never enough knitting

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

i tell ya—tomatoes are the wine of the food world. today’s sandwich featured the ugly, bulbous, gray/green/pink ones i was telling you about last week—denise helpfully provided me with a name (cherokee purple) and i suddenly remembered buying that plant in lieu of the black nyagous tomatoes david loves (which i couldn’t find this year at our grower).

well, they’re just scrumptious; super-juicy with a clear, full winey flavor. we’ve enjoyed other black tomatoes in the past and i’ll certainly have them again—there is an ever-growing list of available varieties. funny; i haven’t found a yellow or green tomato i like as much as the purple and black ones . . . but of course i haven’t tried them all. there’s plenty of time for that.

i have been a cookin’ fool these last couple of days, trying to get the piles of produce down to a manageable level (janet, you must return to class this instant to take some of these greens off my hands!! it really throws the balance off when even one person does not take their share . . .). yesterday i roasted eight or ten sheets of tomatoes with oil and garlic and cooked some spicy eggplant-and-pepper sauce for pasta. and i still have eggplant and peppers to roast.

we picked a huge bunch of greens monday evening after class and david made his curried tofu-and-greens pasta

i know, it sounds weird—curry and pasta??—but it’s awesome-tasting, very velvety. and easy to cook . . . it really has just those four ingredients plus some oil, pepper, and salt; anyone can do it.

let’s back up a bit and talk about knitting. monday afternoon, anne c brought yet another finished sweater to class

(sorry anne; that really was the best picture). it’s not in her projects yet, but i think it’s the classic elite everyday cardigan from the celebrated classics book.
anne used a very lightweight bouclé cotton yarn and made it proportionately shorter everywhere, with three-quarter sleeves. just right for summer nights and early-fall or spring weather.

maureen also showed up in a finished short-sleeved, coral cardigan that totally suits her, but i didn’t get a photo—and it’s beautifully knit so i’m doubly darned about that (sorry maureen). seems like i put the camera down and just forgot about it (and it’s not on her projects page, ack).

i worked on the second half of my luxurious road to china wrap and got the first section done. then, after cooking yesterday, i got most of the second and third sections done

i can’t get over how fast this knit up—i have just one repeat of the last section to do and then graft it—i’m hoping to block it tonight so we can squeeze it into the photo shoot we need to get done tomorrow (things to be photographed are piling up!).

i think in these photos of the fabric there is some evidence of the iridescent halo i was describing—you can see a bit where the fabric folds and opens that sometimes the shadows are blue and sometimes gold—just lovely.

i didn’t plan on knitting that so fast and now i’m wondering what the heck i’m going to do when it’s done. i have the pattern for the matching triangle shawl started, but not quite there; i guess i could work on the charts . . . that way i can get it on the needles a little faster.

the fact that i don’t have the charts completely drawn up yet did not stop me from winding the canopy yarn however, heh. this yarn (colorway cat’s claw) also has some really subtle streaks of green and then pink, too; i expect the variations to appear as a wash over the fabric.

i’ve gotta get serious about getting some small projects on the needles—it’s comin’ on mitts and scarf season really quick now and i’ve got hardly anything going in that way. i’ve got ideas, but no tangible projects.

i did settle the composition for one new project last night but it’s a secret. i know—we hate those.
so i decided one thing for sure—we need to continue on the luxurious yarn kick. they can have their secret projects, WE have cashmere—a gorgeous skein of yummy fearless fibers cashmere sport

that deb sent me over the summer for a fall neckwarmer and i think it’s the perfect thing to work with next. oh man, just seeing it again makes my heart beat faster—and the dark blue/gray/brown combination is so me; check out the color name. i can’t wait, i can’t wait, i can’t wait.

and don’t forget, i also have this mink/cashmere yarn that craig sent me from great northern yarns that i’ve been dying to dig into. another one i’ve been saving for a special day . . . i hereby declare this a special day, how about that?

in addition to the naturals colors he’s always had available, craig is now listing a number of beautiful dyed colorways—check those out.

and another thing—i have GOT to get some socks on the needles before i go mad.i started a girly pair while we were away, but they have to be secret, at least for now (too bad, because i like them and they’re so cute).

and anyway, what i really need to get going on is men’s socks for winter—i have just a pathetic few pair to hand out and as i’ve said before, fall is coming like a train without brakes. so i wound up this nice lincoln/corriedale/nylon blend that i spun last fall in the hopes that maybe later tonight i’d sling some stitches onthe needles and get something started for david.

as soon as i can decide on a stitch pattern, that is.

i dunno what’s wrong with me lately; i spend time each day working on getting these things started but i always end up dithering between this and that for so long that i got nuthin’ in the end. some days, there are just too many ideas and choices. it’s a symptom i recognize as some lingering dislocation (it takes me a while to normalize after traveling—you may have noticed).

it was so good this week to have just one thing on the needles to do (and some lots of swatching, oh, and maybe just one other thing, but really that’s all)—i had a definite thing i could turn to when the other things weren’t panning out AND i got it done in no time.

but one is never enough, is it?

24 thoughts on “never enough knitting

  1. You are so right! One is never enough. I bought yarn today to make my first Caricia shawl and I do believe that one Caricia won’t be enough. Thank you for the inspiration to knit and cook. Blessings to you today!

  2. Yes, but what is the name of the tomato? Or did I miss it somewhere along the way? Yummy sandwich-just needs some thick peppered applewood smoked bacon…lol. Sorry! It’ll be nice to see that wrap blocked-it’s a little hard to see the details at this point in the game. I’ll bet it will be amazingly cozy for the coming cold weather. Come to think of it, it would have been good for the past couple of weeks too!

