pink is the new black...

(top to bottom:  Socks that Rock in Lovers Leap, The Plucky Knitter aran cashmere in Doris VII)

Fuchsia, 'mangenta' or whichever you choose to call it, hot pink is the "in" color dictated by the fashion gurus.  According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, the bold vibrant color will also be showing up in everything from home interiors to electronics. 

Are you ready for the color explosion coming our way?  I am!

(super secret sock in Socks that Rock)

Fashion trend or not, I love this color and will continue to love it even when it becomes "so last season."

My pretties

I've been knitting around and around and around these past few days, but all this knitting has yet to yield an FO. No matter, I've been enjoying the process.  I could be a more efficient knitter based on what I learned in Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's class on efficient knitting, but with these two projects, I think I'll just enjoy the ride and not worry about the habits that slow me down.

(yes, those are cupcake stitch markers, aren't they super cute?)

It turns out that stopping to admire my knitting after every row slows me down.  I'm also thinking that petting the knitting and nuzzling with it after every row also doesn't help.  But how I could I not stop to rub the fabric against my cheek when I'm knitting Melody's shawl in 100% cashmere?  

And how could I not stop to admire the color variation in the hand-dyed yarn?

I can't be the only one who has these habits--note that I don't call them "bad" habits.  I know cheekyattitude stops knitting to pet her cupcake shawl, which by the way is the fraternal twin of my shawl.  Do you practice this kind of indulgent knitting behavior?  

Cake?

There are many great cooking and baking blogs out there and one of my new favorites--thank you to Pamela for sending me the linky--is smitten kitchen.  The raspberry buttermilk cake caught my eye this week.

I'm all about simple and easy for everyday cooking or baking, and it doesn't get any better than this recipe from the June 2009 Gourmet magazine.  

Place the raspberries hole side down rather than pointy side down so they don't sink to the bottom.  Or use any other favorite berry in season.

I'm thinking this won't be the only raspberry buttermilk cake baked this summer.

Hey, if I put "coffee" before "cake", then it's fine for brekkie!  Not that anyone needs permission to have cake any time of day. :)

Happy Friday, happy holiday weekend!

danger Will Robinson...

Who would suspect that having afternoon tea...

with scrumptious goodies in a lovely little complex...

home to a cafe, boutiques, artists' studios and a lovely garden would be dangerous...

for someone on a yarn diet?

Yes, one of the shops had hand-dyed yarn!

In case you were wondering, I fell down... but only one skein of a lovely red fingering MCN.  You can't take me anywhere.  

Do you think I can count that one skein as souvenir yarn?  Maybe?

through salmon-colored glasses

As part of my reconnection with joy, my fresh flower selection for the week was a bouquet of tulips.  Apparently, I'm still in love with orange.   From the entire tulip selection at the market, my eyes immediately focused in on the salmon-orange bouquet.

I also picked up ingredients to make cider glazed salmon, another great and easy recipe from "A Homemade Life."

The simple recipe involves poaching salmon fillets in apple cider.  Watch the salmon as it's easily overcooked.  Trust me, I know.

Once the salmon is done and removed from the pan, the apple cider liquid is reduced, a bit of cream is added and reduced further until thick and caramel colored.

I placed the salmon on a bed of sauteéd red Swiss chard and then drizzled lightly with the apple cider glaze.  This is another keeper recipe.  Even tastes good when the salmon is accidentally overcooked. :)

what friends are for...

I'm allergic to knitting with lace weight--to me, it's like knitting with sewing thread--but when I saw ilikecake's Melody's Shawl, I made an exception, especially since she knit it with cashmere.

The scarf/shawl requires a cast on of what seems like a gazillion stitches (about 240+) and knit in the round on size 9 needles.  Casting on was tricky, not only because of the number of stitches, but the lace weight yarn is so lightweight, I had to be careful not to twist when joining in the round.  But as soon as the first round is completed, it's pretty smooth sailing.  

Once the scarf/shawl is knit to the desired width, you bind off and then cut through the width of the scarf resulting in instant fringe.  It sounds scary.  I'll report back when I get to that point.

I'm using Plucky Knitter cashmere two-ply, colorway Madrone Lane, purchased on the way to Blue Moon sock camp at Churchmouse Yarns  just before my self-imposed yarn diet/fast.

Thanks to ilikecake for the inspiration.  She's such the trendsetter.

one skein wonder

Meet Sophie.  Soon she'll be wrapped and off to live with someone close to her own size.

