and then there were four . . .

racing news: beth is OUT—go take a look at her blocking pix! if she puts up modeling shots tomorrow, so will i! (um, that is, as soon as i can get it together to put on something decent and drag david out to the yard for that . . .)
and erin has modeling shots of her breathtaking shawl in color hurricane. this one is a must-see.
so that leaves us with cheryl, carol, liz, and daphne still standing, right?

well, it is sadly the end of the holiday weekend. it was good, it was long (though not long enough), and lots of chores got done, but not nearly enough knitting. i keep thinking that clearing my desk and to-do list will result in my having quiet time to knit and design, but that has NOT been the case. what’s up with that?? as soon as i get one item cleared away, another concern pops up to take its place. oh, and not to mention my job . . .

i did manage to get something new on the needles this morning, but that is literally as far as i got! as soon as i’m done here, i am heading up to work on it some more.

since the beehive wool which arrived in the mail this weekend was exactly what i was wanting for this new lace stole, i went ahead and broke into it. yup—it swatched up perfectly. it is really an everyday fingering wool, but it knits up nice and soft. i also tried some schaefer anne that i have, which i thought was nearly-solid, but actually, it was still a bit too variegated for this piece. no, the solid, navy is really just what i needed!

much progress being made on the cashmere shawl—i wanted to stay up all night working on it, but i made myself go to bed around 3am because i had to work this morning. sigh. i guess it’s all right if i don’t finish something every week. it hurts my chances of ever using up my stash, but that’s life!

yesterday i tackled some more produce from the garden, and got two large bags of peppers cooked and stored away for winter. i made my grandma’s stuffed italian peppers (they are vegetarian, so we can eat them!)

also cooked another pot of tomatoes—i’ve been cooking one every two or three days for the last couple of weeks, in addition to drying the small ones.

then i went out and surveyed the eggplant bed, because i know there is about to be an avalanche of those, and i want to be ready

we have a 4-by-4-foot patch of them, and i counted 11 or 12 more that will be ready over the next week or so. i’m thinking a HUGE pot of ratatouille, and maybe some roasted puree . . . but if anyone has suggestions for putting away eggplant for winter, let me know!

and then this little gem

i’ve been watching this pear from the kitchen window all summer. the squirrels have stripped the rest of pear tree of everything remotely edible, and i can’t figure why this one beauty is left, but there you have it. i won’t pick it yet, but one day soon it will be time!

wanna see those mouth-watering peppers after roasting? c’mon . . . i know you DO!

pepper porn! they really ARE that good—thanks gram!