Chipping Away at Projects

How can a mountain of yarn be called a "stash"? Isn't a stash supposed to be something that you can kind of hide??

My so-called stash isn't hideable at present. Perhaps it's the six antique suitcases piled up in my spare room that is the giveaway. In any event, any completed project feels like such a triumph because it feels like I'm getting the stash "under control". Ha. Ha.

I recently completed this cute hate out of Cascade Magnum.



It's a Christmas gift for SO's sister who rescues turtles -- thus, the pin.









One more down. When I look back over the photos of what I completed this year, I do feel that I accomplished a lot, but still there's so much to go...and of course, many beautiful yarns yet to be produced and bought...and then there's the yarn I'm now slowly producing myself. To be a little more specific, so far this year, I've completed 25 items. Not bad and 9 were pairs of socks. My goal was to complete 12 pairs of socks this year and I've got a pair on the needles right now that I'm sure I will finish this year and certain that I will finish another pair before the end of the year as well -- so, that will make 10. So, I will wind up a little short of that goal unless I stop everything else in my life and knit 3.5 pairs of socks in the next three weeks. If I manage to do that, you will have to scrape me up off the floor by the end. I may not even be able to stomach putting a pair of socks on my feet.

One of the people I follow on FB had a goal to knit 12 sweaters in 12 months and is coming pretty close. BUT, she works in a yarn shop. OK, I don't feel like a slacker given that.

Creative Cloudburst

All of a sudden...after weeks of no spinning...a microburst of activity...



Any guesses where the fabric strips came from???











Wish I would have used brown thread. There's always next time, right?









Time to start working on some new ideas.

How to Work Off Your Thanksgiving Dinner

You know how the fitness magazines always tell you to take a long walk after Thanksgiving with your family instead of sitting around watching football on tv? B-O-R-I-N-G!!!

Here, at The Broken Dishes, we have our own form of family bonding after a big, heavy meal -- we skip the stupid walk, wait till late, put on our dark clothes, gather up the flashlights and go yarn bombing.


As we headed out the door, I recalled a line uttered by Michael Corleone towards the end of the Godfather: Tonight, we settle all family business.


Without further ado, presenting our 2010 post-Thanksgiving neighborhood yarn attacks:



We've originally hit this sign in the summer and it was looking pretty lousy. We've been waiting for help. SO's son and daughter removed the old items and helped me put up the new ones. SO's son had to climb the sign to get the hat taken care of -- it was nerve-wracking...tons of cars going by...we had to keep ducking down into the weeds. We even got sore legs from all the ducking















We finished up the attack with a much less difficult installation:



Ah, the beauty of the hooked rug! I've been saving this one for a long time. We had scoped out the spot months ago.









Now, about the Christmas-themed attacks...

Is it OK to Eat Pie for Breakfast?

Pumpkin is a vegetable and apples and blackberries are fruits...so, I think it's ok.

These are the pies I made yesterday:




Coconut
Pumpkin
Blackberry (Cobbler)
Apple





Around here, it's one pie per person. Everyone gets the pie that they want.


Even though there will only be four of us today, we will have the whole enchilada: mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, gravy, smoked turkey, cranberry sauce, etc. If there's something that makes it "Thanksgiving" to someone, I make it.

And, I've been cooking up a storm otherwise. Tomorrow some other folks will join us to help clean up the leftovers. Plus we are adding smoked salmon into the mix just for good measure. And, did I tell you we made some smoked cheddar cheese the other day? Yes, the smoker is getting a lot of use.

Little Green Suitcase Renovation Project

Can't explain it but I love old suitcases. I don't need anymore of them for stashing yarn in, but still when I find a bargain, I can't resist. So, last weekend, we happened upon the stray yard sale and I found an old Samsonite that was green with a putty colored trim. The seller wanted $4 but we hammered her down to $1 because the inside was atrocious.

The next day, we ripped everything out from the inside and found that the suitcase was stamped with "1950" on it. I had a small quilt someone had given me and we decided that would make a good lining and now I have a cute little suitcase for...I'm not sure, but I find something to put inside.

The pics:

Here's the inside after we stripped it down to the bare wood and went over it with bleach.













And, here we have the new lining!













And, now, the newly cleaned outside!










I'm most pleased with my $1 investment...

The CSA Chapter Closes

The farm shares are now over for the year (sigh of relief).

This did not work out very well this go round -- oh, sure, there were moments of culinary heaven when I had the time to really prepare the food well...but overall, the farm shares created a lot of problems.

