The last of the garden - and Cake!

I'm still getting back into the knitting groove, but I did manage to cast on something new. The Sherbrooke Cowl pattern written by my good friend Lauren. My sister got some yarn at Webs the last time we went - super soft and cuddly Valley Yarns Colrain. She got white, but dyed it a really pretty green. Two skeins are just enough for a cozy cowl for the ever dropping temperatures! Naomi looked through all the cowl patterns we could find in Ravelry, but she wanted something solid (lacy holes = cold!)but not too ornate or fiddly. Sherbrooke was the perfect pattern. I'm about 2" into it and it goes pretty quick as it's an easy two row repeat to remember. Hopefully I'll have it off the needles soon!

The chilly temps also brought to a close the gardening season for me. I was waiting for a few good cold nights to harvest my Brussel Sprouts. They sweeten up a bit after a few light frosts. I got a good amount, and they were pretty easy to grow. I did have an issue with some cabbage beetles, but it wasn't so severe. They mainly concentrated on eating the leaves and not the Sprouts.

They will make a wonderful side dish to dinner browned in some butter in a frypan. Yum!

I've also been baking. This weather and the fall apple harvest lends itself perfectly to all things baked! I have a wonderful apple pie recipe that I'm holding off on making until hubby returns home from chilly Buffalo, NY but I did make a delicious apple cake the other night. The cake was really moist and not too sweet. Great for breakfast or dessert!

Apple Cake

4-6 apples, peeled and cut into chunks
1 tablespoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons sugar
2 3/4 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
1/3 cup orange juice
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a tube pan with removable bottom liberally with non-stick spray. Toss the apple chunks with cinnamon and sugar and set aside.

Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Whisk together oil, orange juice, sugar and vanilla in a separate bowl. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ones. Add eggs, one at a time and mix until combined.

Pour half of batter into the tube pan. Spread it out evenly. Put half of the apples on next. Pour the remaining batter over the apples and spread until they are covered. Sprinkle the remaining apples on top. Bake for about 1 1/2 hours, or until a tester comes out clean and it pulls away from the sides of the pan. Let it cool for about 15 minutes, then remove the cake with the bottom of the pan. Slice and enjoy!

Berry-licious!!

Summer in food form. Nothing like strawberries and blueberries just picked. Right off the bush even! My sister and I headed out Saturday morning for a berry picking excursion. We were planning on blueberries, but imagine our surprise when they still had strawberries! Thirteen pounds of blueberries ended up in our flat in no time. Many of the bushes had tons of unripe berries on them. It is just the beginning of blueberry season here, we often can pick well into August. The strawberries were a bit harder to find, but plentiful none the less. We managed about nine pounds worth.

There is just nothing like them. I got home Saturday afternoon and picked some rhubarb from the garden and made a Strawberry Rhubarb cobbler.

The filling and cobbler topping were yummy. Unfortunately, the rhubarb was a bit tough. I'm not quite sure why - maybe it had been on the plant too long? This is my first year with a rhubarb, so any veteran rhubarb owners (Kristi??) chime in....

After munching all night on berries, on Sunday we headed to Sarah's for a crafty day. It was beautiful out and living in Rhode Island, she had a nice breeze going all day. We spent the day in the backyard knitting and spinning.

Naomi got to try out Sarah's wheel - a Schacht Matchless (Sarah - notice the one in this picture has the knob on the same side as yours?). She also tried out Sarah's sister's wheel - an Ashford Joy. It was neat to see her spin on different wheels, and I'm sure she really enjoyed getting to try them out. We also managed to get in some good ball time with Sarah's super great Aussie, Murph. Sarah put out quite the spread and we all enjoyed ourselves knitting, spinning, eating and soaking in the sun (some of us a little too much!)

I worked a bunch on the Phyllo Yoked pullover and after a momentary brain melt down, I am about a quarter of the way through the 57 round chart. It's nice to be doing a pattern than endless stockinette!

More CSA goodies come tomorrow, so a post on that and some more knitting soon!

