It's funny, but when I look at what I bundle myself up in during winter weather, little of it is stuff I made myself, or even knitwear. Wool, although lovely to work with, makes me itch. Alpaca is good, but makes kind of flimsy scarves. Knitted hats don't keep my head as warm when the wind blows as polyester fleece. I do love my musk ox cowl, which is thin, not itchy, and very warm and lightweight, but doesn't fit as tightly around my neck as I could wish. I have an alpaca scarf I made years ago before I learned about blocking, so the simple stockinette rectangle has rolled itself into a tube. Next time I block something I'm going to throw that in and flatten it out so it covers more of my neck. I have plenty of mittens, but somehow not in matching pairs.
I took stock on a cold day last week and counted the critters keeping me warm: silk glove liners, down coat, musk ox cowl, wool woven shawl used as a scarf, alpaca sweater and mittens. It's more of a committment for some of them - no getting a second shearing from the silk worms or geese. But I thank them all for their contribution.
All of the Star Wars figures that were requested have been made and given, and I gave the pattern book back to its owner because when somebody asked me this week whether I had any more Darth Vaders at home I could truthfully say, "No, and I don't have the patterns any more". They are cute, but like many amigurumi they take more time than you would think, especially the multicolor ones. When you have tiny little bits to crochet, you can whip out the stitches in a minute but then you might have to weave in ends and sew pieces together, which can take longer than the initial crochet work. I'm working on a red panda, which is quick to crochet, but then you have to cut out felt in just the right shapes, embroider the felt, glue the felt pieces on just right, and sew on the legs and ears and weave in all the ends. Tedious. No more custom orders this year, especially since I don't feel right asking people to pay for them. I suggest they give a donation.
I have 44% of the Hue Shift afghan done. I finished Chart 1 of a shawl in lovely burgundy laceweight alpaca, and thank wool I learned about using lifelines in lacework which has saved me a few times when I dropped stitches. I finished a cowl whose original pattern I can't find, but it's very simple: cast on a multiple of 8 (say 80 or 88) stitches minus one (so actually 79 or 87 stitches), then work 4K, 4P over and over and over again, which produces a nice diagonal effect. That used up a handpainted skein from Rhinebeck. I started a scarf in a feather-and-fan pattern with some cashmere that I got on sale. And I started a baby sweater, but the pattern had so many flaws and mistakes in it I gave up. This is supposed to be fun, not ridiculous effort, and I just wasn't up for the brainwork it would take to make it right. Maybe later. I have been planning to make this sweater for about 2 years, and I have the yarn, so I just need the correct state of mind. And I took a pair of needles and a skein of very manly alpaca to work so I have something to do during meetings. It's okay, they know me there.
During the summer the CSA provided all kinds of things I couldn't consume, so many got frozen away, along with the strawberries in May and the wild raspberries in June. This week I thawed some frozen cooked squash - some of it was butternut, but some was a big ugly lumpy thing that had dark orange meat (dense with beta carotene!). I sauteed some onions and garlic, then added coriander, garam masala, ginger, cinnamon, salt, and curry powder, then dumped in the squash and some water and let it cook for an hour. When it cooled I smoothed it out with the immersion blender and added a can of coconut milk. Man, is that good! It needs something crunchy, though, and gluten-free Chex actually work pretty well as croutons. Now I need to try not to forget the kale and beets. And the year-old frozen gluten-free lasagna I discovered while rooting through the freezer was pretty good, too.
Gotta go - yarn is calling me.
No comments:
Post a Comment