Yarn dying and blue shawl

Here it is! My second completed shawl. This one is done in a fingering weight merino wool- very light and drapey. And, I must say, very beautiful.



Also, here are some pics from my yarn dying experiment. Over dying, really. Dad's yarn had too much of a "pink" look to the lighter parts, so I packed up the kids and headed to Shop Rite for some Kool Aid. I wanted Black Cherry flavor, but they didn't have it so I bought a bunch of Cherry and Grape, hoping to get something close, colorwise. Unsweetened, in case you weren't sure.

So I bopped 3 packets into some water and added my wet yarn. Then I heated it to nearly boiling, put the lid on and turned off the heat. About 15 minutes later the water was clear and the yarn had absorbed all the dye. Sooo cool! And the finished product is color safe, too. Neat-o. Probably best not to think about what parts of you may have absorbed some of that lovely Kool Aid dye...



Here's the finished product, held up next to an un-over-dyed skein. No pink, right?



I'm pretty pleased, and hope it'll work for dad's vision when it's all knit up. I've started the sweater vest he wants and I gotta tell you, this yarn is amazing. It makes the most incredible fabric, so smooth and soft and squishy. Really quality (which is a damn good thing as the skeins took me forever to ball they were so twisted and knotted in on themselves. I thought I was going to go insane, but oh, its worth it!). Heh. Look at me go with the over use of italics!

Little Italy

Yesterday we went to New York's real Little Italy, on Arthur Ave in the Bronx. We'd driven through it before, but never stopped. Our visit began with Robert squeezing into a tiny parking spot that we found right away, which was delightful. Then we went to Casa della Mozzarella on 187th, and bought snacks of olives and grilled mushrooms. The olives were slightly garlicky and totally delicious, and the mushrooms were fabulous. We stopped to watch the crabs at a fishmarket (the kids were entranced), and then went to Calabria Pork Store. They had me before I even walked in, because their awning featured two pig wearing expressions of delight. Nothing like happy food! This store makes a variety of sausages and cheeses in house- we bought a fresh sausage with broccoli rabe and a dried sweet sausage. The inside was just hung with cured meat- totally rad.



I wanted to check out a deli I'd heard good things about, so I went there while Robert and the kids stopped to visit with the crabs again (Zion later informed me that the blue crab was his friend, so he had said good-bye to it). The deli didn't do much for me, which was just as well because it was about time for us to meet Mr. Faux and Kaori for dinner. Kaori had suggested Zero Otto Nove, so that's where we went. It's a relative newcomer to Arthur Ave, but has received quite a bit of praise in it's short time- most famously from the Food Maven. To summarize, some folks claim it's the best pizza in New York, and therefore, in the entire United States. Others feel the crust is lacking (it's quite soft and floppy), while others disparage the tomatoes. Still, no one says it's bad pizza.

There were 6 adults and the kids at our table, and we ordered 4 pizzas: Capricciosa (ham, fresh mozzarella, olives, mushrooms, tomatoes), Caprese (fresh mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, arugala, and parmesan), Quattro Fromagi (smoked and fresh mozzarella, gorgonzola, provelone), and La Riccardo (butternut squash puree, smoked mozzarella, basil, and pancetta). All of the pizzas were excellent but I'm not a fan of smoked cheese, so those ones didn't do as much for me. The Caprese (which was my top pick) was drool worthy, probably the best pizza I've had (which may not be saying much since I'm normally just a lukewarm pizza consumer). Yum.

Here's me and Mr. Faux and Kaori and Liel. Kaori was a perfectly beautiful pregnant mama, and Mr. Faux has accepted his move to the Bronx with good grace.

Good mail days

Yesterday was a good mail day for the kids. Skye found some kids books on the NPR give away shelf, and very sweetly mailed them to Zion and Liel, who were delighted to have new stories! Last night while Robert and I were cleaning up dinner they actually went and "read" all by themselves. Super cool, thank you Skye!!



Today was a good mail day for me (and Liel, heh). I ordered some yarn in a co-op about a month ago, and it arrived today! Lovely, squishy stuff. I'd be downright thrilled if it weren't for the fact that the skeins I ordered to make a vest for my dad are much more "semi" than "solid". Sigh! I knew it was a possibility (hand dyed yarn variation and all) but I'd hoped it would go more my way. I sent him pics this morning, so hopefully I won't be in suspense about whether or not it will work for him too much longer!

