cosmicpluto knits!

Spoiled, more like. More on Ysolda’s visit soon, but for now, some pretty yarn pictures.

Indigo Moon sock yarn in chocolate and raspberry, for stripey knee socks!

Fibranatura Mermaid (cotton/wool/silk/seacell!) in an awesome blue-green.

Ysolda picked up the spinning thing pretty darn quick!

We also both bought crazy hot shoes - seeing as how we live thousands of miles apart, I don’t think it’s going to be a problem (also they are different colours, I got red and she got grey).

(Photo from Fluevog.)

More soon!

Thanks for all your comments. Sometimes the power and speed of the internet work for the greater good! I found the photo last night, and it was taken down by lunchtime today. I was contacted by the author of the site, who apologized and said she will review her testimonial policies - the photos (before/after, of different people) were submitted by someone to her as a testimonial which she took at face value. Unfortunately, there are unscrupulous people out there who can and will use other people’s work for their own (twisted) pleasure.

So, I’m happy with this resolution. But that was a very weird situation. I’m not sure what I can do to protect my photos and likeness in the future - perhaps add a watermark to my photos? Not really interested in that sort of thing right now, but it might become necessary. At any rate, I’m glad this was all so quickly solved! I’m going to close the comments on the last post.

Next time, fun around town with Ysolda, and maybe even some knitting!

Apparently my photo from the Lucy in the Sky cardi is being used on a very shady site as a “before” photo for a weight loss gimmick. Yep. Not my face, luckily, and the “after” photo is probably just stolen as well. (The “after” photo doesn’t even have the same hair colour as me.)

Changing the link to the photo probably won’t do anything since the photo’s been taken (saved) and manipulated. The “contact” page doesn’t work.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

Ideas?

Knitting:

Just needs the other sleeve sewn in. And the ends. And buttons. And a good blocking.

Spinning:

About 700 yards of fingering weight merino/silk. Off the wheel, technically! But it’s the first completed yarn I’ve made in months.

Gardening:

A mini bed in front of my back deck. I’m not doing the allotment garden this year (too big, too much work by myself, not sure if I’ll be around all summer) but I am trying to get my crops in among my parents’ plants! This area was pretty sad, a few raspberry offshoots (scraggly ones) and not much else. So I dug up the plants (very tough) and planted about four feet of shelling peas in double rows and four feet of “mammoth melting” snow peas against the deck. Then in front of them I planted green onions, coriander (cilantro) and chives. I need some kind of border stones or something…

Tomatoes, of course - I’m rather behind this year but I think I’m ok. Varieties: Purple Calabash, Eva Purple Ball, White Queen (they’re white!), Tigerella, Matt’s Wild Cherry.

Reading:

Buffy Season 8, Volume 1. Oh yeah.

After some sitting around yesterday morning, my dad gave me a ride over to the Frolic around 12:30 or so - later than I would’ve liked, but still plenty of time to walk around (and around and around). It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, but once I got started, I found it much easier to spend :p

Wanna see?

Merino DK in a positively luminous chocolate brown, from The Black Lamb.

Also from The Black Lamb, some mixed batts. I love her batts!

From In the Loop, Fyberspates BFL/silk blend. Dude, this yarn is the softest. yarn. ever.

Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in Douglas Fir for the Butterscotch Cardigan from the current Interweave Crochet (yep, crochet!), from Red Bird Knits.

And finally, some awesome Japanese pattern books from the Fiddlesticks/Needle Arts Bookshop booth. Seriously, they are awesome. I want the book with Am Kamin in it, but SOMEone picked it up first!

Obviously I picked up a LOT of yarn (a sweater’s worth of each), but I still wanted more! This olive green Koigu Mori is still on my mind, as is some Indigo Moon sock yarn. Ah, well. There’ll always be more yarn.

After the Frolic was over, the lettuce knit crew packed up the car in record time and headed back down to the store for Amy and Jillian’s book launch. The cupcakes were fab, the sushi was yummy, and the company was awesome. Unfortunately I came down with an acute case of camnesia for the entire day, but I’m sure there’ll be photos floating around out there. And I did indeed get a ride home with the fabulous Rachel H.