For starters, I got bok choy fifteen times. I've still got three heads of it in the fridge as I type this. Contrast this to only getting broccoli four times. And, remember I was in two different farms...I guess the bok choy is super easy to grow and really pest resistant and the broccoli is not. I got very little corn and that is not surprising because the yield is very low when you don't use chemicals to grow it.

I love to cook but I like to be in more control of what I have to cook. When you've got three heads of bok choy and over a dozen sweet potatoes on your hands, you've lost control.

Three times between June and now, I've been out of town and had to give the shares away so I have to factor in that there was some money down the drain there.

I also will not miss having to figure out every Thursday when/how I was going to get the stuff picked up. Sometimes that was a problem too.

Probably the worst of it was that I had to throw so much stuff away. I'd say I threw out at least 30%, if not more. I just cannot use a dozen cucumbers in one week or even over the course of two weeks. SO doesn't eat them at all so cucumbers are all on me.

I've considered cutting back to a half share from the farm that stood out as the better of the two but there will still be the problem of too many cucumbers, eggplant, kohlrabi, swiss chard, etc. There will still be the problem of having to make sure I find time to go pick it up and there still won't be enough of the basic stuff like carrots, onions, and celery (no celery at all this year).

One thing I failed to notice is that my cooking guru does not have a farm share. She used to but because of all the reasons I mentioned above, she does not. I should have paid attention to that!!!




If I want to support the farms, I think I will just make a donation next year!

New Local Finds!!!

Yesterday in our travels, we finally had a chance to stop by a winery that is within a stone's throw from SO's house. I say "finally" because finding it open has been rather elusive. The wine store has very limited hours but I happened to check the winery's website recently and saw that they were going to be open every Saturday afternoon for the next several weeks.

We made it just in time. The winemaker's father was working the store counter yesterday and he was just about to close when we walked up to the door.

But, we made it worth his while to stick around. This little place is pretty amazing. See here for the list of wines they produce. All these wines from a little estate of only two acres (of course, they do supplement with grapes they purchase). We tasted a good portion of what they offer and bought a case so we could get into the "case club" (= 10% discount). The wines for the most part are not very expensive and we got a nice variety which will be useful with the holidays coming up either for serving or giving as gifts.

This morning I decided to make a pork roast in the slow cooker and since the recipe called for red wine, it was a good reason to crack open a bottle of their Chambourcin:












After we finished the tasting and selecting our purchases, emboldened by the wine tasting, I asked for a tour of the wine-making operation and we were given the tour. It is a very small operation and the yield on each production is only about 500 bottles so this is truly a labor of love.

After the winery stop, we stopped into a farm that raises cattle without hormones, etc., and got their prices for beef which we will order after the holidays -- by then we will be mostly out of the beef from earlier this year. This farm has beef available more often so we won't have to order as much which I think will work out a little better.

It takes a little time to ferret out little places like this but they are worth their weight in gold to me -- These little operations take a lot of passion on the part of the people that own and run them and it shows in what they produce. They deserve our support.

Sick Day from Blogging

Dear All,

No fun posts today...have to take a break till my tooth gets better. Root canal yesterday and still in a lot of pain. Time to take enough pills to be able to go to work. :-(

Special Sunday Post: Double Knitting Issue!!!

I have a little time today and probably won't have much tomorrow so I'm getting a jump on the week and posting now instead of my regular Monday publication.

I have two special knitted treats to share!

One (lousy picture) is the cream wrap I finished up recently:



Made from some beautiful un-dyed Rowan wool -- very soft and squishy. This is a picture of the wrap while it was drying from its post-finishing wash. It's made using four strands of chunky yarn at a time...heavy!!!










And, now, finally presenting: The Zombie BBQ socks! At last...oh, man, it seemed like I've been working on these forever (6 weeks). Way too much sock yarn to knit in my stash to be taking so long on one pair. Bottom line is I need an extra pair of hands that does nothing but knit. That would be really, really helpful.





I had to hurry up and take a pic of the socks because I needed to wear them today as they totally match my outfit. This is important even though I am wearing boots and no one can see my feet. But, I know.

My New Pride and Joy

I feel like a proud parent that is about to bore you to death with pictures of my newest offspring! But, I couldn't help myself by taking several pictures and then couldn't decide which one was the best for the blog. Why choose????

So, here it is -- art yarn that is inspired by spending a lot of time at the beach:



















I don't know the yardage and it's not important cause it's not for sale!!! It's mine, all mine...

Now, what next? I have an idea for mixing cream colored fleece with some vintage blue fabric and beads -- but not for about a week or so cause I will be focusing on knitting for the next few days.

Happy Halloween, 2010

Medusa, on her way to a party, in all her reptilian glory!