A Couple of Successes and One Not So Much

Working through the bounty of the CSA last week, I did come up with a few new recipes that I think will be keepers. The first sounds really strange, but was strangely good!

Roasted Crispy Kale
Remove stems from one bunch of kale. Tear leaves into large pieces and wash thoroughly. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper to coat. Place on cookie sheet or rimmed baking sheet and bake at 375 until they are crispy and a touch browned. You will probably have to flip and move them around once during cooking to make sure all sides are cooked, about 10 minutes total.

It sounds weird, but the kale gets really, really crisp - almost like a chip - and melts in your mouth. I put a bit too much salt on (darn humidity made it clump!), but I can see doing this in the future with maybe some garlic powder and chili flakes too. Both my sister and I kept eating it and making ponderous faces after each bite. It tastes like nothing else I have ever had, and was unusual and good all at the same time.

Kale with Carmelized Onions and Balsamic
Based on a recipe in Vegetables Every Day

1 bunch Kale
1 large onion
olive oil
2 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
salt/pepper to taste

Remove the leaves from the kale and wash thoroughly. Set a pot of water to boil with a heavy pinch of salt. Plunge the kale in and blanch for 3-4 minutes. Drain. Saute the onion in olive oil over medium/low heat until carmelized and soft. Add the kale and Balsamic vinegar and cook a few minutes more.

This recipe I really liked. The carmelized onions added a nice sweetness, and the balsamic added to that with a sweet/tang that really set the dish apart! I have never blanched kale or any green before, but I liked cooking it that way as opposed to sauteing the heck out of it and making it soggy. This I will be making again.

Not really a veggie, but pretzels are a favorite around my house. My sister loves them and we seem to make them whenever she is around.

We use the recipe out of the King Arthur Flour Cookbook. It has never failed us!

The Spring Forward sock is now on a time out. I'm asking a few friends to measure their insteps as the socks are too small for my sister also. I have a bad feeling that they may just get ripped. The pattern repeat is 11 stitches - too many to add another full repeat to the sock. I really do like the pattern, so I may play around with sticking a knit or purl column inbetween each repeat. Or, I may just move on and knit one of the other ninety-billion sock patterns I have!

Blowing the dust off the mittens I started a while back, they are now back in the rotation with the immanent demise of the sock. Yes, I am knitting!

A Wonderful Day with Dad (and Knitting!!!!)

I hope everyone had a great Father’s Day yesterday. Me, hubby and the boys spent the day with my dad (and mom!) yesterday. We had a great day. We ate some good food, played cards, took the dogs for a nice walk (one of my dad's favorite activities) and just had a really great all around day. You're the best, dad!!

Another one of his favorite things is Sourdough Bread. I have been feeding and keeping a starter for about a month now, so I figured this would be the perfect occasion to see what it could do. I used this recipe and the starter performed wonderfully.

The loaves rose to about 3 times their size! They were beautiful. Then I scored the tops and put them in a hot oven.

Beautiful. The whole house smelled of bread baking. They didn't turn out quite as "sour" as I would have liked, but the texture and flavor of the bread itself was really nice. In feeding my starter next, I added a little vinegar to really up the sourness of it for next time.

There was actually knitting going on also this week! The back, front and sleeves of the Phyllo pullover are done, so I started to seam the sides in anticipation of putting everything together to knit the yoke. I finished seaming the first sleeve and stood back to take a look.

(excuse the over bright photo - flash!)
Something just didn't look quite right. I stared at it. I turned it over. Something was off. My knitters gut was telling me it just wasn't right. For good reason. It was the front, not a sleeve. Sigh. I ripped all that seaming out, and started on a real sleeve. By Saturday evening, I had all the pieces seamed as they should be. I'm hoping to assemble all of them onto one circular tonight and start the yoke!