I also bought some yarn on Ravelry a few days ago, as I mentioned in an earlier post. It arrived today, too! So Liel and I frolicked in the yarn. I think she was a more enthusiastic squisher than I was, amazingly.

Here's what it all looks like on my couch (as I typed this Liel lunged at a bag of yarn and threw herself onto it squealing, "Yarn! Yarnyarn!").



I am a happy, happy girl.

Flowers

Where is the Spring?? I'm getting really ready to have warm weather and flip flops again.

This morning when the kids and I went out to do some errands we saw that a daffodil plant in our front yarn has yellow buds! And some hyacinth (I think that's what it is...damn seasonal flowers, they confuse me!) on the other side of the porch has purple buds! I can't wait til we have plenty of flowers and the trees have leaves again.

Last night I finally finished a shawl that I've been working on, off and on, for 6 months. I kind of hated knitting it for most of the middle bits. I'm not even sure why, as I quite enjoyed the end knitting over the past couple of days. I need to block it, but then I'll post some pictures. The one real hassle was that the yarn (which was given to me by Giselle, who bought it thinking she'd knit regularly and then decided that she wouldn't) had had a run in with some moths and they'd chewed clear through in several places. OK, many places. So it was a huge pain in the butt to wind, and then there are probably 12 different joins in the yarn that I'll have to try to weave in somehow. Still, the yarn was free and beautiful, so I really can't complain! And I'm quite pleased with the finished product.

The only thing I have on the needles right now is...another shawl! This one is in laceweight yarn (think: slightly thicker than thread), and I'm hoping it will be finished and nice enough to wear to Mr. Faux's wedding in a few weeks. I'm not used to working with such thin yarn, however, and I have already damaged my shawl! I held it out yesterday to see how it was coming and gave the bottom a firm tug hoping to line it up with the top. One of the threads in my cast on row broke, leaving stitches dangling and just waiting to unravel all my work. I almost cried, and had to put it down (very carefully) as I didn't have the patience or energy to try to fix it at that point. Today I went back and slipped thread into the loose stitches and tied the ends of the broken yarn to the thread, so nothing else will fall out at least. When the shawl is complete I'll go back and fix it with the matching yarn.

Finally, in totally unrelated news, the kids made some "Get well" drawings for Valentina yesterday. Zion drew 3 variations on the same theme: helicopters. There was "Two helicopters driven by beavers", "Helicopter with toy plane inside" and "Helicopter driven by many beavers" (his friend Gari has had all the kids at preschool building a beaver dam out on the playground if you're wondering about the over representation of beavers in his current art). When handed any kind of marking implement Liel will, 99% of the time, draw what she asserts to be a bat. But yesterday she announced that she was going to draw a mouse for Valentina. A white mouse, in fact (and she didn't let a little thing like a lack of white crayons stop her, either!). I was super impressed, because, you see, Liel draws bats because Fluffy, her lovey/ favorite thing in all the world, is a bat. And Valentina? Her lovey is a stuffed white mouse.

Productive

Robert decided to ride his bike to work this morning, even thought it was 29 degrees out when he left at 645am (for reference, it's a 24 mile ride, and he's found that his fingers don't really do well in below freezing temps for that long). This meant that the kids and I had a car on a day he was at work, a rarity in the winter/early spring. It also meant that he left home before Zion and Liel woke up.

At 6:55am Zion bounded into my room, ready to get Daddy and play a bit of trains before work. Only Daddy wasn't there. Zion curled up next to me and cried a little bit while I scratched his back. I pointed out that the upside of Daddy riding his bike to work was that we had the car, and we could use the car to go to the craft store and buy more stickers (the kids have "Kindness Charts" where good behavior is rewarded with stickers). Our sticker supplies are non-existent at this point. That perked him right up; he actually sat up and began speaking very fast in his excitement over new stickers. He would choose dog stickers, he told me. Did I remember that little white dog sticker? It was so cute.