  3. I’m drooling over the sandwich AND the Road to China wrap…both look yummy! (I have a scarf in the RtC worsted and it’s super soft!) Have you tried Sungold tomatoes? They’re a golden-yellow cherry type tomato and are very sweet and flavorful…one of my faves. We never get enough of them to do anything with, because we stand in the garden and eat them right off the vine. 🙂

  4. Oh Cherokee Purple toms are my favorite! What they lack in physical beauty, they totally deliver on in flavor and color:) Yes, even in my food I demand brilliant, exciting color – LOL.

  5. Recipe for curried pasta w/ greens, please? Is David willing to share? I keep preparing my CSA greens the same 4 ways and I’m ready for a new one!

  6. That sandwich looks delicious! I’ve been overdosing on BLTs and all sorts of tomato-centric sandwiches since the tomatoes have hit their prime here in MA.

    I don’t grow tomatoes, but a local farm stand here sells these pineapple tomatoes – yellow with a tinge of red- that are the best I have ever eaten. I believe it’s a form of heirloom…I really recommend them, should you stumble across any.

  7. There you go again! Flaunting, absolutely tormenting this tomato afficionado with your incredible sammiches. Not fair, I tell you!!! 🙂 Everything else looks incredible too! but I will have visions of plum tomatoes dancing in my head!!

  8. Yum!! That sandwich looks wonderful! I am so impressed with your veggie harvest! So beautiful, abundant and clean!!!

    You have a yarn named after you! How cool is that! And so lovely!

    I just went to look at that mink yarn…gorgeous! I can’t wait to see what scrumptious garment you’re going to make from it! 🙂

  9. mink / cashmere? just when I figured it couln’t get any better. That’s amazing. Can’t wait to hear what you think about it.

    Perhaps all this casting about is a form of seasonal hoarding. Getting our nest ready for the winter.

  10. Hi Anne! Could I get more info on the curry tofu and greens please? I am trying to work more meatless meals in during the week and that looks amazing.

    Love the wools, I always am drawn to greys and blues myself.

  11. Those tomatoes look fabulous — I’m with you, somehow I like the yellow and green varieties, but it’s the reds and purples that get me all excited 🙂 All of your gorgeous yarns are getting me excited, too! So many beautiful colors and textures going on there, I can’t wait to see what’s next 🙂

  12. re: Heirloom tomatoes…I heard a short blurb on public radio this morning that there will be an interview on the Splendid Table (today, I think) of someone who raises many types of heirloom tomatoes. Might be a good listen while knitting or otherwise occupied. They do have the Splendid Table episodes online as well.

  13. Oh man, that tomato sandwich looks SO GOOD! Cherokee Purples are my favorite heirloom – perfect balance of sweetness and acidity.

  14. Such gorgeousness – food and yarn! I gifted a hat I knit with RTC – makes me think of getting some more. I will wait for your pattern. I already have some FF cashmere sportweight in my stash, and I’ve been ogling the mink/cashmere yarn (didn’t see that pretty gray) for months online. You are paving the way for us, Anne!

  15. curried tofu and greens recipe, please! (when you have a sec).

    Love the namesake colorway from Fearless Fibers!

    I have serious tomato envy. Here’s a sandwich for you: fill a tomato wrap with raw greens of choice, roasted tomatoes in oil, sliced green/black olives, creamy French feta, lime pepper. Roll and eat! Yum!

  16. I’m so jealous of your veggies. I don’t know what I did wrong. I have two tomato plants. One is full of green tomatoes, but none of them are ripening yet. The other one doesn’t even have any flowers. My zucchini has been getting flowers all summer, but no squash. My eggplant looks like a healthy plant, but it isn’t really doing anything. I’m really good at growing perennials, but I seem to totally suck as a vegetable gardener. 🙁

  17. Oh! Must try the greens/tofu/curry/pasta combination. We put pasta with everything here, usually beans go in first, with whatever veggies we can saute’ and if we’re lucky some fresh herbs (and olive oil, of course). With all of the greens this harvest season, we are always looking for more variety in dishes we cook using them.

    A knitting friend keeps giving me heirloom tomatoes, the best are green with streaks. Love. Wish I had figured out how to roast things, I always seem to flunk out when I try. When it’s root veggie time I must try it again. Have yet to make eggplant anything that I like (love it at restaurants, I just don’t have the touch right).

    Drat, must sleep. The photos are all inspiring, but the food is catching my attention right now. Will try the curry pasta very soon!

  18. Veggies and yarn and projects, oh my! Add me to the list of people begging David to share his pasta recipe, please. What gorgeous yarns you show us. I can’t wait for it to cool down a little here; right now it’s too hot to work with anything as cozy as cashmere, but a girl can dream….

  19. Cherokee Purples are really yummy! I second the vote for pineapple tomatoes (a similar variety is mr. stripey). Pineapples are yellow with lovely red striping and are super sweet and really very good. A different flavor than Cherokee Purple or other red and black varieties – less robust in some ways, but sweeter and very good.

    The knitting is lovely as always!

  20. Oh, Anne that colorway IS you! 🙂
    And the tomato sandwich is definitely what I’ve been doing…I just wish I could photo mine like you do – lolol.
    (((hugs)))

  21. This is the first year I’ve grown Purple Cherokees and I am in LOVE. I, too, have never found a yellow or orange tomato I like, and I was getting the impression that those odd heirloom varieties were just that — ODD. (And that people claimed to like them just because they were different.) But man, oh, man … the Purple Cherokee is the most scrumptious tomato of my life!

  22. One is never enough, I agree. I think a fair amount of fickle is a natural side effect of becoming a KNITter with a capital KNIT.

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