lettuce snow

Posted on Posted in designing, projects, spinning and fiber

the lettuce just won’t give up. i keep picking it for salad, sure that at some point it’ll start to look like and empty bed, but no. as soon as i make room by removing some, the other plants fill in. i know lettuce stands up well to the cold (obviously), but i’m not sure just how far into winter it lasts without extra help. i’ll find out this week; we’re supposed to get snow almost every day—maybe not a lot, but some. and it’s cold, down into the 20s now. i might take in all the rest of it tomorrow to make lettuce soup (i’ve never made lettuce soup but i’m almost sure i’ve seen a recipe for it in one of my books)

yesterday was spinning class and we spent pretty much the whole time drooling over this fiber. it’s some beautiful BFL roving from chris at briar rose. it’s not listed on the site yet but chris has been selling it from her booth at the fiber shows, and plans to list it online soon (but you could always email her to let her know you want some).

this is a beautiful slate blue/gray/plum/gold mix that she sent to me this summer with a bundle of yarn and i’ve been dying to start spinning it (but i was good and finished the project that was on the wheel before i did). it’s incredibly silky—it probably did not need to be predrafted, but i want to spin it fine for another go at making a 3-ply, so i did a little bit of that before beginning.

wow. it spins like a dream . . . so unresistant, yet not slippery either. just lovely, really. so much so, that after class i couldn’t bear to stop—i dragged my chair closer to the front window, turned on my current audiobook, and let myself go for a couple more hours. ni-i-ice.

after that i took a sunday afternoon nap and then started knitting. i worked on the new stole for several hours. i thought i was all set once i decided on an edging

but it turned out that the little insertion panel i chose wasn’t really looking all that good after all. so back to the drawing board and some more swatching and finally, finally, i have it on the needles now. to look at it, you just wouldn’t know what could present a problem—it’s so simple a design.

once i felt really comfortable with that and had some rows completed, i set to work swatching for the new mitts and hat i’m going to make with the fourth of july yarn

and darn it, i forgot to photograph those while the light was good, so we’ll have to look at them tomorrow. it took me a good long while to come up with what i wanted—i knit swatch after swatch to find something with just the right scale and depth of texture to stand up to the variegated yarn. i finally did find one i like a lot, so now i’m ready. these will be a good quick gift knit for several people on my list.

once i got that project under control, it was late and i just wanted something easy and VERY productive to knit (even i can take only so much of not actually making something, then i need instant gratification). so i treated myself to some hat knitting

and got almost all the way through this piece before we went upstairs to watch TV. i finished it up in class this morning and wow—i’m in love. this hat is so cozy and cuddly . . . it doesn’t itch even a little bit. debby saw it in class this afternoon and is making designs on my leftover yarn, but first i need to knit matching mitts and maybe a scarf or collar (then you can have what’s left, debby)

i love, love, love the pilgrim yarn—even more than i loved it the other day. this is THE most excellent hat in my bin right now, mmm. i’m so impressed with this yarn, and surprisingly so.

now i want a sweater that feels just like that . . . i think that will be my after-christmas project. normally, i’d be very skeptical about using a singles for a sweater—the last time i succumbed to the urge, i ended up with a pullover i feel i can’t wear very much, for several reasons. but honestly, i think this pilgrim yarn will work much better.

i’m almost done with my woodsmoke sock and my spiraluscious mitt too, but again, no good light right now for pictures . . . so tomorrow we’ll take a look at those. oh—and just wait til you hear what david has in mind for his “plain” sweater (i actually love it, but it’s so not plain).

and now, time to get back to the stole.

24 thoughts on “lettuce snow

  1. Oh — no fair taunting us with that last sweater teaser! The hat looks great, though, and the stole is looking intriguing in the best possible way 🙂 The woodsmoke heel looks awesome, btw!

  2. Wow, snow already! Our fall is lasting and lasting, and snow seems so distant, though I have already seen a blanket on the high peaks. Lovely photos of enticing fiber and spinning.

  3. I have a superb recipe for roasted lettuce (of all things!) and would happily email it to you if you were interested. It’s very tender and briny.

  4. I do so love the colors in your new hat! Very earthy. Hmmm………roasted lettuce sounds yummy! I hope you share 🙂

    It’s really cold here too..brrrrr!

  5. Oh my god you are so busy! I can’t wait to see the new shawl. AND THAT FIBER. I saw someone else with some and tried to find it on the site and there wasn’t any! Off to email…

  6. I love the hat- the texture is so yummy!
    We got about 4 inches of snow yesterday…your poor lettuce would have been buried!

  7. Wow, the snow looks so pretty (easy for me to say, since we get a bit of snow here maybe once each decade). Love the hat pattern and the beautiful pilgrim yarn. I already have one hat on the needles (making use of some handspun I’ve carted all over the US in several moves), so I’ll finish that one before I think about a Knitspot pattern! Good thing hats knit up quickly.

  8. Love that hat! I can almost feel that yarn—no wonder you’re in love with it. Snow already? And we were celebrating because the temps have finally dipped into the 40s (where they should have been a couple of weeks ago). I’m looking forward to all these photos you promised us (you’re such a tease…!)

  9. Wow, beautiful, beautiful! The BFL gray is spinning up into a dream and I tried to peek at the rest of your progress on the lovely shawl but I almost fell off my chair trying to peer sideways into the computer. Teaser!!!!

  10. Love the hat!
    Love Chris’s yarn (always!)
    Love the wooden basket!
    Love the recipe for the roasted lettuce (when Elspeth passes it along to you)!
    Love the new shawl!
    Love your blog and knitting!

  11. I’m jealous of your snow. It’s supposed to drop into the low 80s today. Woohoo. I’m sick of warm. Can we have some COOL around here please???? Oh, and that spinning stuff you did looks really wonderful.

  12. I’m glad you live on the other side of the country…otherwise I might sneak into your house and relieve you of that BEAUTIFUL wood basket! Ofcourse I be a good thief and leave plenty of yarn and fiber in its place.:)

  13. Briar Rose colors just knock me out. So… difficult to describe! We don’t get much in the way of snow here, so I get my fixes through other people’s pictures.

    Can’t wait to hear about the “simple” sweater!

  14. Yummy hat!!!!
    DO tell where/when you will post the pattern – it really is quite lovely! BUT then again, you ALWAYS come up with someting lovely!

    Best to you and stay cozy!

  15. It’s already snowing – how beautiful. We are now heading into a hot & dry summer & I do wish for snow. Stay warm.

  16. Anne, I am SO glad you are working on the pattern for mitts to match the Ghost Ranch neckwarmer! I have the rest of the neckwarmer yarn all set to go when the pattern is available. Thanks — and thanks again for the information and fun at Ghost Ranch.

  17. That fibre is luscious, but the wooden basket in which you placed it gives it a run for its money in the attention-catching department: it’s gorgeous!

  18. Still behind in my blog reading (sorry). Wow, my Sundays are NOTHING LIKE yours! I call Sundays my DORMA days (that’s Day Of Rest My Arse). I think you just described my perfect Sunday. I’ll just have to settle for living vicariously through your fiber adventures, I guess!

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