well, part of it anyway. james was so on target about the weight it’s a little scary. there was enough there for a pasta sauce chock-a-block with chunks of it, plus the same amount again to freeze. it made a delectable dinner dish for our private birthday celebration.
sautéed in butter and garlice, with wine and a little cream, served over fettucine. mmm.
it was nice. david’s been a little scarce this week since he has two big house projects going at once (so he’s here, but not really, if you know what i mean). he’s painting the outside window trim (he has all the windows operational and the outsides in good repair now) so that our new storm windows can be installed.
and he is sanding and finishing floors on the third level inside the house. do you know what that means?? the floors are just about the last thing that needs to be done up there. there will still be tiling and fixtures to install in the bathroom, but the library and bedroom are done.
which means that the 2,000 or so books which have been packed away since we moved five years ago can finally be unpacked and put on shelves (er, as soon as the shelves are built . . .). i’ll be able to look at my art books again. sigh.
it is a favorite pastime, as engrossing and valuable as looking at my knitting books.
and when those are unpacked, you know what else?? the room behind my workroom will be empty, and i will finally be able to expand my workspace with increased storage and a “messy area”.
it’s not going to happen by next week or anything, but i can taste it now . . .
so.
i finished the cardigan sock, and had david try it on. it looks great but he didn’t have time just then to model it, so we’ll have pix tomorrow instead.
i’m putting the mate for the red pair on hold for a bit to start another pair in a different yarn—i want to test the idea that if you use a thinner yarn you will get a woman’s sock using the same instructions. i’m going to use this lambswool/nylon blend from kim
this is a new colorway she is doing called roasting chestnuts. we love it.
i like the lambswool blend for this design because it has a little tooth to it; it’s more woolly and sturdy, yet still not a bulky sock yarn; it knits up to about 8 sts per inch. it will have a similar character to the alpaca blend yarn of the red sock, but it will be lighter-weight and fit a woman’s foot (hopefully mine!).
and i started the thistle wrap. which i do not want to get used to calling by that name yet—i’m trying to think of something very scotch for a name (it may end up just being thistle in the end, but i want to try).
like the scot. but not that. something really good.
anyway, it looked like this for just a little while
and it’s already at least twice as long. the lanas puras yarn knits up so fast it makes my heart sing. i’m telling you; it is everything you want a winter wrap to be, this yarn.
this is the hem border for the stole. i originally swatched with a thistle stitch pattern i found in one of the vogue stitchionary books. and i liked it a lot, but wondered if it was thistle-y enough. when margaret mentioned the same thing, i decided to modify it by adding some garter texture along with some bristles at the tops of the thistle flowers
and make the “leaves” spread out a little more like real thistles do. i love those spiky leaves . . i love this pattern today, even more than i did yesterday.
(ever get the idea that i’ll say anything for a laugh?).
i have another Big Project on the drawing board right now. i have to admit i am a little worried and nervous about it. i feel somewhat less inspired about it than i’d like to be and for no good reason that i can think of. i know if i can just find the right stitch combination for this one i will become a house on fire for it (hmmm, does this remind you of a certain conversation we had oh about two weeks back concerning some purple yarn from south america?? hmmm??).
maybe i just need a snack for energy
(carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, pecans, grated ginger, orange rind, and dried cranberries . . . i do NOT diet)
40 thoughts on “we ate the mushroom”
Oh that cake…swoon….thud. The thistle modification looks wonderful!
Oooo that thistle is beautiful. Oh carot cake, I love carot cake. Can you pass some to me? 😉
Kim’s ‘roasting chestnuts’ is quite seductive! And your dinner and cake must have been a wonderful birthday celebration. Years ago I gained 5 pounds trying to copy someone’s delicious carrot cake. Something tells me yours would be even better. Your food photos are as tempting as your knitting — I’m craving both!
Wow, that mushroom dish looks good! Sure am glad it didn’t turn out to be poisonous–but of course they work wonders with liver transplants these days. (Seriously, we read S.F. Chronicle stories all the time about newly arrived persons receiving transplants because they ate local “Death Caps” that closely resemble a tasty mushroom they were used to gathering and eating in their native country.) I love the thistle pattern, too, as you tweaked it.
