Color in the Winter

I know I'm all the time complaining about produce in the winter. That we've sacrificed quality and flavor just to have an item available at an unnatural time. Plus I like to revel in enjoying a seasonal item when it's actually available. Clementines used to only be out at christmas, and it was an old-fashioned treat to have a "Christmas Orange" again. But now they're available all the time, and their magic is diminished.

BUT, there is a Fresh Market store nearby that has "Jet Fresh" Produce that is flown in twice a week from South America. I couldn't resist picking up a few things, they are all so gorgeous and I'm sure will be tasty if Fresh Market is willing to sell them. And there is a certain magic to have such gloriously colored foods in the middle of the biggest blizzard in over a decade. The orange was labeled as an heirloom variety, as was the tomato. Haven't encountered heirloom oranges yet...I will report back once I eat it.
The photo takes away some perspective - it's actually a good sized tomato, small pepper, and stupidly large orange. I've started thinking about our garden this year. Now that I'm set up in the house I'll finally be able to do some canning this summer!

Excitement, then disappointment...then hope?

I fell in love with this yarn from Steam Valley at a fiber show this past fall. It was at the very first booth I went to, and I spent a good chunk of money on it without caring that I might find other things later on I wished to buy. Now anyone who's attended a show knows you don't just go crazy buying the first thing you see. But this yarn refused to let me walk by. It's almost 500 yards of fingering weight superwash, and the photo does not do the colors justice.

I wanted to knit myself a pair of armwarmers from it. I found a pattern I liked with a chevron of ribbing down the arm. I swatched and my gauge matched PERFECTLY. Like, 7 1/4 sts/" on the button. Who gets that kind of accuracy -- or is it precision? No, I think it's accuracy -- on the first swatch with a different yarn and needle size than the pattern calls for? Call it serendipity, fortuitous, what-have-you. I was just thrilled for everything to be falling into place. Until I started knitting the project. The color repeats are much shorter than I thought, only about 4-6" which means they don't form stripes or even pools of color. They blend into a muddy palette that dulls the beauty of the skein of yarn. Very disappointing. I'd post a photo but I already unraveled it.

So, I still have the yarn begging to be knit, but no idea what to make it into. The color repeats just don't seem like it'll work for socks, yet that's what this yarn is intended for. I thought of something with short rows to keep the colors pooled, maybe entrelac, but they'd be really small squares. I might try the Swirl Shawl since I have the pattern, but don't know that I want to embark on a piecemeal project. Any suggestions or favorite patterns for this type of yarn?

Plus, and here's the craftastrophe part, I don't have a knitting project right now. I ordered yarn from Knitpicks to make a pair of hot pepper elf shoes but it hasn't shipped yet. This is not normal. I think all of us being snowed in has caused a wave of orders at KP that they can't keep up with. I need a portable pattern that I don't have to look at to work on in the carpool. I can't just let all that free time riding in the car to go to waste. I still like that armwarmer pattern, but don't have any appropriate yarn. I could dye some, but that won't help me NOW. I could knit them in white and dye them afterwards in a gradation or something. That's an idea...

Thought for the day

"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it." Edith Wharton

When I read this quote, my immediate response was that I want to be the mirror. Thinking a bit more on it, my reason was that the mirror can reflect the light of many candles, spreading more light than a single candle could do on its own. It can also increase the light generated by a single candle. It's not bound by itself to spread light, but can partake of all the light around and pass it along. Of course I realize the opposite reasoning, that some people would want to be the initiator of the light, and feel the mirror is nothing without the candle. But for myself, I know better.

Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you. ~Maori Proverb

Eye candy nom nom nom

Sometimes after a session of web surfing (oh please tell me we're still allowed to call it that) you've traveled so far from your original site you're not sure how you ended up where you did, but you're glad you did. This morning I started out on FB and browsing new knitting patterns on Ravelry. I linked through someone's blog and ended up on a site called Superherofan that is just a huge gallery of shirtless male celebrities. Pretty tasty eye candy, regardless of your preference. There's another site called Squarehippies that's great if you like guys with chest hair. The author of that blog is really funny to read. His indignation over Bon Jovi shaving his chest for his Sex & the City episode (he slept with Carrie) is a riot.

