fiber.

I spun this on my Ashford Joy, which is a Joy like the name says.

I started spinning a big sack of seconds from Hello Yarn on my Kromski Minstrel. It's been a little rough going. I've not used this wheel since last year. I have to oil it every time I sit down at it, I had to take it off double drive and switch to scotch tension to get the take-up I like, my Woolee Winder is yanking on the yarn when I reaches the end of the flyer arm and the loop starts going back in the opposite direction... It's all kind of a pain and makes this spinning feel like a chore, rather than a joy. I'm going to have to evaluate my wheels and see if I want to sell any. Or bring it somewhere to have some Spinning Wheel Whisperer tell me what I'm doing wrong...

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The banana chocolate chip oatmeal cookies were a success last night. I doubled this recipe and froze half the dough. The other half I put into the fridge to chill and then I baked off a dozen. I had one and the rest when to the band. Another band practice at the house tonight, so I'll bake off another dozen for this (different) band. I do enjoy baking and then giving all the cookies away.

I made my first compound butter last night with the oh-so-special cultured butter. First of all, this is what a stick looks like cut up (to soften faster):

It looks like cheese. How beautiful is that?

I mixed it with some dulse seaweed flakes (a couple generous tablespoons) and salt (half a teaspoon- which was a little too much).

It's so good- salty/umami. And good for you- lots of vitamins and minerals (although all the butterfat isn't awesome for you... but... worth it). It was great on crunchy multi-grain toast and over some pan sauteed zucchini. I'm keeping my container of dulse flakes on the counter and adding it to everything.