(flower of the day, second round of eggplant blossoms)
after a chilly snap and some battles with blight, the garden is undergoing a little resurgence of healthy new growth and production.
between server deaths and deadlines this week, i am woefully behind in posting. knitting at a feverish pitch earlier in the week, it seemed that every time i had a little window of time to post, the server would be down, arrgghhh. and then there was yesterday . . the server went down early and stayed broken til just now.
supposedly all is well now with that, and my big secret knitting project is done. i have a little backlog of things to write about, so let’s get started.
so what’s on the needles? now that BSKP is done, done, DONE, i turned to some other works in progress and a few new designs.
the twinings stole gained more than a few inches and i’m hoping to have enough done by monday to block the first half and take some photos, since the pattern is otherwise all set to sail.
i am lovin’ it in this yarn. i now i sound like a broken record, but this fearless fibers laceweight is heartbreakingly soft and pretty. the yarn has that chubby-cheeked springy goodness, while being timelessly feminine and lovely.
and the color . . . well, every time i take it anywhere, it draws attention. i love to zoom in close and look at all the variations; it is subtle but a real attention-getter.
it’s knitting up a dream in this pattern. i like everything about this stole—it starts off with a quirky, waving self edge, it’s simple but entertaining, and it is light as air.
(and i SO have a mistake in there that i need to go back and fix. in fact i saw the mistake, ripped out 8 rows to fix it, reknit about 16 rows, and then looked down to see that it was still there only now i was even further ahead of it (this was last night). WTF?? so then i did the sneaky thing and on the next row i “fixed” that mistake (it was in the edging) by making the other edging the same. now i am reviewing this whole shenagigans and thinking about what a lazy-ass i am . . . and i think tonight i will have to rip back and fix it for real. this of course, is one of the pitfalls of being quick to memorize a pattern—i think i am SO smart that i don’t even look at what i’m doing half the time.)
i am still metering myself a bit with that one though because i have just a little more left to do on my honeybee stole and that will be finished too. and who among us doesn’t love an FO?
here you see it in a picture from yesterday morning, but now it is even longer . . . i am almost to the final edging. i figure that finishing by labor day would be a fitting end to the summer of bees. but not an end to bees—oh no . . .
i also did some swatching for the next mitts project, which is something i am working on with anne. we are doing another kit together.
this one will be a pair of mitts for the october kit of the month, with a wintery theme—snowflakes and pine trees. anne decided that this merino tencel might be a good choice for yarn, and dyed it up in her cedars and sage colorway.
the yarn has a bit of heft and sheen to it. it takes the dye a little differently than pure wool, resulting in a “frostiness” of color that is fitting for this project i think.
of course there has had to be a bunch of cooking going on here too, to keep up with the preponderance of vegetables from the garden. this is the time of year when a good system comes in handy—i have several surfaces covered in vegetables that are in various stages of ripening. then there are bags in the refrigerator of things that could not stay in the garden any longer, but will hold a few days til i can get to them.
tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and greens all get their turn at the stove in rotation. right now i have this big batch of eggplant. i have to figure out what to do with it—usually i pick a few at a time and make a meal, leaving the rest on the plants.
but we had a little sickness in the eggplant patch, and i decided that the plants might be better of without so many fruits draining them of energy (see above for the result of this decision . . . they just want to make more babies, after all!)
now i gotta figure out what to do with these . . . i never tried this technique, but i’m thinking i’ll cut them all up, spray the chunks with olive oil, and roast them with garlic, then freeze. i can use them in indian and pasta dishes later in the winter, instead of buying the ones that go bad overnight from the store.
your nudging and urging (combined with the cooler weather we’ve been having) have really got me thinking how to fit a sweater project into my schedule. i might have a little window here to work with, since things at my job are suddenly kinda slow.
more on that and some possible yarns tomorrow.
27 thoughts on “where do i begin?”
okay, I am late to the party, but what is your job? and, is that antique rose from FF? I just love to read your blog. It is like my best buddy lives next door. Thank you for that!!
Oh my….beautiful, beautiful knitting. i love the pink, but the Honey Bee in those beautiful gold shads has stolen my heart. I can barely wait to cast mine on this fall.
love me that eggplant 🙂 I think your idea of roast and freeze sounds fabulous.
and the twinings – ahhh – Now I am totally torn what I will eventually knit with the handspun I am creating. Twinings or Bee stole. Love them both. now there’s an idea, I’ll just knit both!