Resistance is Futile

I rented a car to attend a training session on using a graphical statistical software package being held in a nearby state. Ooh, let's hear it for sexy business trips! I was driving down with one other person and we both started laughing when they brought out our "mid-size sedan like a Chevy Malibu" and it was a Nissan Cube. First off, is this really a sedan? I think I was giddy with embarassment over it, especially when I noticed heads turning in nearby cars to stare at our crazy ride (complete with Alabama plates).We laughed over some of the ridiculous features, like the "ripples in a pond" roof.The Disney-trademark-infringement cup holders.I wondered over some of the oddments inside, trying to figure out what intended use they had. For instance, the shelf in the passenger side dash is a great place to plunk your knitting when you run into a store. That's the Nutkin socks done on 2 circs, if you were wondering.
It also was a handy spot to stand the driving directions. I suppose a GPS or iPhone would fit there equally well.A funny thing about this picture is that we tossed the directions when we got there, and didn't have any for the return trip. That area has many overlapping roads and is very confusing. After buying a map and being lost a bit, I was browsing my photos and discovered the photo of the directions that we could have been following!

The Cube also had the perfect place to hold an extra biscuit and jelly leftover from Bojangles. I'm so glad for such specific features in a car! Really, heated seats are one thing, but a biscuit and jelly holder? How can you ask for more!
By the end of the trip I was fairly impressed with the Cube's handling. It has the sharpest turning radius of any car I've ever driven. It feels more roomy up front (the "cockpit" according to the owner's manual) than a lot of SUVs. Everyone else notices you, so you're probably pretty safe on the highway. BUT it's just so goofy. Every time we walked out of a store and found it in the parking lot we had to make fun of it. Yet once we were inside, we were glad to have it. In the end, I'd recommend it to anyone who likes this type of car - it really is a good car. If you live with someone sarcastic, it might be hard to own an asymmetric cube-shaped car, no matter how great it is inside.

Ale tasting

My parents came down for a visit and I thought it'd be fun to have an eclectic mix of beers for me and Dad to share. He said he likes brown ales so I went to the local wine shop and told the manager what style I wanted. It was great being led around the extensive beer section having him pull bottles off the shelf explaining why each choice was special. He pulled a Dogfish Head ale down and I commented that I didn't really care for DFH beers. He seemed stunned, knowing that my tastes are similar to his, and said DFH is his favorite brewery. He handed me a bottle, saying I needed to taste it. He saw my hesitation and dragged me over to the counter to open it, saying I *had* to try it. He poured us each a healthy dollop to drink. It was pretty good, and I promised I'd give the brewery another try. So here's the array I ended up with. My favorite was the Boont amber ale. Dad & I had a fun time working our way through the lineup over their visit. They were all very different, and a few times we traded glasses after tasting each other's choices. Best of all, they're about 1/4 the cost of my normal Belgian ales. I'm pretty sure I'll be doing a similar style-tasting in the future for other varieties. Anyone want to join me?

New Year Deer

I woke up fairly early on New Year's Day (can you tell I'm a bit behind in my posting?). Like 7 am, which is roughly when the dogs' desire for me to be mobile overrides my ability to ignore their ear-flapping head shakes just inches from my face. God forbid I burrow under the covers, or a cold probing nose will worm its way in and guarantee I shoot out of bed in an instant. Still, I figured I'd enjoy a nice quiet morning since it's the one day per year you can pretty much guarantee everyone stayed up past their bedtime the night before. I brewed a cup of my awesome Teavana white ayurvedic chai and sat back to appreciate the morning stillness and snowy backyard scene. The deer in the photo was standing next to our fence, still enough I was able to run and get the camera.

The echoing gunshot that sounded next was uncomfortably loud even in our closed house, causing the dogs to whine and bark. No wonder the deer were hiding along our back yard - we all hoped the hunters had the sense not to fire towards the houses. I fully respect the right of someone who wants to kill a deer for food, but not in my damn backyard, and not at 7am on freakin new year's day! Thankfully deer season has ended and I can stop worrying about misfires finding their way into our yard and dogs.