Pattern:  Sophie, by Ysolda Teague

Yarn:  Mama Blue, Troika Sport

Colorways:  Naked on a Tuesday (for body),  Equestrian (eyes and nose)

Not only was she made with less than one skein, I used stash yarn!

Happy Friday, happy weekend!

joy

I was invited to take a joy+ride this month by neuroknitter and I'm taking her up on it.  I'm making a promise to reconnect with and practice joy.  

In coming up with a list of three joyful things for this month, I realized that I'm already making time for joy, but not necessarily being present, conscious and thankful for those joys.  So I've got the practice covered and need to work on reconnecting.

Here I go:

1.  Weekly date nights with DH

2.  Practicing my craft(s), guilt-free

3.  Fresh flowers in the house

I've got a longer list, but one day (or month) at a time...

  

Coming along?

hand knitted fun

Combine teenagers with mysterious superpowers fighting crime in handknits and a mom who owns a yarn shop and what you do you get? Well, you get "Handknit Heroes" the first ever comic book or graphic novel for knitters.

As an added bonus, there's a pattern on the back of each issue.  So much fun!

lighter fare

"Bikini season is upon us."  I overheard that cruel statement the other day.  Fortunately, the weather is getting warmer and I'm less inclined to crave heavier comfort food.

Yesterday's dinner menu included tabbouleh, which was actually super easy to make.  The hardest part was chopping up the parsley, tomatoes, cucumbers and red onion.

Look at flesh of this lemon.  It's some kind of hybrid that's yellow on the outside and pink on the inside.  Tastes just like any other lemon, but it sure is pretty.

After all that chopping, mix the chopped ingredients with bulgar wheat, a few squeezes of lemon juice, a bit of olive oil, and salt & pepper to taste.  Easy peasy.  I added just a very tiny clove of chopped garlic for some punch.

Then it was time to grill up some artichokes, and rosemary lemon chicken breast.

(I haven't quite figured out how to adjust for the indoor light, so it looks a bit yellow.  Any photography suggestions are welcome.)

Serve with a small dollop of nonfat greek yogurt and whole wheat pita.

Obviously I don't cook like this every day, although I'm sure hubby wished I did.  

Fall Down Friday

First of all, let's hope this kind of post is not a weekly occurrence. :)

I went to my LYS, Purlescence, yesterday to buy some needles.  On the drive over I kept telling myself over and over again that I was only there for needles and definitely no yarn.  If I saw a book or a pattern, that was fine, but no yarn!

Well, I was good, very very good, when it came to no yarn, but...  This lovely orange Amy Butler bag caught my eye and it came home with me.

And look, it has pockets for the needles I bought.

But seriously, it would have been so much better for my budget had I bought yarn instead... I suppose I could think of it as my small contribution to the economic recovery. :)

Happy Friday!

Finally!

It seems like f-o-r-e-v-e-r since I've finished a project.  And it feels so good to complete something.

Yep, count 'em. Two socks! Yippee!

Pattern:  Embossed Leaves

Cast on:  Channel Islands (very stretchy and it gives a pretty picot-like edge)

Yarn:  Mama Blue, Troika

Colorway:  Apricot

Fasting (spoiler pic)

I've been on a yarn fast for the last month and it's getting very old.   So the Plucky Classics yarn club shipment that arrived today was a welcome surprise.  (You see, club shipments are fine since I purchased those before the fast.  And if anybody is counting, that vacation purchase didn't count either.  Many people wrote to tell me that vacation yarn is a souvenir.  Love them!)

This shipment is a Merino/Cashmere/Nylon fingering weight blend in colorway Leona Stevenson from the movie "Sorry Wrong Number" starring Barbara Stanwyck.  It's primarily shades of gray with deep green streaks.

Not something I would have selected on my own, but still a keeper.   I can totally see it as a pair of man socks. 

Wine country

The weekend in Sonoma (right next door to the more widely known Napa Valley) was perfect.

Even the rain didn't spoil the getaway.  I hope you had a great weekend too.

Happy Monday!

under the weather

I woke up this morning to find the world looking somewhat like this...

When that happens, it's a good idea to stay home, take the day slowly, cuddled under a warm blanket with a cup of tea and a comforting knitting project.  The weather also befits my mood with an overcast sky and a gentle spring rain.  

Hello Friday.  Welcome May.