Rusty Coast's Next Top Model...NOT!

It’s been another one of those whirlwind weeks. I’m in Victoria, chaperoning DH for a surgical tweaking for his shoulder. So far, the tweaking is taking and he’s recuperating very well, thanks to a good dose of rest between rounds of Civilization IV on his PC. His arm is going to be in a hammock for at least a month so I’m playing Florence Nightmaregale for the next while.

I finally got to sit down and knit for a while yesterday while waiting for the DH’s shoulder to get overhauled. I’m near the end of the body of my ‘Broken Brocade’ sweater. I’m not sure what to do for the sleeves. I’m thinking a moderate dolman. The Rococco diva in me wants puffy sleeves trimmed in velvet and lace. I picked up a set of #0 Addi Turbos to do this up and it seems to be going a bit smoother. It definitely makes a difference for smaller needles. I don’t know if I would break the bank for anything larger than a #4. But then again, I’m knitting a bloody sweater for a full grown me in #0. I’m not the sharpest or smoothest needle in the knitting bag :p

I finally managed to get to take some photos of me in my latest round of knitting projects, at least the ones that I got to keep for myself. I never seem to have a camera around when I’m wearing my FO and I feel kinda goofy playing supermodel. So here’s some of the stuff I’ve knitted up this past winter with moi doing my best Zoolander. ( I had to edit out my face, my Blue Steel is so powerful that it would have taken away from my FO)

The Midsummer Night's Dream sweater. It's basic design is Knitty.com's Tubey Sweater. Then I have a few too many glasses of red wine....
















Zee back of the MSND sweater. The middle panel isn't perfect but I don't have to look at it :P


















Zee sleeve detail. I feel like Puck in this sweater!

















The Arachne capelet.
I worked in some tailored shoulder shaping. Not evident here but it does sit nicely on my shoulders ;) The spider is BW's Spider design.











Zee back. The lace is a couple of Barbara Walker patterns. It's supposed to resemble wolfbane leaves. I said 'supposed' to, not that it actually does...









The Honeymoon sweater!!! I've been living in this sweater ever since I've finished it. It's so much fun to wear! I still haven't found the perfect button. It's out there somewhere...












Da back of da sweater. I love Noro! Thank goodness I held onto all those Noro leftovers over the years. I knew they'd come in handy!

With DH’s arm out of service for the next several months, we spent this last week stuffing in as much climbing and outdoor fun as possible. Thank goodness I finally got a slow cooker. We’ve been living off of slow cooker dishes for the last week. We get to go off and play in the mountains and come home to a wonderful, hot dinner. Why didn’t I think of this before???

One more snow day!

Here’s a buffalo stew with Pete’s homemade noodles. I just browned the meat, cut up a bunch of local veggies and threw it into the slow cooker with some broth and some leftover Phillips Black Toque Dark Ale that had gone flat. About 20 minutes before serving, I dumped in the leftover noodles. So good. So easy.

Pete and Nat made one more pass through town on their way to a kayaking adventure in Clayquot Sound. They dropped off a couple of bags of stinging nettle that they had gathered. Such lovely muggles!

Nettles are out in force right now. Be careful, they do have a sting to them. Boil them for at least 10 minutes to neutralize the toxins. Use them as you would spinach. They also can be dried and made into a tea.

Gotta go. I’ve got my sister and her fancy man dropping for a visit this evening so I’d better get home and rustle up some dinner. I wonder if those UVic bunnies would be in a stew?

Have a great bunny zombie messiah weekend!

Happy Eating & Knitting!

De-hibernating

Wake up sleepy bears! Time to shake winter out of your rusty bones. Spring is springing all over the place.

I returned from my extra-top secret superhero business to pollen infested rusty coast. Achoo!

Well, it isn’t all runny noses and itchy eyes. There are some good things about the coming of spring, like this:

Except for a garden shanty that my DH erected during one of the snowstorms, not much energy had to be put into the winter garden after the initial planting. That’s one of the best parts of winter gardening, no bugs and no weeds. Of course, now with spring around the corner, there is a bit of weeding to do. But with yesterday’s sunny break, it was grand to be digging about and mucking around. It’s been awesome to have fresh greens available through the winter. Even some of the red lettuce managed to hold on.

It seems the media is finally getting onto the local food bandwagon. Time magazine has a cover story on the benefits of locally grown food over other foods, even organics, grown far away. Check it out here.

For a local slant on the 100 Mile Diet and local food issues, check out the new issue of Synergy. Sean O'Connell, head super-chef of the Equinox Cafe, has a column on the 100 mile diet for the March/April issue.

For an extra boost of food system literature, I'm making my way through the 'Omnivore's Dilemma' by Michael Pollan. It's an entertaining look at the question "What should we have for dinner?" The author traces the food chain that sustains us through various narratives that range from visits to cornfields to food laboratories.

