Chaps or Chinks?

You have to go to the Pioneer Woman's web site to find out.

And don't blame me if you get sucked in and can't stop reading all her witty, hilarious posts to the point of being fired from your job.

Thanks to Aunt Lisa for getting me hooked on Rhee's site.

Prayer Shawl and more Food

Juan's mom was recently in the hospital for brain surgery, so I wanted to make her something tangible that would let her know she was in our thoughts. I used the prayer shawl pattern from the Knitting for Peace book, though I didn't add the fringe because I thought it was a bit fussy.I love the colors-very muted browns and rose tones. And the texture is nubby and cozy. It was the perfect yarn for this.

Here's another meal from within the past few weeks.This was a pretty fast meal I whipped up one evening. I took some fish and cooked it picata-style, breaded with capers, parsley, and lemon. The potatoes are roasted with Herbes de Provence, and while they were cooking I separated the brussel sprouts so they were just the leaves and then sautéed them in olive oil and sliced garlic. Cooked this way, they keep their crunch, which is just delicious.

It's funny, because I actually did the same dish for Thanksgiving, and when I told everyone I was bringing brussel sprouts, their reaction was "Oh, good! We need more vegetables" in a polite, interested tone. When I brought them (I had separated the leaves already and just sautéed them there right before dinner), everyone was so surprised. They all said they had never had them this way and they were so good.... so, basically, they were just being nice before and were really expecting some gross over-boiled plate of green.

It really is such a misunderstood vegetable. If you don't think you're a fan, I encourage you to try them this way. They are so good for you, and while the separating process is a wee bit monotonous, I like to think of it as "meditation in motion" (thanks, Baron Baptiste).

Soup, Pizza and Knitting: It's Fall!

As I am full swing into Christmas knitting, I will have limited FOs to show until post-December. However, there are a few other non x-mas projects I've completed that I will spread out over the next few entries, interspersed with cooking shots.
Oh, here's one now! (I salivate just remembering this meal) Both are variations of recipes from the October 2007 Real Simple issue. For the potato and leek pizza, I used my usual Barefoot Contessa pizza dough recipe with the suggested toppings. Sooo good, and a nice variation from the norm. With the rest of the leeks I made soup. I used canned pumpkin with fresh squash and added a cut-up apple and some fresh grated ginger, too.

While the pizza and soup were warming me up from the inside out, my recently finished project has been keeping me warm from the outside in. Here's an in-office shot thanks to the MacBook. I really love this pattern: The Sunrise Circle Jacket by Kate Gilbert. I actually really like a lot of her patterns, and one of my Christmas patterns to someone is another of hers. You can get the pattern in .pdf format at the Interweave Knits free pattern page. The sweater is knit in three pieces, starting with the back. Then you start a sleeve and continue increasing until you get this fabulous half circle shape. Besides the ingenious construction, or maybe because of it, it fits perfectly. I did make the longest sleeve length in the pattern and for once they actually cover my wrists- mental note to do that for all upcoming sweaters of mine.
Nicole, you asked me at one point if it was felted, and no, it isn't, though it may look this way in the picture. If you want this sweater to really be a jacket, though, I would use a thicker yarn than I did. Mine was Elisabeth Lavold's Silkly Wool, which as the name implies, is made from silk and wool, so it has a little more drape than 100% wool would. This sweater went very quickly and I really enjoyed the whole process from start to finish. (Which reminds me, for you anti-finishers, there is a lot of sewing for the turn-down hems)

Well Hello There!

I apologize for keeping you waiting. I hope that you have not forgotten all about me. You see, I've had a very busy semester, and you know that's true when I can't find time to blog. Or read anyone else's blog, either. It's bad. Real bad. But, I'm back and looking at only three more weeks in the semester, including finals. The light at the end of the tunnel has appeared and is growing day by day. So, let's get started, shall we, and play a little catch up.

The Knit Wits, one of the knitting groups I belong to here in Winona, had a little field trip a couple of weeks ago to Carothers Country Farm Those are not horses you see grazing here. They're llamas. The farm processes wool and also raises and sells Argentine llamas.Being curious animals, they all came running down the hill to check us out, then promptly stood off in a group just looking lovely and waiting for the piropos to come flooding in.This little one didn't want to give me the time of day, just totally ignoring my attempts to get a good photo.Until I remembered that these are Argentine llamas. So I coaxed him over in my best porteño accent, "Che, vení, quiero sacar una foto de vos". And that worked for a second.
I forgot to get a shot of the studs in the other pen. Males and females have to be separated due to the whole induced-ovulator aspect (remember, we talked about this after my visit to Margaret's farm last spring).
How rude, we came right at dinner time.