Another Shawl

Finished Shawl

The picture is crappy but it’s done and my camera batteries are dead, as usually. I really need a new camera mine doesn’t like to focus anymore and I want more megapixels. I’ve had my camera for four years and it’s been great but it’s time to upgrade. I have a few in mind and I think I’ll wait until later this fall and pick up something while they’re on sale.

That said, I finished my shawl. It’s pretty. It is also short, I ran out of yarn just like I was afraid I would. It ended up about 20 inches wide and 48 inches long, so it’s not short enough to be usable. It really looks so much better in person that it does in the picture. I love Knitted Lace of Estonia, in fact, if I had to knit out of one lace book for the rest of my life, it would win. I’m kind of starting to lose interest in knitting shawls, this is the sixth I’ve knit this year and I had joined 10Shawls2010 with every intention of knitting all ten, but I don’t even know if I want to try. Eh, it’s not a big deal if I don’t but I am needing some variety.

The Details:

  • Pattern: Lilac Leaf Shawl from Knitted Lace of Estonia
  • Needles: US5/3.75mm
  • Yarn: My handspun superwash wool with some little bits of soy silk and sparkle
  • Finished Size: 20”x48”
  • Modifications: None intentionally but mine is short since I ran out of yarn
  • Ravelry

I haven’t had a chance to knit or weave or really do anything except my work project this week, so that’s all I have. Have a great weekend!

Knit, Spin, Dye, Weave

In Progress

I’ve had a fairly busy week so I’m going to limit this post to the crafty stuff.

I finished knitting my Lilac Leaf Shawl and now I’m just waiting until I can remember to block it, I keep forgetting about it. The shawl came up short, it’s only about 48 inches long and I don’t know how long it will block out to be, but it’s fine. I guess I’ll block it next week.

Once the shawl was done I needed something else to knit on so I started a Rib Warmer in my handspun yarn, I think I actually posted this last week. Anyway, I finished one half and started the second and now I’m afraid I won’t have enough yarn to finish. This seems to be a theme with my knitting lately. Today I weighed the first half and then weighed the part that I’ve knit and the yarn I have leftover (there’s another huge skein that I didn’t take a picture of) and they’re close, hopefully I’ll be ok.

And I keep finding other things I want to make, a few sweaters and shawls that I want to cast on right now but I’m making myself wait a while, I have another KnitPicks project on the way and it’s a lot of knitting and only about two weeks to knit it, so I’ll have to knit like crazy when I get the yarn. Then I’m going to treat myself and buy some yarn for some things I’ve had in mind.

Handspun singles

I’ve been spinning this week, too. I’ve tried to spend around an hour a day at the wheel and I’m now up to six bobbins of singles and I have about eight ounces of wool left to spin then I get to ply. This yarn is so soft and fluffy and I can’t wait until I can knit something with it.

Dyed Yarn

On either Monday or Tuesday, don’t remember which, I did some dyeing. The little ball of yarn on the right was dyed a few months ago and I was trying to match that with the skein on the left. I used the same yarn (it’s Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool) and the same dye stock (it had been sitting in a jar in a cool, dark cabinet) but the yarn came out pretty different. The stuff I dyed this week has more red and less of the orangey-yellow than the first yarn. They’re close enough for me, though, I’m not picky.

Weaving

Looks pretty decent, right? I warped the loom with the older yarn and put a small border of the new yarn on each side (this was to make it wider, since the scarf was very narrow, I ran out of yarn fast). I’m using the newer yarn as weft (the strands going back and forth) and I think they look pretty good together, the difference in the color is much less pronounced when woven. I plan on weaving when I need a break from my KnitPicks project over the next few weeks, so I should have something to blog about while I’m working.

That was my week. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Knitting and Food

Garter Stitch

I finished knitting my shawl a few days ago (I can’t get a decent picture of it) so I decided to do a little fall knitting.  I’m making one of Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Rib Warmers in my handspun yarn, it’s a mix of Romney/Merino/Angora/Cashmere, it’s what I spun last year for the Tour de Fleece. I love the lumpy bumpy texture of the yarn and the dense fabric this is making. I think it will be great this fall.