I heard Liel, so I got her and brought her to bed, too. She'd peed in her diaper and said she didn't need to pee anymore, and I naively trusted her. She and Zion bounced around the bed for a few minutes, and then Liel fell off and bonked her head, just as I'd been warning her she might if she continued to disregard the edge of the bed in such a callous fashion. Wailing ensued. So I scooped her right up and snuggled her on my lap. 5 seconds later she froze. "I need to potty", she announced, and right at that moment I felt pee all over my legs. And my sheets. So we all got out of bed and I started a load of laundry.

By 9am everyone had had breakfast and we'd made applesauce (from the last of our CSA apples) and granola. By 10am we were all dressed and out the door. We went to the craft store and bought stickers (and I negotiated cart politics since they both wanted to ride). We went to the grocery store and bought supplies for the nursery school (and I negotiated more cart politics, which ended with Zion being asked to leave the cart since several warnings had not produced kind behavior towards his sister. He laid down in the check out aisle for a moment and then got teary and came over for a hug). We came home and hand lunch. We read stories. I put Liel down to nap and Zion and I sorted through all the hand me down clothes our friends have sent for Liel. We filled two boxes of things that Liel has outgrown or that won't fit her next season to return to the Tolls, and made the happy discovery that Liel doesn't need anything for her summer wardrobe other than a pair of flip flops (Zion is a different story, of course. No one seems to send us little boy clothes! And if Zion is any indication I know why: they are all too worn out to be reused). We boxed the clothes, and a package for Becka. After nap time we took them to the post office, and went to the library to get a DVD Robert wants to show in his Religion and Contemporary Art class tomorrow.

And I even cooked dinner.

Yarn money

So, it turns out that I knit more than I can wear. And I'd like to buy more yarn. So from time to time I'll post stuff here that I'd like to re-home. If you're interested in buying, leave me a message and we'll chat!

Tonight I'm offering up this sweater I designed. I love it! It's cozy and warm, and the (hand spun and hand dyed) wool yarn is soft enough to wear next to the skin. I think it could fit a bust size of anywhere from 33"-38" depending on how you like to wear your sweaters (for reference I'm about a 36" bust). Totally one of a kind!




I'll send it to you for $60, including US shipping!!

Wanna go down to the dump?

Just moments ago I took Liel to the bathroom to pee. First she arranged her "gun" (one of Robert's juggling clubs) next to the toilet, and then she peed. After she had done so, I handed her some toilet paper.

Liel grabbed the toilet paper and stuffed her hand between her legs. Then she held still. "I did wipe", she announced, not moving.

"Oh.", I said. "What are you doing now?"

"I wiping", she replied. Then she pulled her hand out and said, "May I have some more toilet paper?"

"Yes", I said, handing her some.

This time Liel quite obviously wiped herself. "Did you accidentally drop the toilet paper the first time?", I asked shrewdly.

"Huh, I did", she confirmed as I helped her down.

"That's alright", I said, "sometimes that happens." Liel continued to stand right in front of the toilet, staring at me. "Well", I said, "could you please move? I think I'll pee now".

Liel picked up her gun. "And I think I'll go shoot some rats!", she said as she exited the bathroom.

Eating your veggies

Both kids have colds. Nothing awful, but Liel's been feeling pretty icky and wanting lots of physical contact. She's woken up several times already tonight crying because she can't find her nose-wiping cloth. Poor baby! I gave her a homeopathic sinus remedy and snuggled her and told her I'd come back if she needed me. "I dooooo!", she wailed. So I stayed until she fell asleep. She's so sweet and sad!

But on to the veggies! Due to my near-complete lack of pots (Emile Henry has not responded to my email, I need to remember to CALL them, sigh!) dinner can be challenging to cook. Tonight I made pita bread and hummus and steamed broccoli. Ooooo. Ahhhhh. Liel actually likes broccoli and was eager to eat hers as soon as it was cool. At least, she was eager to eat about 2/3'ds of it. Then she got bored and started shredding it into a pile next to her plate. "Rrrrrrip!", she said happily, "Rrrrrrip!"

Zion meanwhile downed his hummus and pretended his broccoli did not exist. Robert offered him some vegan ranch dressing to dip it in, assuring him it was very tasty. Zion reluctantly dipped his broccoli in the proffered dressing and put it in his mouth. Then his face lit up. "That is delicious!", he exclaimed. He held up his piece of broccoli for inspection. "I sucked it all off!"

