Once it was a sweater

So, during the aforementioned attempt at getting my shit together I hauled a sweater I had knit several years ago and just like the Mission Falls Cotton sweater, it was too big, not due to gauge but to an improper assessment of the size needed. Ah well, I am trying to correct that little problem. This sweater wasn't actually for me, but for my grandfather and I had measured it to a sweater he gave me for just such a measuring purpose. Unfortunately he has lost weight since the time we picked out the sweater and it was too large a size to begin with. As much as I love Jo Sharp's patterns, I think they are often over-sized and I didn't realize that at the time of either the cotton sweater or this one. Both were Sharp patterns. Oh well, it isn't like I mind knitting and both sweaters helped me get better. Lessons learned and all that.

That being said, the sweater had to be unraveled as Matt claimed it was over-sized not just for Hosmer, but for Shamu. Harsh but probably true. So unravel it I did but I am determined to reclaim the yarn. I love it and I must make it into a sweater. I am making it into a sweater for me though as Hosmer has already put in a request for "a nice cabled sweater" and picked out the yarn for that project. But before it can be a sweater it had to stop looking like this

See all those kinks, not good for the new sweater. So I put it back on my swift,

and then soaked the skeins in lukewarm water with a little conditioner, squeezed out the water and hung it up to dry in my shower. The hangers help to straighten it out a bit without overstretching it. And now it looks like this

New crewneck sweater here we come, but not before I finish the cotton raglan, I swear.

Finding a Favorite Summer Meal Right Downstairs

Today was a nice day, a rare day off from work of both the paying and unpaying variety. I am in a rare interlude between deadlines and I wasn't scheduled at either of my part time jobs so I felt a day of relaxation was in order. Well, okay, more like a day of cleaning up the apartment in preparation for the days ahead when I won't have time, but relaxing none the less. I managed to make it to an afternoon yoga class, always good to stretch out and find some balance, ran an errand or two and straightened up my office in anticipation of the work ahead. I also cleaned out the refrigerator, but couldn't bring myself to make a grocery run. On of the hardest parts of living in downtown Spokane is the lack of a local grocery store, even an over-priced under-stocked bodega. Ahhh, how I miss New York.

Anyway, without a stocked fridge dinner could have presented a certain problem, but I had a plan up my sleeve. One of my all-time favorite meals at anytime, but particularly in the summer months, is a bowl of steamers and an ice-cold beer. I usually throw in a salad just to be on the responsible side. Lucky for me I live above an Italian restaurant that very conveniently serves quite a nice app of steamers and very frosty beer. So I headed downstairs at the appropriate time with a book, my camera, and a healthy appetite. I was not disappointed. It turns out they even serve schooners of beer so I was able to indulge in a beer and a half, something I miss terribly from Ireland. When two is too many and one not quite enough, a half pint will always do you.

I didn't get a picture of the schooner, but doesn't that icy beer look refreshing?

Next time I will remember to get a picture of the bar at Luigi's. It is quite the cozy little haven and its website does it no justice at all.

Works In Progress (WIPs) Part I

Time to start whipping my knitting into shape and what better to inspire me than a little Noro?

So I thought I would get things going again with some current knitting projects. I came to the realization lately that I just have too many projects going at once, and not just in knitting. I have been in all sorts or non-completion ruts lately. Since my orals I have been flailing about in all directions, starting book after book without finishing any, or almost any, beginning knitting project after knitting project, only to leave most of them floundering on the needles while I move on to the next shiny new project, making plans for one exercise program after another, only to lose interest before any real results can be achieved. And these were just my hobbies. Hobbies should be helping me relax and focus on my work, not causing more flailing. Something needed to be done. So I made a list, and boy do I ever have some cleaning up to do. The list worked though, at least in terms or motivating me to get some projects completed. There are quite a few though, so chances are good this will continue to be an on-going topic. I am happy to report, however, that I have been working steadily on my grad work, meeting deadlines (only a few days behind schedule) and I started a novel and finished it up and am well on my way to the end of the next one. Wish me luck. By the end of 2007 I want to have my grad work and my hobbies well under control.

So about those WIPs, I thought I would start with a project I am rather proud of, and it is very fitting for opening this topic. When I was going through all my unfinished projects in order to make a real assessment of my knitting situation, I brought out this sweater from the back of my closet. I had knit a sweater out of Mission Falls cotton several summers ago while I was on a fieldwork research trip. I finished knitting the pieces on the road and then tossed it into a bag in my trunk because I didn't have the space on the road to seam it up. When I got home the bag went into my closet where it stayed until I moved the next summer. It has traveled with me through 3 moves and gotten no closer to being a sweater. I was determined to finish it. I laid all the pieces out, only to realize that I had clearly been in some sort of a body-image funk at the time because it was about 3 sizes too big. While it was supposed to be a baggy-knock-around short-sleeved sweater, it was clearly still too big for me. On top of that, my style has since changed as far as sweaters go and even if this had been the right size, I was never going to wear it. I took a deep breath, pulled out my ball winder and frogged the whole thing. I was proud of myself.

But what to do with the yarn, should it go back into the back of the closet, only to languish unloved for another 4 summers? I still loved the yarn. Something had to be done. I remembered a pattern I had purchased in order to stash bust and I pulled it out and cast on for Knitting Pure and Simple's Split Neck T-shirt. It is knit in the round, so no seaming problem and it was simple enough that I could work on it as my "I am too exhausted to knit, but I am too anxious not to" project. While it isn't done yet, it is almost there. The body is finished and I am halfway through the first sleeve. I even got to add my own little touch with some striping. Go me! Hopefully I'll be wearing it later in the season, when the temperatures are down from the unreasonable 105 degrees Fahrenheit they were last week.

Pictures anyone?

Raglan Sleeve ShapingBottom Ribbing with Stripe Above
It looks a little uneven in this photo but not too bad in person and certainly nothing a little blocking won't pull into proper shape.

Clearly this was not working

Okay,

So clearly I have been a horrible slacker in the blogging department. I have no one to blame but myself and while I have been busy busy busy as of late, the problem has really been a lack of focus. I am aiming to correct this, not just on this blog, but in general. This week will be a test for me. I have been getting my grad work under control, but the rest of my life has felt a little spread out. So time to refocus. That being said, I have also decided that this blog will not be just about food for now. It will also be a place for me to talk about another hobby, knitting. Other stuff mostly goes on the blog I share with the other women in my family, Red Peonies. Although I have been embarrassingly absent there as well.

As far as cooking goes, things have been slow lately. We rearranged all the furniture in our apartment recently and I am still looking for half of the items we displaced. But I have some actual days off week so I am looking forward to trying out a few recipes from a book I picked up on a recent trip to Portland, OR. I have wanted Nancy Silverton's Pastries from La Brea Bakery for years now and I finally broke down and treated myself to it. My father gave me her book on Bread a few years ago and I have made several tasty loaves under her direction. Later this week, pastries and a new bread recipe, although it will probably not be a Silvertonesque loaf as in all the life chaos I let my starter die. Sad times.

Knitting has been more productive because it helps me clear my head between grad work. I can't find the camera at the moment so pictures can come later. This was more just a, I'm still around, more details later post. If all things go right, I'll be back soon.