Mid-Winter Doldrums and Knitting Success

Not much posting lately since there's not much to post.  Ah, the dregs of mid-winter.

I did finish another Knitted Quilt this week.  I'm not sure why this is such an appealing project, but I loved knitting this one as much as I did the first.  I suppose it's the fun of knitting with multi-colored yarn and the simple construction that is done in small pieces.  The secret is to finish----and I mean finish---each section as you go along.  If I had saved every end to weave in and every seam to do at the finish, the fun would get sucked right out of the whole deal.

There are mixed reviews about the Lion Brand Amazing yarn, but I'm a fan of that as well.  I like the subtle coloring and the "hairiness" of the yarn.  True, I can't vouch for how it holds up over time if it would be knit into something that gets more use.  I like it so much that I am already thinking about using it for another throw, the Mitered Squares Afghan.

To take its place, I've cast on a two-color cardigan pattern that is knit partially on the diagonal.  Now that I've started, I'm almost embarrassed that I had to buy a pattern to knit the darn thing, it's so easy.  That's why it makes good movie watching knitting though.  A no brainer.  Once I get far enough along, I'll snap a couple of pictures.  And...it's not brown.  It's violet and apple green.  Look out!

And I am making progress on my Cabled Afghan even though it's slow going.  Even at my speediest, it takes about fifteen minutes to knit across one row.  Not something I tend to pick up if I just have a little time.  I have to wait until I'm really settled in for the night.  Maybe it wasn't genius on my part to knit the entire width at one go.  I know I'll be happy when I'm done though.  Trust me.  I double-check each cable row to make sure I haven't made a mistake.  That would be deadly to go back too far on this monster.

In addition to mid-winter doldrums, the lack of posting is largely attributed to a lack of activity.  My cancer treatments are keeping me low on energy and very close to home.  No travel this winter.  We drove into Minneapolis last weekend and joked about how that's the farthest I've ventured from home since this whole thing started.  Not that funny though.  I miss getting away.  For now my excitement consists of hanging around home and getting out for clinic visits and treatment.  If there were ever a year when I have wished for an early spring, this has got to be it.  How ironic to wish time would fly by faster when you're not sure how much you might have left.  (Don't mind the gallows humor.  We're getting quite good at it.)

An Apparent Obsession with Brown Cables

January is prime knitting time.  Cold weather.  Long nights.  A great time to polish off some old projects and start a few new ones.

Late in the summer I had cast on a second sweater from A Fine Fleece by Lisa Lloyd.  This time I chose the cabled pullover Two Hearts.   The pattern has a beautiful intertwined cable that adorns both the front and back of the sweater that--like most cable patterns--looks more complicated than it really is.  One of those things that makes a knitter look good.  I love cables.  I love wool.  I love brown wool.  So yes, I loved making this sweater.  The fit is great, and I finished just in time for the first real cold snap of the winter.

I'll admit; this isn't the best picture.  I guess wasn't much in the mood for messing around with a camera on the day I finished blocking the sweater.  You get the idea.  Lamb's Pride Worsted is such a work horse yarn.  I like that you can splice the ends together as you knit to avoid all the sewing in at the end, and it blocks so easily.

Sticking with the brown cables theme...I've also been working on a brown tweed Cabled Baby Blanket with some yarn that I picked up when we visited Duluth in the fall.  I tend to over-buy with yarn and had purchased six skeins for this project.  It wasn't long before I realized that this would need to be one tall baby if I kept going on the blanket, so I stopped progress and grabbed a fresh skein to make a matching sweater, hat, and mittens set before I finished up with the rest of the yarn.  I had never used Encore's Worsted Tweed before and like it very much.  I wasn't (and am still not) sure what I'm going to do with this set.  I'm such a sucker for baby knitting.  And earflap caps.

So, if you finish something, there has to be something to take its place, right?  I like to keep three projects on hand: one to keep by my chair in the living room, one to keep by my chair where we watch sports and movies, and one to keep in a bag on the go.