The big day(s), day late

And now Zion is 4! Since I'm so behind in posting this I'll just give the super condensed version of his arrival in the world. Born at home, 11 days after his estimated due date and 25 hours of labor. Healthy, hungry, and wonderful.

We spent Sunday with Kenn and Giselle in Sunset Park. Zion really wanted to open his Ratchet transformer from Grampa and Noona AND ride the train with Ratchet. So he opened his gift.



Then we took the train to the end of the line in Bay Ridge and headed to a park. We didn't stay too long because it was raining (not hard, but still), but fun was had by all.





Upon returning to K&G ranch we cook burger and fries and mixed up this gorgeous salad- Zion's menu choices! (Seriously- tell me that salad isn't one of the pretties you've seen all day!)



After dinner Zion finally got to open his gift from his aunt and uncle: train tracks!



Oh yes, there was the un-pretty cake, too. It was delicious, I must tell you. Totally rock star in the mouth. Both kids enjoyed it.

In which it is shown that Jovis probably shouln't bake cakes

So, Zion's birthday is on Monday (for the historically inclined, today is the day, 4 years ago, that I caved in to my own desperation and took castor oil!). When I asked him what kind of cake he'd like he gave me a surprisingly detailed and creative answer for a four year old (at least in my experience). He said that he wanted, "a vanilla cake, with almonds. And with chocolate frosting so that it looks like a chocolate cake, but really it's a vanilla cake!" (I am totally glowing with foody mama pride over this, in case you were wondering!)

Anyway, this request was later modified somewhat to include strawberries and whipped cream and vanilla frosting instead of chocolate. I had this vision in my head, a vision of a layer cake with strawberry jam in between the layers, with a light coating of vanilla buttercream and sliced almonds all around the edges. Just before serving it would be topped with a glorious mound of whipped cream.

This afternoon I made strawberry jam (12 oz organic strawberries + 3/4 c sugar). Then I read a bunch of cake recipes, none of which were quite right for reasons of flavor or eggs or both. Then I baked my own cakes.

First the overflowed and burned a bit in my oven (the overflow, not the cakes). Due to the overflow the cakes were not pretty, but I didn't mind since they'd be covered up anyway. The real heartbreaker is that one of them just plain refused to come out of the pan, and the other came out rather unwillingly, resulting in further damage to its aesthetic appeal. *sob* Two guesses who'll be baking another cake tonight after the kids are in bed....(the party is in Brooklyn tomorrow, you see.)

I suppose I should look on the bright side and focus on how much nicer this is than being 9 days past one's due date and drinking castor oil!

Later that evening....

Well, I just couldn't face making another cake. So I decided to try putting the jam on the one layer, and then some sliced almonds, and then topping it with whipped cream tomorrow. Here's the result. It's not too bad, right?




And, for fun, here is the jam. Robert tasted it and said, "Good strawberry jam!" "Yes," I replied, "I'm very good at making jam. Just not cakes!"

Your gramma's knitting

OK, so we nearly all have this cultural image of knitting being an activity of grandmothers. Even if you personally know members of the younger knitting generation (which I'd say most of you do, LOL), the gramma thing still persists a bit.

My grandmothers do not knit. But I have non-knitting friends who's grandmothers were knitters, and oh how I have benefited! So today I'm giving a public shout out/thank you.

When I was in grad school my friend Taline gave me her grandmother's knitting needles. There were about 10 pairs in different sizes, all rolled up in a pretty red felt case and tied with a white bow. She was never going to use them, she explained, and she'd like them to go to someone who would. I was delighted, and use those needles (and the case, which I really dig) still.

Recently my friend Abby asked me if I'd like her grandmother's knitting things- some yarn and needles. As if I were capable of turning down knitting stuff! So Abby very kindly mailed me several boxes of yarn and one box of knitting hardware. You know, needles in all kinds of sizes, stitch markers, stitch holders, tapestry needles, cable needles...anything you might need to complete a knitted item other than yarn. I thought I'd be more excited by the yarn, but time has proven me wrong. I keep that box tucked under my bed, right next to where I do most of my knitting. Does my pattern suddenly require makers? Out comes the box! Am I going to do a little cabling? Out comes the box! Need to check my gauge? Box! The box is a delightful jumble of plastic and metal and and has never yet failed to produce what I need (or at least something close enough to work). I call the box "Abby's grandma". It wasn't intentional...but one day when I needed something I knew I'd never purchased myself I told Robert, smugly, "That's OK, I bet Abby's grandma has it". And she did.

