[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.

[crochet] Perfect Pineapples Doily

Pattern: Perfect Pineapples by Patricia Kristoffersen, Absolutely Gorgeous Doilies

Hook: 1.9 mm

Yarn: Knit Picks Curio, less than one ball.

This was my travel project for a couple trips during the month of June.

I love this yarn. I've used Curio for several projects and it's great- the yardage, the quality of the cotton, the price. Some colors of Curio are on sale at the website right now for $2.39. You can make this doily for $2.39 with lots of yarn leftover for smaller doilies.

I had some trouble with the very last round of the pattern- things weren't working out or lining up or looking good. I went to Ravelry to inspect how others had done their last round. It seemed like some crocheters were doing different things so I modified it to something that worked for me. My notes are on my Ravelry page.

It's blocked and ready for the fair!

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Speaking of the Tunbridge Fair, I received the premium book in the mail last week and I'm all inspired to figure out what I'm entering and what I still need to make. 

Last night we started watching Good Omens on Amazon Prime and it's soooo good and clever and funny. I love Neil Gaiman's writing.

Going to make some banana chocolate chip oatmeal cookies tonight. My janky bananas are reaching DEFCON 1 level of jankiness.

We had ssam last night- I baked some Asian marinated ribs in the oven and then pulled apart the meat to have in lettuce wraps (with extra mesclun from the CSA) with rice and ssamjang.

Still working on my never-ending mittens. I received a replacement skein of yarn in the mail- from the yarn shop in Bethesda, MD. I'm anxious to have a yarn-winding party so this is good motivation to finish the mittens already.

[cooking] Chive Flower Vinegars

Several weeks ago the chives were blooming:

The blossoms are edible and normally I just pull apart one of the heads and sprinkle the petals over an open face sandwich (speaking of which, it's summer and all I want is smørrebrød). This time I wanted to preserve them and opted for chive blossom infused vinegars.

From left to right- coconut, apple cider and brown rice vinegars. I stuffed three pint jars full of chive blossoms and then filled with each vinegar. I used wax paper to cover the top (the vinegar reacts with metal) and used the ring to seal. Plus, I was able to write on the wax paper which jar contained which vinegar.

Then I left them in the pantry for three weeks. I took them out:

Strained the vinegar into new jars:

They're so pretty! So pink! They don't have an overtly onion or chive flavor- it's mild but delicious.

I've made an Asian soy sauce marinade with some (ribs are marinating in it for tonight). These would make pretty salad dressings. Decanted into nice bottles, this would make a pretty gift.

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It was so nice to go grocery shopping and buy things that need refrigeration. What luxury. I bought so much Vermont Creamery cultured butter because it was essentially half price if you bought a certain amount. Butter freezes just fine, so I don't mind. And now I can do all kinds of compound butters. Some that have sounded interesting to me (based on what I have in the pantry and fridge):

- chai spice and maple

- dulse seaweed

- wakame seaweed and matcha

- carrot top maitre d'hotel

- harissa and mint

[vermont] Summer Garden Critters

It's been a week since my last post. Sigh. Last week was super busy with teaching but it was the last class of the year and I feel like a huge weight has been lifted. After I slept for about 16 hours. 

Then was able to spend some time around the flowerbeds- seeing what has started blooming (answer: a lot). Every morning I put out some birdseed in the driveway for the ground feeders (mourning doves, bluejays, a sweet cardinal couple have started coming, other smaller birds I can't identify) but there are three chipmunks that come and gobble the food up as fast as possible. They're pretty friendly and I've started coming out and putting the cup on the ground- waiting for them to come and start eating- so I can train them to let me pet them.

I've seen many cool insects this summer. This 12-spotted-skimmer dragonfly:

It was large and it's wings are so interesting. I love the transparency:

Red Admiral butterfly:

And this is a luna moth that I saw at work:

And here's Penny, watching the cedar waxwings picking the fruit off this serviceberry tree:

I know this small tree is very close to the house and blocking the view but it's worth it for the couple weeks that it's full of birds picking the berries. The window is open, we have the TV blaring, Penny sits right there or on the windowsill- and the birds don't care. They're only a few inches away, hopping around and eating as much as possible. I counted 7 waxwings in this tree at one point.

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The new refrigerator was delivered last night- huzzah!! I can't wait to cook again- we've been having either take out or ramen or toast for 10 days. I'm grocery shopping after work for luxuries like eggs and milk and butter. I'll never take refrigeration for granted again.

Let's see, what's on my to-do list for the week:

- Finish the mittens

- Sew buttons onto my niece's sweater

- block a little doily

Some food prep like mincing a few heads of garlic (I like to keep it in a jar in the fridge), baking banana bread with a few janky bananas, ribs... But tonight will be kimchi jjiae. It's been too long...

[misc] 4th of July

Had a nice, long weekend. Went to my mom's on the 4th for a BBQ. A Korean BBQ. 

Galbi shortribs:

Japchae:

Gimbap:

And a red, white and blue bundt that I made:

I brought some framed paintings from my cousin, who I visited while I was in Texas. One for me, my sister and my mom:

Back at home, it was so hot out that I brought the inflatable raft out onto the pond in the late afternoon:

The rest of the weekend was gorgeous (apart from a few short thunderstorms on Saturday). I puttered around the gardens and house. I started a pair of stranded mittens to fill the time until a skein of replacement Urth Uneek yarn arrives in the mail. I completed 1.5 mittens in four days and I'm a little burnt out on the pattern... but I had good TV to watch: Big Little Lies (Season 2), Outlander (I finished Season 2- where can I find Season 3 for freeee?!?!), Stranger Things (Season 3). 

Oh, and our refrigerator kicked the bucket on the 4th. The fridge part isn't cooling but thankfully the freezer is still freezing. I have a couple coolers and ice and everything has been moved out of the main fridge. I bought a new one (exactly the same as the old one- it's the only model that will fit into the cabinet space) but it won't be delivered until next Sunday. So... dinners have been creative. 

[knitting] Not a Vikings fan...

Making a sweater for my three-year-old niece:

I had two balls of Cascade 220 Superwash in my stash. I'm doing a top-down, striped pattern to use every last bit of the yarn. But now it's going to make her looks like a Vikings or Lakers fan. Maybe I can add green embellishments all over it and then it'll be a Mardis Gras sweater.

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Looking forward to a 4-day weekend. Should be good weather for BBQs and outdoor activities. Hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday!

[knitting] Kitchen towels complete

The cotton kitchen towels are all done- even machine washed/dried.

I didn't do the crocheted edge. I wanted to but was having a tough time reading the chart and I felt like it would make the bottom of the towel flare out.

These towels make me think of Outlander, which I was usually watching while I worked on them. I'm somewhere in Season 2 now. They're back in Scotland.

Wrong side of the towel:

I liked this style of mosaic knitting. I have a printed chart for a mosaic cat blanket but I can't seem to remember the pattern name... or find it on Ravelry... or anywhere online. 

They are already hung and being used in the kitchen:

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I've been finishing up projects left and right. I went to wind some very special yarn last night for a very special project- only to find that one of the skeins is the wrong weight:

What is the worsted weight one doing there? I wanted two skeins of fingering. Come on! I bought this yarn in DC in early June. I'm going to contact the shop to see what can be done... do they even have the Uneek in the same color and dye lot left? If not, I'm just going to pick up another skein somewhere online. Siiiigh.

So until all this gets sorted out, I have a couple balls of yarn to start knitting a pair of stranded mittens. These mittens are going to be so foxy...