Those mushrooms, that cake! The knitting, that yarn… must have that yarn. I need more yarn (and carrot cake) like I need a hole in the head, but your photos, as always, have me drooling!
I want to come to your house and play! The food looks divine, made for wonderful celebrations I am sure. Maybe you aren’t excited about the new project because you are so excited about the third floor and your beloved books ocming out of storage. Know how you feel, I still have many things, including books in storage. For about the same time as you I think. Love the thistle, she is lovely. You must stop tempting me with new projects I am supposed to finsih the works in progress. Look forward to seeing the socks too, I really am convinced you never sleep.
The roasting chestnut colorway is absolutely lovely!
We were right: I like the thistle wrap much better now than I did the swatch.
Who would diet in the presence of such a carrot cake? Not me, that’s for sure!
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Boy does that look good! 🙂
Can I come over and move in your soon to be spare room ? Then I can knit, eat cake and all the other wonderful things you make. But then the room would soon be too small I’m afraid 🙂
You could call your new wrap… The Haggis. No? Hm…
That cake looks amazing. I haven’t had carrot cake in ages. I’m not sure it would go over very well here but I may try it sometime – like Thanksgiving for example – to see how the Frenchies react. And if they don’t like it, more for me! 🙂
Fiona’s flowers????
That’s a thistle, right?
OK, not very creative but that’s all I’ve got.
As a flower, the thistle is quite beautiful; too bad it’s so annoying in other ways. But on your stole it’s all good!
I don’t know if I’d survive 5 years without all those books to look at, drool over, read. If you like, just swing by my place some evening to get a book fix. We have books (mostly mystery, sci fi, fantasy, some general fiction, poetry, history, classics) *everywhere*. Thousands of books. You can find something to read, and we’ll curl up in front of the fireplace, chat, knit, read… The purple stole looks marvelous so far. And that carrot cake looks divine.
HEN OF THE WOODS! yum- we found some great ones the other day. My very favorite – hen and scarmbled eggs. I cant imagine having my own supply- you are SO lucky! Enjoy!
How wonderful that you will have a library for your books!!! I bet you are excited!
The thistle pattern is looking lovely!
Loving the wrap so far. If it were my design, I’d call it Grandma Jean, but that doesn’t sound very romantic. My dad’s mom was born in Scotland and came over here when she was very young. I took a trip to Edinburgh a few years ago and looked up records for that side of the family at the National Archive. It was really cool–I found out that my family lived on the same street in Airdrie for about 100 years.
Lodainn would be pretty (Gaelic for Lothian, the area just south of the Firth of Forth), or Inverness, or Skye. Or Fiona, as someone mentioned above, or Iona. Or the Thistle wrap. 🙂
Dang, now I want to go back to Scotland.
The Highland Fling, perhaps? Or just Highlander?
I’m with everyone who wants to come and play at your cozy house – poor woman, you have yarn/mushroom/cake stalkers!
mmm – the mushroom looked like it cooked up wonderfully!!! the pasta (and that carrot cake – my gosh!!!) look fabulous!!!
roasted chestnuts is a great color – nice to show off a stitch pattern and still bringing some variegation into it!
Oh Man….not only did the pasta and knitting look gooooood, but CARROT CAKE…that’s (one of) my favorite!
in Scotland the only thing we call scotch comes in a whisky glass with a splash of water (vbg) but if you are looking for a Scottish name for your wrap try bosie – its what we call a cuddle and your wrap looks as if its going to be a lovely big warm cuddle.
Name for shawl. You know how in the theater if they are doing “MacBeth” they never (out of superstition) call it “MacBeth” they call it the “Scottish Play”. How about the “Scottish Shawl” if you never do think up a name? Okay, lame, but the color is beautiful and it is beautiful.
I agree with Jill … Highland Fling would be a great name … Brigadoon ??? Glocamora ???
I believe one of the Scot Gaelic words for thistle is cluaran. But I also like Thistle down, as a name as well as Ceidhl which means a party with music and dancing (pronounced KAY lee).