My sister Naomi and I were also busy constructing some agility equipment this week. The teeter is one of the things that takes dogs a while to learn. Getting used to the movement is a huge thing! Ace now confidently does the teeter, but I would like to start training him for more speed. For this, I need access to the equipment every day (I like to do really short, daily training sessions - I think it sinks in more!). First, we looked at some photos of teeter bases, and drew up some plans using PVC from the local Home Depot. We set to cutting and assembling, tweaking and re-measuring and I really love how it turned out!

It is sturdy, and more importantly has an adjustable base, so I can make it competition height or really low for training (depending on how wide the legs of the base are set apart). I still have to get a few more things, but the board for the top has started coming together also.

The middle will be painted a nice blue. The entire board has sand sprinkled into the paint for grip so the dogs don't slide when they run across it. The ends are yellow to indicate the "contact zone" - the area that the dog MUST touch before any of their feet hit the ground. I'm hoping to get the rest of the board painted tonight and tomorrow (weather permitting!), and maybe some finished action shots later this week! Seeing how easy and fun this was to make, I'm putting together a list of the other equipment I'd like to make!

Bubbling Away

Today is cold. And wet. One of those days you call "raw". The mercury has climbed to a paltry 37 degrees and it's not supposed to get much higher. The rain continues and even is mixing with some (sigh) snow. When will it ever stop?!? I go home and look at my seeds and dream of spring. I know it has to come. I guess it's just a question of when.

Cold, wet weather always leads me to baking. I knew the weather was going to be less than ideal this weekend, so I actually planned ahead. Sourdough bread has always been a great love of mine. That tang, the "breadiness" of it - nothing can compare. My dad is also a huge sourdough lover, so I have a real desire to find a way to make some great homemade sourdough. The starter is the tricky part. Often times people use starters that have aged for years (yes, YEARS!), but I'm not lucky enough to have any friends that have a vat of starter to share. I was looking for a quicker and almost as tasty way of doing it. The King Arthur Flour Cookbook had a simple, quick recipe for a starter that would be ready in a few days.

It's looking good and by last night, it's starting to smell a bit sour. Three day starter I know won't compare flavor wise to the more aged ones, but I'm hoping for that trademark sour taste in the bread. Time will tell!

I did get to work a little on the Phyllo pullover this week inbetween secret sock knitting. The inches and inches of stockinette are getting done little by little. I figure if I do even a few rows each day, it has to get done eventually!

I do love the brown color. Perfect for the current new installment of Project Spectrum - the Earth element.

It's Going Around

Hubby was nice enough to pass on his hacking, muscle aching flu-type thing to me this weekend. I spent most of Saturday on the couch taking meds and napping on and off. I feel better today, but now I'm just coughing a lot. Not fun at all. But, at least we are sick together. Saturday was a good day to stay on the couch. I woke up to this lovely scene outside our windows.

About an inch and a half of snow. It's almost spring people!! I know, this is New England and we can get snow into May sometimes, but I am just sick of it. I am really ready for temperatures above 40 for a change!

So, to embrace the winter feeling, I made bread. Italian bread. Funny how a process that takes two whole days to complete, takes only 20 minutes to bake.

It turned out great. I got two nice sized loaves, and the house smelled wonderful. The recipe came from The Bread Bakers Apprentice - a book I have made several loves from. I can't recommend it enough!

With whatever virus I have knocking me out, I spent a lot of time on the couch yesterday as well. I tried to figure out what project to start next. Something small again? After looking several times through my Ravelry queue, nothing jumped out at me. So, instead I started a small part of something big. A sleeve counts as small, right?

This will eventually be the Phyllo Yoked Pullover (thanks for the pic Jody!) from the book Knitting Nature. I'm using some Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in a nice chocolate brown color that I got in a Ravelry trade. The yarn is working up in a nice fabric on #6 needles, and after a day on the couch, I'm just about done with the first sleeve. It's not the most exciting kniting, but I think it will make a really nice casual comfy sweater. (maybe for Maryland?) I have until the end of the month until sample knitting commences, so I'm hoping maybe to get both sleeves done.

I'm back on the couch today trying to clear my lungs and recover. Wish me luck.

