prepping

with the countdown to sock summit on in earnest, we are trying to cross a couple more items off of the to-do list each day. david worked on making sock shapers for our booth yesterday, while i worked on one last sock pattern (nate) and finished my handouts, which i turned in last night.

across the internets there has been a lot of discussion lately about techniques entrepreneurs can use to prevent burnout while trying to maintain the passionate level of hard work and creativity required to get a business off the ground and run it successfully. i graze these discussions in moderation as they cross my field of vision (i don’t have time to seek them out actively all that often) and one good thing i learned recently is to aim for getting two tasks solidly done every day.

it sounds like too little, right?? (i know MY daily to-do list is usually much longer . . .) but when i thought about it, i realized that yeah, having two items done and decorated at the end of every day would, if nothing else, make me feel less out of sorts in the face of my endless list. i can still work on other stuff, whether randomly or piecemeal, and keep a sense of freedom about the rest of the list (cuz, otherwise, why am i working for myself?).
but two things??—seriously, i can do that.

and i’ve had several new insights since employing this technique into my routine:

• two things is a LOT to get done—i feel completely satisfied with shrinking the list by two tasks every day (who knew??)
• because 2 is a small number, i usually pick two big things, so the list is shrinking in noticeable chunks
• i often get a third thing done, too (no pressure though; it’s ok NOT to do a third thing)
• i am so much more relaxed about the work list because i know i’m finishing stuff
• because i am finishing stuff, i allow myself time to exercise, which is a big goal for my summer and which, in turn, relaxes me and prepares me to think clearly and even feel enthusiastic in the face of the list
• i won’t fool you—the list grows as fast as it shrinks, hahaha, but usually there is a small lacunae of time when it is smaller first, and i’m filled for a few moments with wild abandon about all the knitting i can do

just sayin’—maybe this will work for you too.

i had to break just now for lunch; i was ravenous. and i have to share—leftover cornbread and greens from the garden, mmm (the fresh-cut corn added to the bread tastes brilliant). this took all of five minutes to scrounge from the fridge—making me glad i’m unable to cook just two portions of anything.

last night beckie, debby, and kris came over to knit for a few hours and i added some inches to my fruit of the vine scarf while we talked. then, while we watched the team time trials in stage 4 of the tour, i finished it up

i decided to knit until my yarn ran out, but it turned out a little longer than i really wanted it at about 40 inches, pre-blocked. i’ll leave it as is, though; i might change my mind when fall comes and appreciate the extra wrap around the neck.

after my friends left (all carrying bags of summer squash, hehehe), i worked on the maze sweater for a while. i’d finished the neck the other night, ripping and re-doing the last bit until i was happy (it took a few tries to resolve whether i wanted a tiny roll at the top)

last night i re-patterned the sleeve to incorporate some adjustments i wanted to make and started knitting that

i originally thought i wanted to knit the sleeves top-down in the round (and you could; i’ve started it that way on the gray version) but decided instead that i wanted to work bottom-up and flat (sigh, i just like seams, what can i say?). the flat sleeves are just lighter-weight and more portable for my knitting needs right now.

i also worked on putting the idea for my next project together. i have a couple of projects i’m starting in the coming weeks, actually. one is a wrap and triangle shawl of the same theme that i’ll work up in some beautiful fibre company yarns sent to me by kate and courtney at kelbourne woolens

i have a wonderful combination of stitches picked out to knit up in these yarns. the pieces have been designed for a little while and just waiting in my queue to be knit (i got a little backlogged on knitting last month, oops).
canopy (left) is a luscious bamboo/alpaca/merino blend, soft as all get-out. road to china sport (right) is even more decadent—yak/camel/cashmere/alpaca/soy spun into one yarn—that will become the wrap. are you drooling yet?

i’m going to be able to cast on for the first of these pieces (probably the triangle) this coming week; i can’t wait.

my friend kim has a few new yarn bases that she’s dyeing with and today a box of samples arrived that i thought you’d like to see.

this is a new superwash merino 2-ply sport—great for baby things and lightweight sweaters (no link in her shop yet, but i’m sure it will be available to everyone soon enough). in fact, kim and i are cooking up a project with this yarn that we think everyone will enjoy—it’s kinda last-minute; i don’t have much time to get mine done, so i’ll have to bust a move over the few next weeks on it. i’ll fill you in on it later with a little more detail (hint: it has something to do with our exciting post-sock-summit mission)

i was actually intent on using her bambino yarn in the same colorway, but kim sent both for a comparison (because she was rooting for me to choose the merino, hahaha). when we saw how beautifully the merino took the colors, david and i decided that indeed, it was be the best choice—we like the brighter greens and the distinct purply dashes in it.

another new yarn that kim is really pleased with is this camel/silk blend. it’s very similar to the cambyx yarn (a one-off special, not to be available again) that i used for the boxleaf triangle, a soft-spun yarn with a drapey hand that blocks out beautifully. and in kim’s colorways??

lastly she added a skein of muireann to the box—the new silk/linen fingering yarn she recently added to her shop selections. i’ve been really curious about this yarn and i really appreciate it now that i can feel it in person—it’s incredibly soft, like a well-loved, many-times-washed linen shirt. this would make an excellent choice for a lacy summer shawl or top.

and then there is the hand creme, which i buy in quantity a couple of times a year—best stuff on earth, bar none. i have my hands in water and dirt a lot in the summer so i find i use it at least as much now as in the cold months. it’s soothing and healing and it smells fantastic AND it works. really well, in fact; you should get some.

this morning i woke up all psyched to get my cooking done early because i have an appointment to go to this evening. i had three different colors of chard all washed and ready, along with some fingerling squash.

i sautéed those up in a pan for about a minute, set them aside to cool, and got right to work making pie crust—it was time for our first summer quiches. this is a favorite quick dinner for us when we have lots of produce to use either in the filling or as a side dish.

while the crust was chilling, i got together the rest of the ingredients—it’s good to have all the parts ready to go, once the crust is rolled out.
now, i’ll be the first to admit that quiche is not exactly “health food”, but i believe that all foods are ok in moderation. adding fresh summer garden fare is a great way to balance this dish a bit.

also, this is not a food blog—i don’t use recipes when i cook and it’s not at all my science, so i don’t feel comfortable sharing them in writing. but i thought a little picture story might be fun to make because the light was nice in the kitchen and the colors of everything were so yummy.

after an hour or so in the fridge, the pastry was ready to roll from the center out, to a thickness of about 1/8th inch—just once; pastry does not like to be handled much, so folding and re-rolling with toughen it.

this tender pastry breaks easily so i roll it gently onto the pin to transfer it to the pie pan, then unroll it, trim, and crimp the edges.

now the fun part—layer the vegetables and grated cheese in the pie shell with a light hand. too much cheese makes the quiche greasy; too much veg makes it fall apart, so go easy

add the egg mixture and stick it all in the oven while i answer email and make some edits.
45 minutes later, it’s done

mmmm.

MMMMMM, can i just say how very good the chard is with the egg filling—you gotta try it.

i did feel awfully stupid when, just before dinner, i realized that my appointment is not tonight—this is NOT thursday, it’s wednesday. i could have made a stiry-fry after all.

ok, this post ended up taking all day to complete, but it’s done now, i think and i hear some merino sport yarn calling me to cast on now; see you next time.