Sunday, November 27, 2011

Two balls in

IMG_0275I spent most of my Thanksgiving holiday knitting selfishly (and happily!) on my Vodka Gimlet.  Here’s how it looks after a little more than two balls of yarn:IMG_0273

Yeah, not that impressive when it’s still on the needles and shown on a nine-year-old.  But it serves as proof that I’m finally off and running on this project!

I also dusted off the spinning wheel and started making some yarn.  This is an alpaca/wool blend I got from The Spinning Loft in Michigan (by mail – but wouldn’t it be great to visit there one day?).  I believe it’s this: Louet Eastport Sliver in sea foam green.  And for my knitting readers, “sliver” is pronounced with a long “i” – rhymes with MacGyver.IMG_0236 I have neglected my wheel for too long and need to address my fiber stash!  Last year, S1 got me a gift certificate for this shop, a nice generous one that was enough to buy a rare breeds sampler.  But I ended up chickening out and not buying it, because the fiber required carding or combing and I don’t have those tools.  Instead, I just bought a range of other things, including some breed-specific prepared fibers.  All have been marinating in the fiber basket for far too long.  I’m interested in taking Deb Robson’s Rare Wools workshop at MDSW 2012, but I won’t feel worthy unless I spin a fair bit of my stash before then.  So, to the wheel!

Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival
West Friendship MD
May 3–6, 2012

A two-day workshop on "An In-Depth Look at Rare Wools." On Saturday and Sunday mornings, I’ll also be doing half-day walk-arounds in the barns! (The Sunday one will end in time for the Parade of Breeds, which I don’t want to miss, either!)

Here’s the link to Deb’s teaching schedule if you’re interested.

I’ve worked a bit more on Boy 1’s Crazy Brown Socks, but I’ll share those with you again next week.

I hope everyone had a great holiday.  What’s your favorite Thanksgiving food?  My “musts” include pumpkin pie, that horribly processed green bean casserole (just open cans and heat!), mashed potatoes and gravy, and a dab of cranberry sauce.  I like the good sauce, but I also like the canned stuff I was raised on, ridges and all.

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2 comments:

  1. StevenNovember 27, 2011 at 7:41 PM

    Beautiful -- and good on you for getting back to the spinning. I always enjoy seeing the product.

    Jeff says canned jellied cranberry sauce with the ridges is a MUST! I prefer sweet potatoes (the kind my mother-in-law makes with the pecans on and brown sugar on top, no marshmallows) to mashed potatoes, but I agree on everything else -- even the green bean casserole.

    We discussed this casserole at our dinner. My mother-in-law says it was THE thing in the early 1960s. It was new and exciting!!! Maybe our nostalgia for it has something to do with all having moms the same age? Look, there's a Wikipedia page on Green Bean Casserole! All hail Dorcas Reilly!

    I'm going to go have some leftover pumpkin pie (or maybe apple?) right now!

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  2. JanelleNovember 28, 2011 at 11:30 AM

    I am glad to see that the original recipe did not include soy sauce. I sometimes see that on the label but never include it. WRONG!

    My grandmother's sweet potato balls were formed like this:
    Mash canned sweet potatoes. Mix in butter, brown sugar, salt, and pepper. Wrap this gloppy mixture around a jumbo marshmallow so that you have something about the size of a tennis ball (maybe a bit smaller). Roll in corn flakes. Bake until all melty. Mmmm.

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