Reunion

We had a great time at the agility trial this weekend. Ace got to see his sister, Gracie for the first time since she left.

L to R: Zeke, Ace and Gracie

She has really caught up size-wise. Little runt no more! She is within a few pounds of Ace (who recently tipped the scales at 19 lbs!) They had such a great time playing, running and doing tons of wrestling. A friend of ours also had her Aussie puppy at the trial, so he joined in the fun too!

Ace is the odd man out being the only black tri in a sea of blue merles! Lots of play time made for some exhausted puppies. It was great!

Tucker did well also - two Excellent Jumpers qualifying rounds. It took us a day to get back in the groove, but there were some very hard courses.

After picking up some books at the library the other day, I did want to recommend two that I thought had some wonderful content and information. Both have gone onto my holiday list!

Vegetables Every Day is like an encyclopedia of veggies. How to pick them, store them, cook them (recipes included) all arranged in alphabetical order. A wonderful resource.

Greens Glorious Greens focuses on the leafy greens that are plentiful in spring and fall. I know I had a very hard time coming up with new ways to use Swiss Chard and Kale or even what to do with Mustard Greens. This book has tons of recipes and also gives tips on growing greens. I highly recommend both!

Knitting continues on the second New England sock. I'm about halfway down the leg. Progress is very slow. It's a bit frustrating as I'm really enjoying knitting on it when I can steal a little bit of time when Ace is asleep.

Since I can't seem to finish much knitting these days, take a look at Steph's Deep V Sweater and Lolly's Aftur. Both are in my queue. I love the fact that Lolly used thrift store yarn! What a great way to get all those colors!

Mad Color Weave

They are done!
Pattern: Mad Color Weave by Woolgathering
Yarn: Filatura di Crosa Zarina, two skeins
Needles: #1 (2.5mm) KnitPicks circulars (Magic Loop)
Modifications: Did 10 repeats on the leg instead of 6. Added a great touch of color at the toe when I ran out of yarn about 5 rounds from the end.

Love. This. Pattern. There was no way I was doing only six repeats on the leg. I needed more. I really didn't care when I ran out of yarn - I just added a "design element" and continued on.

The pattern was fun and addictive, much like the Monkey pattern. It went very fast and by the second sock, I had the 8 row repeat memorized. The solid color just makes the texture in this pattern pop. The heel. The beautiful heel.

I have never done an Eye of Partridge heel before. I will be doing it again. The subtle texture is so pretty! This pattern was unusual as you slipped stitches on the purl side, not the knit side. Either way, the result is stunning.

After knitting the second sock, I did have some leftovers.

About a yard. It may have made it to do both toes, but I kind of like the little green dashes of color. Makes them a little different. They fit perfectly and I'm really happy with how they came out!

After I finished the socks, I had some free time this weekend so using the pint of blueberries we got with our produce delivery last week, I made some muffins.

Both Blueberry (from this book) and some Zucchini Blueberry as well. Both turned out yummy. I think I may have put too many blueberries in them as they tended to fall apart a little. Nonetheless, they made for a wonderful leisurely Sunday breakfast.

This week is pretty hectic. Lots to do - packing, choosing what knitting to take and gathering all the boys stuff to send them off to my parents. We leave on Friday first for Baltimore to spend the night and also the day on Saturday, then we are off early Sunday morning for the Outer Banks! Yay!

What else Can I do With it?

We picked up our weekly CSA delivery yesterday.

(like before, click for details)

Lots of goodies (some I'm not quite sure what they are yet!) - a beautiful head of lettuce (along with 2 other green leaf and a romaine!), and blueberries! Zucchini also was included. Because I have grown it before, I know zucchini's "zest" for growing. I still have some of last weeks.

After making the Zucchini Chocolate Fudge Cake last week, I needed to make something different that would use a significant amount of zucchini as it was piling up! I looked at a few different zucchini bread recipes, and not being happy with any of them, I made up my own using little bits from bunches of on line and book recipes I read. Turned out pretty yummy.

Not too dense, and very moist.