Warning: Knitting talk ahead. Proceed with caution!

I finished off the Honeymoon sweater a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, I was sans phototaker gizmo for the last few weeks. They don’t like phototaker gizmos in superhero land. So here are some photos of the final product:

The back was done with a mix of techniques for the tree. I wanted a smooth line for the tree limbs and found that twisted stitches was the best and easiest method for that. The background colours was acheive by taking apart a couple different colourways of Noro (Kureyon and silk garden), most of them leftover from other projects, and recombining the colours to echo to colours of the the sunsets that blessed our honeymoon in Kyuquot Sound.
It falls to about mid-thigh and it’s just the punch of colour I need for these last few grey and gloomy weeks. It gives my wardrobe just the enough fun, vibrant colouring without making me looking like a Rainbow Bright doll on crystal meth.

Since finishing that, I’ve started on a lighter weight sweater for the rest of spring. I’ve been reading up on weaving and have always been taken with baroque brocade patterns but have found most brocade patterned clothing looks like someone turned grandma’s curtains into a frock. Just a tad stuffy for me. So I’ve been working out a more contemporary brocade pattern for a spring sweater. I call it 'Broken Brocade' since the white background is broken up with bits of colour.

The white and the variegated colour is from Lorna Laces sport weight. The variegated is their Seascape colourway. So lovely. The eggplant is from the super fine Gems line by Louet. Yeah, I know, the last time I used fine yarn to make a sweater I drove myself to the suburb of insanity. Let’s see if I can get through this one without ending up on the expressway straight to the knitting nuthouse.

I’m also getting together a 100 Mile Fiber blog for spinners, weavers, knitters, crocheters and basketmakers to share their creations made from fibers grown from within 100 miles of where they live. I’ve got a whole sheeps fleece coming my way soon and I have a batch of local alpaca that I’m designing to make a shawl with. I also have a batch of cedar bark that’s about ready to be used to make a basket with.

It’s going to be a busy spring!

Have a great day and happy eating!

Jen

Nanaimo's 100 Mile Diet Challenge

Spring on the horizon

I’m feeling nearly, kinda, almost close to my old self, just in time to meet my old nemesis: Hay Fever. My daily post-work wandering about yesterday got squeezed down into a brisk 40 minute walk up and down the neighbourhood hills and by the time I got back I sounded like a trampled accordion. Yikes!

The arrival of allergies also means spring and all the yummy goodies that comes with it. I think I might have to send DH off to gather us up some young stinging nettle. The garlic in my backyard is shooting up nicely and I’m planning out what else I’m going to stick into the ground now that the Spring is starting to creep in.

But it’s not here yet. As lovely as yesterday was, the evening was chilly and there’s rumors of another cold system coming in. There may be a chance for a good climbing weekend! DH and I are probably the only ones on this island hoping for colder temperatures. We don’t voice our weather hopes too loudly for fear of being run out of town :0

Though my walk left my lungs a bit soggy, it revived the rest of me, especially my brain. I spent the rest of the day bopping from appointment to errands and putting up posters for the Nanaimo 100 Mile Diet challenge wherever I saw a bulletin board. I ended off the day with a fly-by knitting lesson. My knitting apprentice and I rendezvoused at a mall parking lot during her coffee break for a quick tutorial on the seaming and I-cords. It was the most clandestine knitting lesson I’d ever given. I was half-expecting mall security to come knocking on the window and bust us for indecent public knitting. LOL!

By the time I got home it was way past 8pm and I was starving. A look through the fridge and pantry revealed few possibilities. I had a couple cups of leftover roasted squash, roasted garlic, a few strips of smoked bacon and bunch of collard greens that were needing to get used up pronto!

I could have made a pasta but I was jonesing for stick-to-your-ribs winter comfort food. I decided on risotto. I ended up roasted garlic and butternut squash risotto topped with smoked bacon, toasted hazelnuts with spicy, garlic greens. A healthy grating of Natural Pasture’s Boerenkaas cheese topped off this satisfying dish. The only ingredient that wasn’t grown on this island was the rice. I even used smoked bacon fat to sauté some shallots and the risotto rice in. Stop clutching your heart! It was only about 2 teaspoons for bacon fat stretched over the whole dish. In fact, despite DH’s second and third helpings, I still have leftovers for tonight.

The smoked bacon fat gave the rice a deep, savoury richness. So much so that I chose not to add any cheese or butter to finish off the risotto, as you normally would for a traditional risotto. Instead I added only a grating of cheese as garnish. In a way, by using the smoked bacon fat I decreased the amount of fat normally used in this dish ;)

What a gorgeous harmony of flavors! The sweet roasted squash and garlic played nicely against the crispy, savory bacon. The garlicy, spicy greens provided a balanced counterpoint with it's pleasant green bitterness and shift in textures. The hazelnuts and cheese helped tie up all the flavors nicely. The rice, itself was creamy and comforting without being gooey and gummy. For those that think that risotto is a high-maintanence dish to make, it's not. Despite what all those cookbooks and the Food Network tells you, it doesn't need to be stirred constantly for 20 minutes. It needs regular stirring for the first 5-8 minutes. Then after that, you just need to stir it up a bit when you add in more stock. Between stirrings, I managed to wash, chop and cook up the greens, wash up the few dishes I had dirtied, shell and chop the hazelnuts, grate the cheese and clean up the kitchen. I had dinner done in under 25 minutes.