All in all, a fantastic day. Now that I’ve had my break, it’s back to work for me!

Well. The TTC workers’ union is on strike.

For those who don’t know, the Toronto Transit Commission is our public transportation system and the only way to get around for a LOT of people. It’s for the most part reliable, comfortable, fair to navigate and gets you where you want to go for $2.75 (less if you buy tokens or tickets, with day, week and month passes available too). We’re talking 1.5 million riders PER DAY.
 
I don’t really drive, and even if I had a full driver’s license I don’t have a car, and I go basically everywhere by TTC. To get to lettuce knit, I take a 5 minute bus to the subway station, 2 subway lines (35 minutes or so) and a streetcar. Takes me about an hour, but I can nap or knit or whatever.

Tonight I was on my way home from downtown around 11:30, when I found out that the TTC was going on strike at midnight. Subway trains were being pulled out of service, buses were going out of service as they were coming into the station. Luckily I a) knew what was going on and b) was able to be picked up from the station in relatively short order. The TTC and the union had reached a tentative deal last Sunday that averted a strike on Monday (hell for all the commuters) but it was rejected tonight in the vote by the union. So the workers walked off the job. They’re expected to be legislated back to work by Monday.

So what’s this mean for this weekend? Well, the annual Knitter’s Frolic is tomorrow, and this certainly tangles it all up! I don’t really have any way to get there without the subway. I can get a ride from my parents maybe, but they have their own plans and such for the day. Plus, the traffic is going to be hell. Tons of knitters were relying on the TTC to get to the Frolic, and now? Well, there are a few carpools being set up on Ravelry, but since the word came so late, I think a lot of people will be waking up tomorrow and being extremely surprised. Cabs to the venue from downtown are VERY expensive (at least $50 or more) and will be hard to come by, to say the least.

And then there’s Amy and Jillian’s book launch down at lettuce knit. That’s downtown, at least, so it’s bikeable or even walkable for some people. But I’d bet that the vast majority of the people who planned to attend were planning to take the TTC.

Me? Well, I think my plan is: get a ride to the Frolic, then get a ride back down to the store for the book launch (this ride was planned already), then… a ride back home with someone? Rachel H.? Someone else? I don’t know.

Well. This was a rather long and pictureless post. I guess I’m just frustrated! How the hell am I supposed to get around?!

P.S. Please forgive any wonky code or anything, I just upgraded my Wordpress installation (hurrah for easy upgrades) and am still figuring things out.

Work work work. The problem with freelance-type work is, it’s really hard to separate out work time and play time! It’s easy to just keep working and working. Well, for me, anyway. Mostly because I feel guilty if I have time to work and am not doing it. Does that make any sense?

Thanks to everyone who helped me destash - I had so many packages to take to the post office that when the woman there saw me, she took out a whole mailbag for my packages! A few more are going out today.

So. How about some knitting talk? I finally finished the sleeves of the Manos silk cardigan -

I did them both at the same time - which was kind of a drag when I was actually doing it, because it seemed so slow! But then I got up to the cap and then, behold! Not one but two sleeves! It was pretty exciting to finish them both together.

Now I just have to do the button bands and collar. I think the sweater’s going to take a little more yarn then I’d hoped, eight skeins rather than seven. Ah, well. I can make the collar nice and long.

Now here’s my Wednesday problem - I don’t know what to take to Knit Night tonight! The Manos cardigan is sort of at a tricksy point to take to a place where much talking and probably drinking will take place. Maybe it’s time to bust out some plain sock knitting? But what I really want to do is cast on for another sweater! What sweater, what yarn? Do I have the supplies? Do I have the brain power to start something new?

This is often my dilemma.

I do think I’ve solved what to take, though - the Manos sweater (the button bands won’t be too hard to figure out) and maybe needles and yarn for new socks. I could really use some new plain socks. Yeah, that sounds okay.

(Although I do still really want to cast on for a new sweater.)

Back to my lunch!

Chickpea salad: chickpeas, cucumber, tomato, chunks of haloumi cheese, lots of parsley, good olive oil, lemon, and a sprinkle of cumin. Pita wedges are obligatory for soaking up the dressing!