Zucchini Bread
3 1/4 C Flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
2 C sugar
3/4 C canola oil
3 eggs
1/3 C water
2 1/2 C (packed) grated zucchini (I left peel on)
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients, stirring well to combine. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs slightly, then add remaining ingredients. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry. Bake in two standard loaf pans that have been sprayed with nonstick spray. Cook about 1 hour until a tester comes out clean.

Zucchini Chocolate Fudge Cake
4 eggs
2 3/4 C sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 C butter or margarine softened
3 C flour
1/2 C unsweetened cocoa
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 C buttermilk (or 1 C milk with a little added vinegar, let stand)
3 C (packed) shredded zucchini

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream the eggs, sugar and butter, add in the buttermilk. Combine the dry ingredients together. Add the wet ingredients into the dry. Fold in the zucchini. Pour into greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350° for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

There was a frosting recipe included also, but it was really good just dusting the top with powdered sugar.

Enjoy!

PS - I had a highly unusual case of startitis last night. Details tomorrow.
PPS - If anyone has any really good zucchini recipes, forward them on! I did see a zucchini cake in my Nigella Lawson cookbook that may warrant a try this weekend.

Crazy Love for Cake

Just a short post before the weekend (I'm hanging out with Sarah!!) but wanted to post a few goodies. One food, one yarn - should satisfy everyone.

With the plethora of veggies we have recently come into possession of, I was running out of ideas for them. Anne was nice enough to suggest and send a recipe for a Chocolate Fudge Zucchini Cake. Yep - you heard right - veggies and chocolate all in one pan.

It turned out really good. Super moist and not too sweet. Just what I was looking for (and it used up 3 cups of shredded zucchini!) I may make a few zucchini breads as well this weekend and freeze them - feel free to pass along any tried and true recipes!

The yarn goodie comes from Klaus and Teyani way out west. Some Sock Hop yarn in the "Crazy Love" colorway.

How pretty is that!?! Outside my normal color range (I really wanted to go for the bright orange, but I felt I needed to broaden my sock yarn horizons), this should knit up wonderfully into Trekking like stripes. It is squishy soft.

A fun weekend is in store - some agility, some baking, friends and hopefully knitting! Have a wonderful one!

For the Love of Texture

I am in love. Truly in love with the texture and pattern of these socks.

It's not the quickest knitting pattern, but I don't care - the texture of the slipped stitches which are then twisted two rows later is beautiful. The mini twisted stitch cables down the sides - brilliant. The fabric it creates for the main part of the leg is just beautiful. Purl stitches set off the mini cables and add just enough to the more woven look of the main part of the leg. Love Love Love. The pattern calls for 6 repeats for the leg. Too short for me. I wanted more of this beautiful pattern! After four additional repeats I have finally started the heel. I wanted plenty of pattern and texture to look at on the leg.

The heel flap is also not your typical slip stitch or eye of partridge heel. The stitches are slipped on the purl side, and the twisted stitch cables continue down the heel as well. Love Love Love.

After missing out yesterday on the book I really wanted at the Interweave hurt book sale (by the time I could get through on line, it was gone - seems like they had the exact same server issues as they did last year!), I was glad my books from the huge KnitPicks sale arrived.

All packed full of beautiful inspiration. Just in time for more colorwork! I'm not so sure about the Vogue Color book. There is a lot of Intarsia, (which I don't really like) and not as much stranded patterns as I would have hoped. The other two - Selbuvotter and More Sensational Knitted Socks both look like they are chock full of goodies. I'm not a huge mitten maker, but the patterns in the Selbuvotter book will work very well for socks, hats and just about anything else. I'm looking forward to really diving into these this weekend.

Purgatory, Pesto and Piddleloop!

What a wonderful weekend. I got to spend lots of time with hubby (a rare occasion with both of our hectic schedules), got to be outdoors in the perfect weather, cooked a little and got some great gifties in the mail!

Our hike to Purgatory Chasm was interesting. We should have known by the sign.

