go, go, go, go

Posted on Posted in designing, food and garden, lace/shawls, projects

another day when i headed out to the garden for a few minutes “just to water” and ended up working for a few hours . . . good hours though; i like being away from the computer and in the quiet of the yard in the morning. but oops—i ended up with a sunburn.

not only that, but all that watering i did?? it’s raining now.
the sky was so blue in the morning i wouldn’t have believed it was coming. but just as i finished that funny kind of breeze sprang up and as the afternoon went on it became apparent that rain was on the way indeed. good thing i took norma’s advice and put out some bone meal and lime today (i didn’t have epsom salts but the bag of lime says it has calcium and magnesium, so i’m hoping that makes an ok substitute. if not, i’ll get it next time) . . . the mixture will get down around the roots for sure now—we are having one of those summer downpours (there might even be a rainbow at the end).

anyway, one of the nice things about getting out there today is that there was stuff to pick—small eggplants, zucchini, basil by the armload, cucumbers, and greens (oh and that little tomato i showed you yesterday . . . that didn’t make it out of the patch—that was my reward for hard work . . . the first sundrenched tomato, mmm).

and being saturday, there was time to cook it right away (kiss the knitting time goodbye . . ..). by this time just one word was running on an endless loop through my mind—ciambotta, my idea of comfort food. i didn’t even clean myself up first; i got right to work in the kitchen (i really can’t afford to lose momentum).

if you click that link, the recipe bears a very close resemblance to the one my grandma always made; you can use as many or as few of those ingredients as you have on hand or can acquire. i didn’t have peppers today so i didn’t use them, but i did use carrots because she used them and i like the way they taste in it. and i forgot to put celery in it, but the sky didn’t fall down.

it took about 30 minutes to cut up the heavy vegetables and get them started, then i let them stew for about an hour while i cleaned other veggies and made stock. how easy is that? and so full of nutrition. i like to make this dish a day ahead of time, or at least in the morning, and let it sit til dinner. it tastes a lot better if you give it that time.

and for today we had something else . . . i’ll show you in a minute.

once the stew was cooking i took all the vegetable trimmings, added water, and put a pot of stock on to simmer. i do this every few days or once a week, depending on how much prep work i’ve had lately. vegetable trimmings make great stock (but don’t use anything smelly, bitter, or cruciferous—they add nasty flavors)

trimmings from squash, onions, potatoes, garlic, celery, carrots, parsley, sweet greens, lettuce, asian veggies, mushrooms, all work well; save them in the fridge after dinner prep and cook them up when you have a bagful.
when it’s done i strain it and stick it in the freezer for soup or divide into small containers for use in other dishes (it’s also supposed to be good to drink when you’re sick, though i never tried it).

finally, it looked like i was done with all that so i put my newly-finished scarf on to soak and went to grab a shower. when i got done i stretched and blocked hamsa

SO much better, right? it looked pretty sad (even though it’s a happy color) beforehand. now it looks happy and snappy. how much do you think i love this scarf?

mmmmmWAH. now the yarn is wet here, so the color is slightly more intense at the moment. but still . . .

and what about that stitch motif?? i just adore it. i’m mesmerized by the repetitive shapes, the meandering lines, the on and on.

i decided to use as much of the yarn as i could, so i worked one extra repeat than i thought i needed. but whoa—it stretched a lot more than i thought. i ended up with a 54-inch scarf—and still it weighs less than an ounce

(your mileage may vary using yarns other than the enchanté i used)
all in all i’m very pleased; i can’t wait to unpin it and dance around waving it up and letting it float back down.

we did not get a chance to do photos today of rivolo, but tomorrow we will do photos of both and get the pattens up as soon as we can.

after a bit i managed to tear myself away from staring at the scarf long enough to start dinner, which i was looking forward to a LOT by this time.

i brought in about half the bok choy that was ready to pick (i’ll pick the rest in a few days when we are ready to eat it; i don’t like to pick the greens too far ahead). we had some frozen shrimp, shitakes, tofu, and scallions which i stir-fried together with a bit of the black pepper sauce i bought at the asian market. mmm.

and now . . . now, it’s time to knit.

31 thoughts on “go, go, go, go

  1. Can’t wait for those scarf patterns to be posted. And all that delicious, healthy food!! Yum!

  2. I think I would like to have a Knitspot Recipe Book. Yum! Delicious,healthy fare that will give me knit power! 🙂 Then I could knit all those Knitspot patterns on my list.

  3. Lovely scarf Anne and another one for my little nothings queue. All that yummy food looks just soooo delicious and healthly. I second the call for a Knitspot Recipe book. Enjoy!

  4. All I can say is “yum-o”..the food looks amazing. At first, Hamsa reminded me of the Chrysler building in NY…very Art Deco! It’s a good thing, and I’m tapping patiently for this pattern too!! 🙂

  5. Wow — talk about a productive day! I’m definitely going to have to bookmark that recipe — it looks right up my alley. And the scarf…absolutely perfect 🙂

  6. You’re right about how mesmerizing that stitch pattern is when blocked. I’m looking forward to both new scarf patterns. And the Knitspot Recipe Book as well! Both disheslook yummy!