It’s also the final edition, at least for now! I put a couple more things up on my destash page, including a bunch of handspun skeins. All things must go! Make me an offer!

I don’t have much to show with the knitting (although that’s coming up shortly! just need some photos), but I do have cinnamon rolls!

Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting
adapted from Bon Appetit magazine

This is a lovely, easy dough recipe. It’s been while since I last made a yeasted dough (probably not since last summer?) but it rose well and really turned out great. Best eaten warm!

Dough
1 cup milk
3 tbsp butter
1 envelope instant (rapid-rise) yeast - 8g
3 1/2 cups flour, divided
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt

Filling
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar (packed)
2 tbsp cinnamon

Frosting
125 g cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup icing (powdered) sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Making the Dough:
Heat 3 tbsp butter and milk together in microwave (or on the stove) until the butter is melted and the milk is warm, about 60 seconds (longer if your microwave is old like mine). Place in bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment and add yeast, sugar, salt, and 1 cup flour. Mix on low speed for 3 minutes, scraping down sides.

Add 2 1/2 cups flour and mix until the dough forms a ball and comes away from the side of the bowl. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead, adding more flour if sticky, for 8-10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Place in lightly oiled bowl and cover with kitchen towel. Let rise for 2 hours.

Once the dough has doubled, turn out onto a floured surface and roll out to a rectangle approximately 15 x 11 inches.

Dot surface with 1/4 cup softened butter, then spread to cover dough, leaving a 1/2 inch border. Mix together brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over butter.

Starting with one long edge, roll up the dough, pinching ends to close. Slice the roll in half, then each half into about 9 equal pieces (about 1/2″ or a little wider).

Lightly oil two 9″ square pans and place 9 rolls in each pan. Cover pans and let rise for 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 F. Once the rolls have doubled in size, bake for 20 minutes or until the tops are golden. Turn the rolls out onto a rack and let cool 10 minutes before frosting.

Make the Frosting:
Mix cream cheese, butter, icing sugar and vanilla in stand mixer until smooth. Spread over warm rolls.

Devour.

Holy comments, Batman! Awesome. I knew that’d bring out the lurkers

So, without further ado, the winners:

Twinkle’s Weekend Knits - Jeanine
Classic Knits at Home - Michelle

Winners have been emailed. I felt bad I couldn’t give books to everyone!

So up next… a rather large yarn destash. Prices are in USD or CDN (they’re close enough anyway) and include shipping to Canada and the US. If you’re international, let me know and I’ll amend the price. Payment by Paypal, balance transfer or credit cards - and please don’t send money until I’ve confirmed. Please, help me make room!

Visit my destashing page!

Finally, since every blog entry needs a photo (well, not really, but whatever), my finished Manos Silk cardigan body. Any ideas for names?

This took a bit under four skeins, so I think I’m on track to use just 7 skeins for the whole sweater!

P.S. Insidious spammers have somehow hacked in and may be putting in horrible filthy links at the bottom of my posts, as read in blog readers (but not on the blog page itself, weirdly). Any ideas on how to stop them? Please let me know if you see anything off! I’ve deleted some stuff already, and it doesn’t show up in the RSS feed anymore, but Bloglines may not have updated yet. Argh.

I’ve got one copy of Erika Knight’s Classic Knits at Home to give away! (Also see my give away of Twinkle’s Weekend Knits, one post down!)

This is a gorgeous book that makes me wish I lived in that particular house! There are 15 patterns total for various around-the-house knits, using simple textures and gorgeous yarns to produce luxurious pieces that really would “keep forever”. I’m quite inspired by a few projects in particular - a circular rug worked in hemp with short rows; a big chunky floor cushion knit from bulky yarn, and the patchwork hexagon blanket on the cover. Even the knitted plant pot covers, as improbable as they might be, are rather cute!

Somehow, though, I don’t see myself getting to any of these patterns anytime soon (not the least of which is because I don’t have a house to decorate), so I want to give it to someone who’ll appreciate it!

To enter, just leave a comment. I’ll use a random number generator to pick a winner on Friday.

Comments will close Thursday, April 17, at 11:59 PM EDT.