Otis didn't read the sign. He didn't read that there were lots of deceptive and slippery rocks. Not being the most sure-footed of my canine crew, he managed to slip and fall into a "pit" of sorts. Both hubby and I aged about 20 years when it happened. It was one of those slow motion moments. He was walking on the rock, and the next thing I knew, his little face disappeared beyond the rock. When I went to peer over to see if he was ok, I was terrified as to what I might see. I had no idea how long of a drop or to where he did fall. I scrambled down, checked him over and helped him out. Luckily, he was unhurt. Tucker whined the entire time he was stuck down there. What a caring brother.

After regaining our breath and letting our heartbeats return to a normal rhythm, we decided on a less harrowing trail.

The park was a lot smaller than we thought. On the map, the trails looked pretty long. We misjudged where we were (thinking we didn't get to the far end of the trail already) so we just kept walking. We managed to cover the longest trail in a little over an hour. It was a nice walk - nice breeze, perfect temperature. I'd like to go back to explore the chasm itself another time. We did manage to see it from above on the trail though.

See those people down there on the left? That was one deep chasm.

After the excitement of the morning hike (and fall) I turned to a little cooking to further soothe my nerves. With the last CSA delivery we got a bunch of kale. Not quite sure I wanted more steamed or sauteed kale as I just finished a bunch of chard, I got a great idea from Jess to try some Pesto. I gathered up garlic, lemon juice, steamed kale, fresh grated Parmesan and some basil. All went for a spin in the food processor and I streamed in some olive oil.

Yum. It has such a great flavor! You would never know there was kale in it. I think it will be dinner with pasta tonight. Garlic and Parmesan? Can't get much better.

I didn't manage to do much knitting this weekend. Between the hike, working at the kennel and doing those fun household chores like laundry there wasn't much time left. Something knitting related did cross my doorstep though - my new bag from Jen and Wendy! (and here as well)

I saw this fabric on Jen's blog a while back and commented on how much I loved it. They then went and made a great project bag and matching little zip pouch for me! Now I will have a bag for every project - perfect for my vacation coming up in a few weeks - keep everything organized! They included loads of little extras too. Pins, notecards with quite the adorable monkey on them and some knitting sheep, hair pins - it seemed endless when I was pulling it out of the bag. Thanks girls!!!!!

Another whirlwind weekend has come to an end. I hope you got out to enjoy it!

5 A Day - No Problem!

We picked up the second shipment of our CSA.

(click for more details)

Lots more great greens! I have really been enjoying taking salad to work for lunch every day. We got 4 more heads plus some arugula, kale and some beautiful red chard. In the mix was also the red looking scallions - I'm think they may just be a different variety, but boy are they tasty - along with a thyme plant. I love that they send fresh potted herbs too. We should be getting at least one or two a week! I need to make more room in the planting containers! More strawberries (I love these tiny, really tart ones) along with some yellow squash and zucchini that we will be grilling this week.

Last night I tried a recipe for Chipotle Cheddar Chard and used it as a filling in some tortillas. It was really good. Chipotle is one of my favorite flavors (and places!) and it really livened up the chard and made for a filling and healthy dinner. I still have the head of kale left - not quite sure what to do with that. If anyone has any unique ideas, let me know!

I am at the toe of the first Whitby. I made the leg about an inch longer than the pattern suggests - it seems like I am going to have a lot of yarn left over (even with my big size 9.5 feet!), and I like longer sock legs on my socks anyway. The heel and foot flew off the needles last night and I will probably cast on for the mate today. Looks like I'll have leftover pink

With as quick as these are going, I best be looking at what I'd like to knit next! With more and more people becoming members of Ravelry, (a HUGE thanks to Jess and Casey - they seriously ROCK!) I have come to browse the site a lot more just looking for ideas and things I may have forgotten about. Mad Color Weave is one I recently found. I love the texture. These Leaf and Tendril socks by Cat Bordhi look to be a fun challenge. Crystalline Lattice is another great textural sock. Then, there is always quite a few Nancy Bush patterns in the queue: Friday Harbor, New England and Unst are some I'd still like to knit.