So Abby, I hope you're not offended or appalled that your grandmother's knitting tools have come to personify her in my mind! I'm ever so grateful to have them tucked away under my bed.

And if any of the rest of you have stash from your own knitting grandma, you know who to call... (NO! Not them! ME!)

Pass the whipped cream

It's only 3pm, but I've had a rough day. I got an unpleasant surprise in the mail- an invitation that actually left me feeling horribly excluded. I've cried a fair bit today, but I'm working on being chin up and counting my blessings (which are many, even if they are scattered by the winds of the earth). I'm having a tired, I-can't-take-it-on kinda day. To quote an Ani DiFranco song: "I'm tired of being so fierce, I'm tired of being so friendly".

As part of my pro-active approach I'm dreaming up things that will help my emotional pendulum swing back the other way- or at back to the center. Leslie's comment wondering about Kitchenaid attachments got me thinking about whipped cream. The real kind, not the canned kind. And now I'm pretty fixated on getting me some sweet, fluffy, cheering whipped cream. I'll let you know how much it helps :P

In other news, I'm trying to figure out a way to maintain my knitting/overall sanity (hint: it involves me knitting every day. No kidding. A recently published study found that knitters brainwaves, while they are knitting, closely resemble those of people meditating. I know that knitting has that kind of serenity-ifying effect on my emotional state!) while somehow not blazing through $100 (or more) of yarn every month. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'd love to, but the money just isn't in the cards at the moment. So, I think I'm going to need to learn to love small yarn knitting- stuff like socks, and lace-y shawls. I've never been particularly drawn to them in the past because they can take a while, and I like results (OK, socks don't take terribly long, but the stitches are really tiny!). But clearly, the time has come. Plus I think they might be more appealing to knit in the lovely New York summers, don't you?

Food, and things that aren't

Zion goes to a co-op nursery school. Among other things, this means that we as parents are involved in the day to day running of the school. To keep this from devolving into chaos, we're all assigned to committees. Robert and I are on the shopping committee, and March is one of the months we're responsible for buying whatever the school may need at any given time.

On Friday one of Zion's teachers gave me a list of things they needed by Monday. It was the biggest list I'd yet seen for a single trip, and included 240 large trash bags, 5 lbs of sugar, 500 small paper plates, 10 bottles of juice, 2 cases of paper towels...so, this morning I loaded up the kids and headed for Shop Rite. We had to leave early, cause Robert needed the car to take his art class up to Dia:Beacon, so I didn't get to eat breakfast before we headed out. Hmm, I thought to myself, this could be trouble. Grocery shopping on an empty stomach?

But, as it turned out, it wasn't trouble. The things on the shelves at Shop Rite didn't tempt me one bit, because they just didn't look like food- quite possibly because they aren't food. Or oughtn't to be. What I really wanted was to get home so I could have some of my homemade yogurt, and maybe a couple of apples from our CSA (we picked up our last winter share yesterday, sob! How will we live through 2 1/2 months until our first summer share comes in??). Caramel corn flavored cereal? Frozen pizza? Packages of food fortified with preservatives for their long trip from production factory to your home? Yuck. O. Rama.

I must admit, however, that when I'm not actually hungry, some of this fake food does arouse a polite interest. But if I cave in and buy it, oh the disappointment! I used to love Hostess "Fruit" Pies as a kid, but not as an adult (though I do try them every few years, just to check). Ah, disenchantment. Luckily I've found that real food re-enchants me (and, I can only hope, the rest of the world) every time.

Watch what you say...

So, remember when I whined about the less-than-stellar heat distribution of my Emile Henry pot a few weeks ago? Well. A few minutes ago I put it on the stove and put some oil in it. I turned on the flame, and set to work chopping onions and garlic. And then I looked over at the stove to see how the oil was doing and there was oil dripping from the bottom of the pot. I rushed over to look at it, and yes, there is a hairline crack running the length of the pot. I almost cried. My $200 pot, which lives a life more pampered than many house pets has a f&**ing crack in it!