I’m so glad I bought my yarn for the new shawl a long time ago–when I first laid eyes on the pinky-orangey color. Deb’s yarn in that color will fly out of there when everybody sees this shawl. Another beauty. Oh, and those new mitts, well, I’ve got to have them too. Sigh. . . .
I love your lace work! I’ve been stuck between envy and complete drooling admiration for the last couple months I’ve been reading your blog. 😀
Nice to see you back. Was getting a little concerned without my “fix”. =)
It’s like a dear friend up and moving without telling anyone.
LOVE the new stole! If I could just get some of this stuff off my needles I would start my bee shawl. Can’t wait!
Two friends were having Eric and I over for dinner last night, and they served us (among many other things) a delicious eggplant recipe. I want to be able to make it myself, so I will ask them for the recipe. When I have it, I’ll remember to share it with you.
Twinings looks lovely, and brava for bee’s being almost done! Was that a little hint in there though about it not being over for bee’s 😉 Missed ya these past few days too!
BSP is really done? I bet you feel at loose ends, LOL!! Happy sweater knitting 😉
Ooohh, I’ve been waiting for more pictures of the knitting that’s becoming the Twinings stole. It’s beautiful! Guess I’ll just have to order that one when it’s ready too!
You ARE going to make Twinings available to those of us who can only follow patterns, right?
The twinigs and the bee, both beautiful. I might get back to lace next… your lace is very tempting.
Not only is the new lace beautiful, but I’m jealous of the fact that you can grow such nice eggplant! (We have failed miserably every time we’ve tried.) Roasting and freezing sounds like it should work. It will definitely be tasty!
You can also do all sorts of pickled, salad things with eggplants that will hold for longer than other dishes. My area of the world is rich with those uses of eggplants. Lovely looking new lace, I may have more time to knit now,,, 🙂 Oh and mazal tov for the new store!
Another beauty is flying of the needles 🙂
Have fun picking a yarn for a sweater, that’s always a big part of the fun to me anyway 🙂
Good name, “Twinings”. Didn’t you say that the colorway is “Rubicund”? It does look a lot like “Antique Rose” in the photos with this blog entry.
That new pink stole is fabulous. You just keep coming up with such gorgeous designs, Anne.
I’d wondered where you had gone off to. Sorry to hear about the computer troubles, but I’m glad to hear it’s all fixed now.
Everything looks lovely, as usual. The Twinings stole is simply gorgeous – the stitch pattern, the color, everything. I am dying to reach through the computer and squish it, it looks so nice and squishable.
Have fun with the veg prep. I have 20# of tomatoes sitting on my counter, waiting for me to do something with them.
Too much eggplant? You could make caponata, if you get tired of grilling them.
Mmm… bon appetit!
Congratulations! On the resuscitated server AND the Pattern Catalog. Not only great fun to peruse but also a heck of a portfolio for you, Anne.
I’m waiting for the new scarf pattern, and will admit I’m new to knitted lace (pattern on all rows), so I’m working my way up to Bee Fields and if the new scarf is knitted lace, it looks like a perfect next step for me.
Gorgeous work, as always, Anne! I have been very self-less, lately, putting your Bee Fields shawl (for ME!!!!) on hold so I can get caught up on Christmas knitting, and now I’m being tempted again with that lovely rose colored stuff. ACK!
Happy knitting!
So good to flip on to knitspot and see your’e back!!! I am wishing I could send you some of our weather here – it is miserably hot!!!!! I’ll take some of your cool…..
The yarn is lovely, the shawls are lovely, and I didn’ know that eggplant came in that color! Eggplant by Degas? Who knew?
so much prettiness on your blog today! – the stoles, the flowers, the eggplants. and that little swatch for mitts – so tempting!
The twinings stole is gorgeous and what a beautiful color! I just finished a stole using fearless fibers and I have to say it’s one of my favorites. You Honey bee looks beautiful as well.
Google for “alton brown eggplant purge”. I did this with three ginormous ones I got at the farmers market, and it worked really well. It removed a surprising amount of water, and they packed quite well for freezing. I wish I’d had wax paper to put the slices out on, but in general this worked really, really well. Everything this this post looked fabulous, and I have some serious food and yarn envy. 😀
oooh – the twinings pink stole is beautiful!!!!!! I love a good pink, and Deb sure created one!
those eggplant are so pretty – both orange and purple, huh? what about slicing them and grilling them and then freezing also? then you can use the slices for eggplant parm, etc….(what variety are they? I’d love to know for seed purchases for next year!)
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