Or, maybe I should pick up the long neglected Street Smart Hoodie. It just needs a front and a hood. Though I'm still on a toss up about the hood.

For now, I will plug away at Whitby all the while thinking of what may come next. I hope it's not as hot where you are as it is here - mid 90's with crazy humidity!

Monkey!

Pattern: Monkey from Knitty.com
Yarn: Three Waters Farm sock yarn in "Sunset"
Needles: Handy dandy KnitPicks 32" #1 circs
Mods: None!

What an addictive pattern! I found myself doing many repeats without being able to put the sock down. The yarn is really nice - it isn't twisted as tightly as say a Koigu or STR, but it is really soft and the colors are beautiful! My feet are a few sizes bigger than my sisters, so they are a bit stretched out looking.

After I took the pictures, a good soak in my new limited edition Celebration fragrance Soak from always generous Sarah made the yarn bloom even more and get softer. They will be mailed off to my sister this week!

In preperation for my 3 day weekend in New York at the agility trial, I made another batch of the marvelous Tofu Brownies. I had previously brought some to the kennel and everyone demanded another batch to bring to NY with us. I think they came out better the second time.

With seven of us eating them, they went pretty quick. We even had them with ice cream on Saturday evening to celebrate our last night there. (More details on the trip in another post!)

We also got our first CSA delivery on Wednesday.

(click on the picture to take you to Flickr with all the details on what's what)

Talk about a lot of food! It took me 2 trips to bring it up from the car! Everything was really fresh and so green. I really don't think we'll be able to eat all this in one week! I washed up the red and green leaf lettuces and packaged them up for easy storage. The rest of the greens need to be eaten tonight before we get our other delivery today! I think it is going to be wonderful to have all these fresh, organic foods all summer long!

I have no sock on the needles right now (horrors!) as I'm debating what to start next. I'm leaning heavily towards Whitby (these are beautiful!) in some Pink Louet Opal. Coincidentally, Lolly just cast on for hers! (Great minds think alike!)

I'm gathering all my photos from this weekend - it was quite a time! The weather - perfect. The people - so much fun.

Look Away

If you are watching calories or dieting, you may want to skip this post. Links to yummies ahead.....

Brownies are good. No two ways about it. Blondies are actually my favorite as I'm not the biggest fan of chocolate in any form. (I know - first lobster, and now chocolate....) After seeing Browniebabe's monthly brownie line up here I just couldn't hold out any longer. I wanted something different. Not a typical brownie. I found a great solution with Jess's Recipe. They came out just as she predicted - last night they were cakey and moist. I have yet to try them today, but I'm looking forward to them becoming a bit more dense and fudgy. They were a bit more work than a normal brownie - I had to pull out the blender - but it was a great result with a big glass of milk. Hubby approved.

Speaking of sweets - have you seen these incredible knit topped cupcakes? How cute are they! Perfect for any knit and food gathering! They are so detailed - she did an amazing job!

Monkey sock #2 chuggs along. I still can't believe what a quick knit these are. I have only had a few limited nights this week to work on them, and I am already halfway through the heel flap. With the four hour ride to Vermont this afternoon, I see lots of car knitting! I do plan on having my friend Ivy try them on when we are in Vermont this weekend - she has the same size foot as my sister. The last socks I did for her were DK weight, and since these are fingering weight, I want to get a "second foot opinion" before I kitchner the toe and send them off.

Sorry for the sporadic posting as of late - life has been a little hectic! I hope to get back to more regular posting in the next few weeks. Have a wonderful weekend!

A Few Days Rest

I am back, but only for a few days - we leave Friday afternoon for Vermont! It was a whirlwind shifted weekend. Saturday I had some nice downtime. I finally got around to making the Farmhouse White Bread I've been wanting to try. The day was warm, so it was perfect for rising and proofing the dough.

The loaves came out simply perfect!