You have covered a lot of territory with this post! How are you feeling after eating the mushroom? The dish looks so delicious. My mouth is salivating! Books–I have so many books, and they’re still in boxes. I understand, completely. The Roasted Chestnut also makes me drool. We’ve all been thinking, “Thistle Wrap,” you know. It’s so pretty. Scottish name, huh? I’m on it!
P.S. Did you get your printer back?
P.P.S. The cake is outstanding!
I keep scrolling between the pictures.. mushroom, carrot cake and that beautiful thistle. I remembered that you had roasted tomatoes and have been keeping my house fragrant and warm the past couple days doing the same. I think a roasted tomato and mushroom pasta tonight… thank you.
Who could diet with that cake around???
We knowo you do not diet! me, I need another 2 weeks of strict diet just from looking on all the delicious dishes you show in this post, ackh,,, I love the dardar wrap, maybe you want to call it dardari? 🙂
omg that cake. I could practically smell it through my monitor! So yummy.
I’m not sure I could live without all my art books for 5 years! It was hard enough to go for just over one when I moved… ack! You are stronger than I.
If Jenny hadn’t already gotten there I would have corrected the “scotch” vs “Scottish” thing but looks like you are covered. I love her suggestion for Bosie! Cluaran sounds lovely as well! So many great suggestions! I can’t wait to see more 🙂
Oh NO! Sanding floors??/ Get out the shop vac! Hide the yarn!!
Every time I go to your blog for a midday “snack” I come out more hungry. Do you know how much wine and cream you used for the dinner? Looks yummy.
So does all the yarn. Can’t wait to see the new socks!
Between the pasta and the cake, I’m wishing I were living at your house.
Thistle is looking beautiful. I love the stitch pattern, and that purple is going to be perfect with your hair.
I like the other shawl name suggestions; maybe check some Gaelic dictionaries (or the Lord of the Rings?) I work with a girl named Eowyn…
I have a thistle story, but not from Scotland. At one time (in my childhood), we lived on a farm in Wisconsin raising sheep. Family friends were visiting one day, and B helped Mom with the chores. B carried a bale of hay out for the sheep; it happened to be a time when Hershey the ram was with the rest. B looked over her shoulder and saw Hershey aiming for her, so she started running with the bale. Eventually she dropped the bale, ran to the fence, and did a highjump roll over the fence into the shoulder high thistles on the other side. Hershey, of course, had stopped at the hay.
That and goldfinches are what I think of when I think of thistles. Doesn’t help with the name, though.
how about “seala sidhe”? “sidhe” are the scottish fairy folk, who are mainly nature-fairies & who may well have worn thistle-down shawls, & “seala” (with an accent over the first “a”, which i can’t do on this keyboard) is scots gaelic for “shawl”. 🙂
Madly in love with the thistle! Fixing things, moving books around…this sounds just like my house. Did you figure out what the mushroom was before you ate it, I hope?
Whoa, that is some cake, to paraphrase Charlotte (or E.B. White). Yum.
That thistle flower is fantastic, and I can just imagine how soft and lovely that yarn is. Mmmm, it’ll be so nice to wrap yourself up in!
Yum, dinner looked great! The new sock yarn is very pretty too. I love getting projects done, and organizing it all up in style 😉 Yeah for seeing the light at the end of the renovation tunnel!
yummy- I think we all want to head ober to your house for dinner!
And Kim’s new yarn is fabulous – can’t wait to see it knit up.
I come for the knitting, I swear…
but oh my..I’m going to keel over for desire of that carrot cake…
😉
((((hugs))))
It sounds so exciting, your house being on the verge of being more livable, more rehabbing which brings you happiness. it’s great when you can see the end in sight, doesn’t it? Hopefully you’ll get some shelves soon.
David’s birthday dish as well as the carrot cake looks delish.
Kim’s new yarn looks great too. I really like a wool/nylon blend. I just feel the nylon really helps a sock last. Although with my stash, even if an all merino sock were to get holes in it, I’d still have plenty more socks to knit.
How’s the cold weather sockmaking going? We haven’t seen the stack of socks that go the s(t)ockpile in a while.
Comments are closed.