Apparently Emile Henry pots do not enjoy being slandered on my blog.

I decided to contact Emile Henry USA to complain and discovered that all their products have a 3 year warranty. So, we're well within warranty time (the pot is 27 months old)! I've sent an email to their customer service and hopefully I'll have good news to report here soon.

Cupcakes

This morning the word "cupcakes" came out of one of my friend's mouths. I'm not sure who it was anymore (Jill? Wendy?), or even what the context was, but my brain latched onto the idea of cupcakes and refused to let go. What's a girl to do? I took my kids into the kitchen and we baked cupcakes.





We made vanilla cupcakes because I wanted to fill them with cherry jam- jelly cupcakes, if you will. I thought chocolate might overpower the cherries, though next time I make raspberry jam I might try chocolate cupcakes stuffed with that. Mmmm. I gave the kids a choice of chocolate or vanilla buttercream frosting, and Liel immediately said "chocolate", so naturally Zion wanted vanilla. We made both. And no, I didn't have any cupcake papers at home. But cupcakes can't wait on a little thing like that!



Of course, now that they are available to eat, I have no interest in them. I love baking, but often find that once I've baked something I can't eat it (with, thank G-d, the exception of pie!). Blessing or curse? You decide...

Seashore Sweater

I've created my first finished object from the lot of Handpaintedyarn.com handspun bulky that I bought from another Ravelry member! It's also my first self-designed sweater. I used 3 different colorways in this sweater. For the main body I alternated every other row in two different colorways (remember that I only have 2 skeins of each color of yarn!), and the lacey edging in the third color. It all came out very beachy looking, and reminds me of the sand at home, and the teeny tiny shells we'd occasionally find, with their pale pink and purple interiors. Hence, the Seashore Sweater.





As usual, the pictures aren't the best, but eh. We're neither of us photographers!

Why phones are still good

Every month or two our mailbox is graced by it's free copy of Rockland Magazine. Yep, an entire magazine devoted to how awesome it is to live in Rockland County, NY! Call me cynical, call me an outsider, call me a sulky Gen X-er, but I just. do. not. get how anyone reading or writing for this magazine can take them seriously. Mostly we just giggle at it, and read the restaurant reviews in case there's anything good to eat that we've missed. But, occasionally Rockland Magazine redeems itself in our eyes (though only for a month or two, cause we're fickle like that). Over the summer it told us about a decent BBQ joint in Blauvelt (Baily's Smokehouse, if you're in the area. It's nothing you'll dream about, but they do have an actual smoker at least!), and last week it informed me that there is a 112 year old family run chocolate shop in the county. That was worth knowing for sure.

So I checked the website on Saturday, found out that they were open until 6pm, and off we all set for Lucas Candies in Haverstraw. Its on Main Street, and Main St in Haverstraw is a kind of run down place. Nice bones (lovely old brick buildings), but depressed. It was a gray, cold, windy day. We parked and hurried over to the shop.

And damn if it wasn't closed. I think each of the four of us was near tears as we stared hopelessly into the dark interior (past the display of enormous chocolate bunnies) and walked back and forth between the two doors. I have no idea why they were closed- there wasn't a sign explaining the change from normal business hours. To soothe our disappointment we drove over to Blauvelt for some BBQ. That worked reasonably well, but brought another disappointment of it's own. Prices had gone up! And side dishes had gone down! Our normal order, the BBQ sampler for 2, used to be $25 and come with fries and 2 sides. Now it's $30 and comes with 2 sides and a salad that was so crappy (it was literally drowning in a pool of dressing that tasted to be more or less 99% straight vinegar) we didn't finish it. Robert loves salad and abhors leaving any food behind. We did not finish the salad. The meat was still decent, thankfully. But in the end it did leave me longing for Texas.

So, the moral of the story is: do not drive to Haverstraw without first calling the chocolate shop, unless you have a craving for some New York-style bbq (cue old Pace commercial here...).

Finally, results!

Well, folks, we had a verrrry close race at the end there! In third place was Jill, with 13 points. There was a tie for second: with 18.5 points each we have Robert and Tamara! And in first place, with 19 points....Becka! Nice job, Beck! I will now insist that you call me (or email, I suppose, lol) to discuss your prize.

Happy March! Look for pictures of my newly designed and completed sweater later today!