The flavor is great and the crumb is nice and tender. As an added bonus, it made three pound loaves, so it will last a while. We made grilled cheeses on it the other night and man, does homemade bread do a lot to pump up a grilled cheese!!

With the recent warm temps, I also pulled out the ice cream maker and made some Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream from The Perfect Scoop - a recent library find. There are tons of great recipies and if they turn out anything like this first try, my waistline is in big trouble! I also love the fact that the book has recipes for all the "extras" as well - cones, brownies, crumbly add in's and all the sauces. A double thumbs up.

My "weekend" was really Sunday and Monday with an agility trial. Tucker got his Excellent A Jumpers title and what was even better is that Hubby was there to see it! It was nice having him there for the day with us to root us on. Ravin is still having some ring stress issues, but actually stayed in the ring for his runs on Monday. Small steps.....

Speaking of Tucker, I captured this goofy shot of him over the weekend. Cattledogs are known for their need to "brace" against things - when you pet him, he always braces his front leg over your arm. When he's laying on the couch, he braces his legs against it. This, however, is a little extreme.

He is one wacky dog.

So, I bet you came here for some knitting. I did manage to get Monkey #1 done.

I'm not sure about the length as they are for my sister, so I may have to rip and re-knit the toe a bit shorter. The yarn (Three Waters Farm Superwash Sock)is wonderful though - no pooling, striping or icky color bunching of any kind! What everyone has been saying about Monkey is true - it is such a quick knit!

Feet: Four Legged and Two

It was a glorious weekend weather-wise. Temps in the 70's and not a cloud to be found. Lucky for me, I had to be outside all weekend! Tucker, Ravin and I had a wonderful, relaxing time at the agility trial. Ravin, still a novice dog, had some focus issues (he insisted on visiting all the ring crew) but I was happy with parts of each of his runs. Tucker made me proud on Sunday, earning his first qualifying round in the Excellent class!

Only two out of the 18 dogs in his height class qualified! His time was a little slower than the other dog, so he got 2nd.

While I was relaxing in my zero gravity chair watching the runs all weekend, I also got some knitting done.

Pattern: Canal Du Midi from Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush
Yarn: Shepherd Baby Wool 4Ply
Needles: KnitPicks #1 Circulars (Magic Loop)
Modifications: None!!!

They are a bit snug and short on me as they are for my cousin down in Maryland. She always lets me stay at her house for the Sheep and Wool Festival so I thought it would be appropriate to give her a yarn related gift! The color is great. A bright orange, but not harsh at all. Kind of sherberty.

I got this yarn for quite a steal at a Fabric Place closing for something like $2 per ball. It's machine washable/dryable and I'm guessing by the title, intended for baby garments. The colors it comes in are so non-traditional baby, I coudln't resist. It did split a little, but nothing that got me too frustrated. The pattern is classic Nancy Bush. Beautiful, well written and creative. The texture is amazing. This sock has both a heel and toe that I have not done before. You can see the square heel (by Elinor) here and (by Kathy) here. I also was skeptical about fit, but it seems to fit me quite well. My cousin tried on one sock while I was down there for the festival, and she seemed to like it also. It's funny, as you are knitting the heel, the instructions don't seem any different - then you end up with this square heel! I'm assuming it has to do with the number of stitches you knit on each short row - with the same number over and over, you end up with a rectangle as a turned heel instead of a triangle. Neat concept. They will be mailed off this week!

This weekend was also Mother's Day. Since the agility trial was only about 10 minutes from my parent's house, we headed over after the trial on Sunday. Hubby met us there and prepared my mom an incredible dinner.

It was so good. He truly spoiled us! I got scallops as I don't like Lobster (yes, you heard correctly!) but there was fresh spring asparagus, mashed cauliflower, mushrooms and a fennel salad. Deeelish!!!! My mom was thrilled and full. A very nice end to a wonderful weekend!

Our grass is finally taking off, so it's back to yard work this week. The mower is coming back from it's tune up today, so I'm sure my shoes will be grass covered by tonight! Ahhhhh, the smell of fresh cut grass in the spring. Can't be beat!