My new living room project is an afghan that--surprise, surprise--is a cabled pattern made out of brown wool.  Demerits for originality, I know, although technically, it is tan.  The pattern is meant to be knit in strips and pieced together at the end, but I'm opting to knit the whole thing at once.  A single row takes a while, but just think, the faster I knit, the warmer I'll be.

I'm still working on my second Knitted Quilt.  That's a good project for TV watching.  And my new to-go project is a pattern I purchased online called Waffles with Syrup by Carol Sunday.  I'm knitting it in the softest pink blend of merino, cashmere, and angora.  See, I can use color.

As you can tell, I've had lots of time for knitting.  Reading, too. I've already finished two rounds of treatment and while it appears to be working, it doesn't leave me with much energy.  I'm so glad I have hobbies and interests that allow me to feel somewhat productive when not much else seems to get done.  I'm learning to measure progress with adjusted standards. 
 

Welcome 2012

You can tell it's been a while since my last post when I go from "Welcome November" to "Welcome 2012."  Looking out my window, not much has changed since that last post.  Unlike last year, we've had very little snow so far this winter, so the ground is still bare, the leaves are still blowing around, and the birds and squirrels are still scrounging around the yard and garden for the last of the seeds left on frozen plants.

In reality, during those few weeks, almost everything has changed, and the routine of life---that I'll admit I'm known to grumble about from time to time---has become very different due to a recent diagnosis of cancer.  The big "C."  I got the news just a few days before Thanksgiving, and so I've been getting used to this life change while lots of other things are going on a the same time.  As you can imagine, writing blog entries sort of went to the bottom of the list.

Besides, I had to ask myself, how much do I really share?  I'm a pretty private person and news like this exposes an awful lot more to people around you than is comfortable.  I wasn't ready to write about it here.  But I have thought about it, and now this is a part of my life.  So now, I garden, I cook, I knit, I travel, I keep house, I play piano, I volunteer, I do all the same things, and I have cancer.  Some of those things I do less while I'm trying to get rid of that cancer, but I'm still the same person.

Last year at the end of December, I made some resolutions.  I just read over them.  Some I kept.  Some not.  (Not too surprising.)  I think that during the coming year the plan is not to make a plan.  Or maybe the better plan is to improvise, to do what needs to be done during 2012 to keep enjoying all the things that I enjoy and continue to see uncommon beauty in this common life.

Welcome, November

What turns gold, must come down.

Fall clean up in the yard and garden is under way, and we've had a beautiful fall to get things done.  It's incredible the piles of leaves that accumulate week after week.  Just about the time you think you've made a dent, the wind comes and sets you straight.  I guess our motto is, "Rake until you shovel"--snow, that is.  No rush, by the way.

While there is a never-ending abundance of leaves, there seems to be a light crop of acorns this year.  I'm sure that must mean something.  Is it that the squirrels know it's going to be a tough winter and they've already "squirreled" them away, so to speak?  Or is it because there were so many last year, which by the way there were, that the trees are taking it easy this time around?

Regardless, here's to a warm welcome to November, one of my favorite months of the year.  A month for putting things in order and  planning for feasts and celebrations ahead.  A month of long and cool evenings for reading or knitting by a fire with a glass of something strong and smooth.  A month of soup and stew, squash and pumpkin, breads and pie.  A month for settling in.

Summer? Fall!

Feels like summer, looks like fall.  What more could you ask for?  The squirrels know as well as we do that this won't last much longer, but let's enjoy it while we can.

Last weekend we had a "function" that brought us to Duluth and the North Shore.  Lucky us.  In past years, we haven't had the best timing for our fall trips North.  It's either been too early, too late, cold, rainy, grey.  Sort of nice, but not great.  This year I think we hit it just right.

The sky was intensely blue, the leaves gorgeous, and it was close to balmy.  Short sleeve weather.  And you know what I love?  That fragrant, musky scent that hangs in the air while your trekking along a trail.  I know it's the scent of decay, which isn't terribly poetic, but is there anything better?  Bottle that and you've got something!