I haven’t been knitting or do any other crafting much this week, I just haven’t really felt like it. I have been cooking a ton, though. I’ve been trying to eat more leafy dark green vegetables because I know they’re really good for you and have lots of vitamins and nutrients and things but with the exception of raw spinach and lettuce, I’m just not that into greens. So last week at the grocery store I bought a bunch of kale thinking I would try a couple different ways of cooking it and see what I thought. I had a little bit raw on a tomato and avocado sandwich and that wasn’t bad, it was a bit tough, though. Next I tried kale chips, which I’ve heard people rave about online for a long time. I sprayed a cookie sheet with olive oil spray and broke some kale up into bit sized pieces and laid them on the sheet, sprayed the kale with olive oil and sprinkled on some seasoning (I don’t remember what I used, Greek seasoning probably). Then I baked the kale for about 10 minutes at 350°, until it was crunchy. This was pretty good, it had a weird aftertaste but I think that came from the seasoning.

But yesterday, I think I hit gold with the kale. I removed the stems from the rest of my bunch (I had about half of it left) and put that in a pot on the stove with some chopped green onions and baby portabello mushrooms and about a cup of water, I also added a pinch of sugar (it cuts the bitterness) and a little salt and pepper. I brought the water to a boil and then immediately turned down the heat to let it simmer with the pot covered for about twenty minutes until the greens were soft. When the greens were done (and a lovely bright green color) I drained out the water and mixed in a little fat free Italian salad dressing. I ate this with a roll and it was a nice, filling lunch. I loved the way this came out, it had so much flavor and texture. The greens tasted good and I think this would be even better with either some white or kidney beans added in the pot and you could even mix in other greens, too. I think I’ll be trying some more variations on this later. It was really tasty.

I also made some vegan oatmeal raisin cookie ice cream and it tastes like a bowl of oatmeal, or like a oatmeal raisin cookie, only it’s ice cream. It was so good. And then today I made dog treats, which my dog loves and gobbles like crazy.

One great side effect of eating better is that I have a ton of energy. Unfortunately, I have nothing to do. I’m stuck in the house all day without a car and it is so hot here, it’s been 99°F every day this week, except today when it was 101°F with the heat index around 110°, it’s just way too hot to walk anywhere or play outside with Sally. I just keep trying to find stuff to do around the house but I’m not doing a very good job at it. I’ll try more next week.

Back to Normal

Yarn

My KnitPicks projects are done and sent back and now I’m back to my normal spinning and knitting. I had a bag of this beautiful, fluffy Shetland that is a mix of white, gray and a light brown all carded together and rolled into giant balls of wool, I thought there was a pound, but I weighed them yesterday and there is two pounds. Don’t you love it when that happens? I started spinning up the wool and finished two bobbins, it’s about fingering weight and I spun it  where the singles have a lot of air and they are thick and thin with little slubs. I’ll spin it all and then start plying, I think I’ll do a two ply and then I’ll lightly full it to make it a little stronger when I’m done. Hopefully I’ll have enough for a little sweater, even if it’s short sleeved. So far I’ve spun about 8oz and that means I just have 24oz left.

In Progress

In the evenings I’ve been knitting. At the top there is my Proverbial Cap, which is by Meg Swanson and is in the Fall ‘10 Interweave Knits. I’m using Wool of the Andes and I’m about to start the decreases but I’m afraid I won’t have enough yarn to finish. I know I have some more of this yarn but I can’t find it. If I need to I’ll order some more since I plan on ordering some lace yarn soon anyway. It will all work out.

The shawl is the Lilac Leaf Shawl from Knitted Lace of Estonia and the yarn is my handspun. This shawl is made the same way Madli’s Shawl was, you knit one edge, then the center, then the other edge separately and then you graft the edge onto the center. Like I did with Madli, I knit both edges first and then I’ll knit the center either until it’s as long as I want or I run out of yarn. This yarn isn’t looking like it’s going to last too long so I’m not sure how bit it’s going to be. This is my sixth shawl of the year and my third from this book. I think it’s safe to say I got my money’s worth with Knitted Lace of Estonia, especially since there’s a few more shawls I plan on making from it.