  7. I cast my vote for a Knitspot Recipe Book too! Either that or you are going to have to invite us all for dinner! LOL Hamsa is GORGEOUS! I am having a hard time telling myself that I have to wait for the pattern. But I shall be patient…as long as you are putting together said Recipe Book! 🙂

  8. Your eggplant are beautiful. Wish mine would start putting out fruit. They all have flowers on them and have had for over a month now but no fruit. Wonder what I am doing wrong.
    Also can’t wait for you to put out more sock patterns. Your sock patterns are the best and easiest one I have found to follow.

  9. I’m starving suddenly after looking at your post!! There is nothing better tasting than the veg from your own soil!!! Favourite recipes ala Knitspot would be fantastic 🙂 Droolllllllll 🙂

    Fabulous Scarf!!!! 🙂

  10. Oh boy…it’s 7:15 a.m. and you’ve made me hungry! lol I can’t wait to try your ciambotta. It looks like a great soup.

    Back in the ’70’s I used to make a soup stock called “garbage soup” that was in one of my vegetarian cookbooks. It was made from potato peelings. The stock surprisingly tasted like chicken stock. Anyhow, this link is close if you want to take a look:
    http://www.recipezaar.com/235039

  11. I second the call for a recipe book! That stir-fry alone would be worth it. Seriously. Not kidding.

    And I am so pleased that both scarves will be available soon! I already know what I’m going to use for Hamsa… 🙂

  12. OMG! the cooking looks DELICIOUS!!!! i can’t believe the harvest that you are already getting from your garden!

    Hamsa is beautiful. Love it!

  13. The vegetables look wonderful!! I love the new lace pattern. I’m adding shrimp to my grocery list to make up a stir-fry! MMMM!

  14. Your joy in your garden and your knitting is infectous! I had to go right out and pick some figs and some chiles, which is what I have ripe here in New Orleans. Your blog is a constant pleasure to read!

  15. WoWee!!! Look at the bounty!!! I love the scarf pattern and yarn. I know, you just total every pattern you have, and every kit you have going, and tell me the total–for life!! It would be like one of those Forever stamps! Then, I’ll apply for my Knitspot charge card!!

  16. I love that scarf. I am right behind you in line admiring that stitch motif. Gorgeous! I can’t wait to add these two to my never ending list of Knitspot Must Knit patterns. You design way way way faster than I knit by the way. If only I could keep up! I’ve stopped wishing to win the lottery so I could be the idle rich and maybe drive (just once) a Maserati, now I just want to win it so I can hire people to do everything else I do so I can just sit around and do nothing but knit all day and all night. LOL

    And you amaze me with how yummy you can make veggies sound. I’m so not a veggie eater but you may yet convert me…

    p.s. Can you hire someone to sleep for you? That’s probably my biggest lost time activity right there…

  17. Hey Anne, that scarf looks way way cool. Extremely tantalizing. I want you to sell that pattern pronto so I can start knitting it!!!

  18. That vegetable stock is a great idea. I have a lot of trimmings left over from my weekly CSA share, and I’ve been meaning to start a compost pile, but this would be good use for the remainders until I get my act together. 😉

  19. Your hamsa scarf motif made me remember a skein of Claudia’s handpainted silk lace weight that’s in my stash. I worked up the courage to call her when I visited some nearby friends last year; after an extensive tour of her operation (worth the trip, by the way, if you’re anywhere near Harrisonburg, VA), she surprised me with the gift of that skein. I knew that if I was patient, the perfect pattern would come along.

    Beautiful veggies, too! Our eggplant are not nearly ready yet, but some yellow squash might jump into that recipe, I think.

    Thanks, once again, for your boundless creativity!

  20. Dear Anne, Your ciambotta looks delish! I was wondering, have you ever made it with the addition of a bit of pasta, maybe some stars or wagon wheels, or something like that? It strikes me that might be good, especially over dry French bread, with a sprinkle of cheese on top, rather like French onion soup. Might try that.
    Ann Carpenter in Dallas P.S. The cooking will probably have to wait til it drops to less than 100 degrees! Ann

  21. hi, anne! beautiful beautiful scarf.

    is that pattern all purl on the wrong side? (that would just make it even more perfect!)

  22. This weekend was the first time I used blocking wires to block a lace scarf. In the past I’ve always used pins. Just wondering…is there a trick to weaving in that wire? A special spot to place in in the stitch to make it look uniform? I’m not unhappy with how my blocking turned out, it definitely looks better than when I’ve pinned pieces, but I can tell where the wire were placed and I’d like to make it a bit more uniform looking.

  23. Thanks for the tip on the veg trimmings soup. Now I can make good use of my veg trimmings instead of throwing them away. I just realise that you are also a great cook in addition to all your other talents.

  24. Thanks for the recipe, Anne! I tried to find Cucina Fresca, but sadly, it’s out of print (I’ll keep it in mind next time I’m at a used book store, you never know). And I will DEFINITELY try to use my veggie clippings for stock as of now. What a fantastic idea!

  25. Using the vegetable trimmings to make stock is a wonderful idea! I’m already giving them a second life by composting them, but now I’ll get everything I can out of them before putting them in the compost bin. Thanks for sharing this idea!
    You are absolutely right, this stitch pattern totally looks like the hamsa! Perfect choice for a gorgeous scarf! The funny thing is that I can see something else when I look at the stitch pattern… corn on the cob! Apparently, your posts associated knitting and vegetables in my mind in a funny way!

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