Besides the scenery, we always look forward to visiting some of our favorite restaurants in the area.  Duluth has some of the best dining spots in Minnesota, and we always look forward to a dinner of fresh fish at the Angry Trout in Grand Marais.  And of course, breakfast has to include a World's Greatest Donut--or two.  (That name may seem presumptuous, but they do not exaggerate.)

Just a week later, the show of fall colors have come to us.  Maybe this weekend we'll take a drive closer to home to admire some scenery. 

A Bushel of Roma Tomatoes...with My Name On It

So, we're walking around the Minneapolis Farmer's Market last Saturday picking up the usual stuff--corn on the cob, green beans, squash, etc.--and I see these bushels of Roma tomatoes.  Right away I'm thinking about big pots of tomato sauce bubbling on the stove and how it will be so great to have this fresh sauce at the ready for the winter months.  But I walk away.  Are you crazy?  You've got too much to do.  You don't have time for that right now.  Keep moving.

We bring a couple of bags back to the car and decide to head back to share a cinnamon roll and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.  We still have time on our parking spot, and the rolls did look really good.  Okay.  But I'm not saying anything out loud about those Roma tomatoes.

We're trying to get the sticky frosting off of our hands and walking through a few more rows of booths just to make sure we didn't miss anything, and I say, "Look at those bushels of Roma tomatoes.  Do you think I should get one a make tomato sauce." 
Now it's out there, and my husband looks very interested. 
"Would you make some of your Putanesca sauce?", he asks.
"I could."
"It's totally up to you.", he adds.  This is code for, "If you do get a whole bushel of tomatoes, don't expect me to get involved in your hair-brained scheme.  Just call me when it's ready to eat."

Now we're lugging about twenty-five pounds of Roma tomatoes back to the car, and I'm trying to figure out how many onions and heads of garlic I need and whether or not I still have enough fresh basil and Italian parsley in the garden to season the sauce.

In case you succumb to the temptation of a bushel of tomatoes, here's what I've learned over the years to make the process easier and, I don't mind saying, the final product darn tasty.
1) Don't bother peeling and seeding the tomatoes.  Cut them into chunks, eliminating the spot where the stem was attached, and toss them in the blender in batches to puree.  You can put them through the food mill to get rid of the larger bits of seeds and skin if you want.  I used to, but don't bother anymore.  We don't mind it.
2) If you add good stuff to a sauce--good stuff that you like--the sauce will be good.  I don't use a recipe.  If you like onion, add onion.  If you like lots of garlic, add lots of garlic.  You get the idea.  I  put in onion, garlic, olive oil, basil, oregano, parsley, and tomato paste.  Later I might add olives, Italian sausage, peppers--whatever I want--to this basic sauce before I toss it with pasta.
3) Freeze it.  I used to can my sauce; I don't anymore.  It doesn't taste any different to me, and it saves me that extra step.

Twelve Quarts of Tomato-y Goodness

Pickled Peppers

Pounds of peppers.  At least that's what seems has been coming out of the garden this summer.  Last Saturday I noticed that the Farmer's Market booths were plenty lousy with them too, so I'm not the only one experiencing a pepper boon.

I'll even admit that when I picked this last batch of jalapenos, they almost ended up getting tossed in the compost heap when no one was looking, but I couldn't do it.  I just couldn't waste them.

So, as long as I was doing a marathon kitchen session anyway, I decided to add some more Pickled Peppers to the pantry.  The last batch were Sweet Banana Peppers; this time it's straight up Pickled Jalapenos.

This was no fuss.  Vinegar, water, olive oil, salt, pepper, and a few pickling spices.  Quick chop of the peppers, pack them into clean jars, process, and done.  Toppings for enough Nachos for the entire neighborhood.

Tonight I have a clean refrigerator, fresh Cucumber Soup chilling in that clean refrigerator, a bowl full of Marinating Vegetables for dinner, and couple of jars of pesto.  It's definitely harvest time.