I might do some weaving next week if I can decide on something to make. I think I’d like to weave some yardage for a messenger bag but I just haven’t decided on that yet.

Have a great weekend!

Almost Back to Normal

I’m done, done, done with my work project and I’m two weeks early!  This means that I should be able to get back to blogging like normal again.  I’ve even cast on a new project already, The Proverbial Cap from the Fall 2010 Interweave Knits. I’m using some gray Wool of the Andes that I have leftover from my Minimalist Cardigan and US4/3.5mm needles. It’s dark and rainy right now so there is no way I would be able to take a picture of it, and I’m only three rows in so it’s much to look at yet anyway.

This week for me has been all about food. I mentioned in my last post that I want to eat healthier and stop eating dairy (again) and I’ve done a so-so job.  At least I’m eating better, anyway.  Sunday I made some mock tuna salad and I’ve been eating on that all week. It’s very tasty, much more so than it sounds. You just rinse a can of chickpeas and mash them (you can do it in a blender or food processor, I used a potato masher-thing that you use to make mashed potatoes, it didn’t work too good) and add a couple tablespoons of  mayo and relish and some celery salt and then I chopped a half a red and half a yellow bell pepper and mixed it all together. It made a great sandwich on toast and last night I had a little on crackers.  It had the same basic flavor and texture as real tuna salad. Then last night I had a black bean burrito (I’ll put the recipe for the filling below) and it was really tasty. Tuesday we had Dominos pizza and it wasn’t all that great, too greasy and I don’t really like their new sauce, it gave me a terrible stomach ache. For breakfast I’ve been having a small smoothy (just frozen mixed berries tossed in the blender with a cup or so of almond milk and a teaspoon of raw honey) and one frozen waffle with a dab of peanut butter. And I haven’t been snacking at all (except for the crackers last night, forgot about those). I really haven’t been very hungry except at meal time which is great since I’m a snacker who has a crazy sweet tooth, and that sweet tooth is getting to me.

I have been trying to think of something sweet that I could have a little bit of in the evening as a treat. I’ve been thinking of either some ice cream, pie or muffins. I found a recipe for a crust less vegan peanut butter pie (can’t find it right now but I wrote it on a post-it and it’s around here somewhere) that looks pretty good but I always worry about vegan baked goods, my experiences haven’t been very good with them. I also have a recipe for vegan peanut butter ice cream with Oreos and I really want to try that (since I made a non-vegan version not too long ago and I want to compare them) and I have everything I need to make it except the Oreos. And there are thousand vegan muffin recipes so I’ll have to look in to them before I decide on one.

It is so much easier to be vegan now than it was when I did it before. There are so many more websites with recipes and advice now, thousands of cookbooks and just so many more vegans. Not to mention all the fake meats and cheeses that there are now, I don’t really like them myself, I originally went vegetarian because I just quit liking meat (I always thought it was kind of gross so I wouldn’t cook it anyway, it was pretty easy for me to be vegetarian) and then I got food poisoning and that sealed the deal. The fake meat to me is just too real and it makes me gag, I can’t do it.

I think this has gone on enough, I’ll try to have some more vegan/vegetarian related posts in the future but for right now, here’s the black bean salad recipe. I’ve just been wrapping this in a tortilla and eating it like a burrito, it’s messy.  I think it would be good over rice, too, like a Spanish rice. A friend of my mom’s gave me the recipe and she got it from someone she knows at Weight Watchers.

Shoepeg Corn and Black Bean Salad

  • 1 16oz can Black Beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 16oz can Shoepeg Corn, drained and I rinsed it too
  • 1 Orange Bell Pepper, diced
  • 8 Green Onions, sliced thin
  • 1/2 tsp Cumin
  • 2 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
  • 3 Tbsp Lime Juice
  • 1/2 c fresh cilantro (optional)

Mix everything in a bowl and chill. If you’re on Weight Watchers (I’m not), 1/2 cup is one point. Tasty!