For a Fast & Dirty risotto instructions, check out my previous entry, Comfort Food and Knits.

With a happy belly, I settled into my knitting corner for some major frogging. I had managed to knit up the rest of the back of the Honeymoon sweater the night before but had made some wonky calculations on the shaping of the waist and had to redo it again. Oh well. I convinced myself I didn't really like the way the branches and leaves were shaping up in the silhouette. With new calculations and new game plan, I finished up the rest of the back panel for my sweater (for the second time). I think in total, I’ve knitted up this back panel three times. I used a mix of intarsia and cabling techniques to create the silhouette. I didn't like the chunky, pixelated look of intarsia for the limbs of the tree. I wanted nice, smooth limbs since I was trying to create an Arbutus tree effect. Instead, I used a mix of increase and decrease techniques to shape the limbs. Intarsia worked fine for the leaves. For the background, I used a mix of Noro Kureyon and Silk Garden. Mostly it was yarns leftover from past projects. Since I wanted a particular colour pattern to echo the shift from land to ocean to sunset, I seperated the yarn into colour groups and felted them in the order that I wanted. It didn't take very long and I'm thrilled how it all turned out.

I’m still not sure what I’m going to do for the front panels. I’m thinking some of a wrap sweater design. I’ve been flipping through a Japanese clothing design book from the library. I might incorporate an obi into it or maybe a haori tie to close up the front. Who knows what my wheezy little brain will think up :p

Happy Eating!

Jen

Nanaimo’s 100 Mile Diet Challenge.

Should've stayed in bed

(at least the winter greens got to enjoy the sunshine)

Even with a blinding headache whooping my ass on Friday and Saturday, I still held onto the slim chance that I could at least do some alpine hiking on Sunday on Mt. Arrowsmith. Sunday morning greeted Nanaimo with a bouquet of sunshine. Unfortunately, I woke up with echoes of the same freaking headache and a body bloated with malaise. Kripes! I could have gone to the Global Film Festival or even popped over to the mainland to join in on the Chinese New Year festivities with the family if I had known that I wouldn't be climbing. I chalked it up to another of the universe's lessons. (Doesn't the universe take a day off? Sheesh.)

Unwilling to let such a beautiful, sunny day go to waste, I strapped on my walking shoes and head out for a brisk walk on the seawall. It seemed that all the dogs in the city had the same idea and had dragged their owners down with them. There was everything from a pack of yappy hairless Chihuahuas to a pair of regal looking Great Danes and everything in between.

By the time I reached the library, it was apparent that my internal thermostat was busted. I was shifting from fevered sweats to clammy chills. My head felt like it was filled with helium and I knew I had to abandon my plans of an afternoon rifling through the shelves of downtown Nanaimo’s library, used book stores and consignment shops. Obviously, I still wasn't learning my lesson that day and the universe was sending me to the cosmic principal's office. The walk back home, usually a short 20 minute jaunt, seemed like a marathon in my mind. I called DH for an extraction and within minutes, my knight in dark armor came and whisked this rusty queen away.

After a dose of oil of oregano, I spent the rest of the day sequestered on the couch with endless mugs of DH’s super concentrated ginger honey tea and my knitting. Listening to my freshly downloaded Lucinda William's album 'West', I let my body and spirit settle into a evening of slow healing. Through the fevered haze, I managed to knit up the bottom half of the back panel of my Honeymoon sweater. I can’t remember how many times I had to frog it in order to get it right, it’s all a febrile blur.

This morning, I woke up feeling better and it seems my internal thermostat has been recalibrated. Still a bit meh but so far, no headaches, no chills, no fevered sweats and body aches. Knock on wood. Anybody wanna join me for some trail running around Westwood Lake? (Dear Universe, I'm just kidding. )

Happy Eating!
Jen

Nanaimo's 100 Mile Diet Challenge

Midweek Roundup

I know, I know. It’s been a week since I’ve blogged. I’m such a bad blogmistress but I have reasons for my absence. Many, in fact.

Last Saturday, my band of merry climbers returned to Mt. Arrowsmith for more ice climbing. Our previous climbing crag was weeping and thin and so we hiked up a bit farther and found a bounty of newly formed ice a bit higher up. After an hour long slog up a snow gully, we got down to business.

(climbs at the start of the snow gully)
















(our friend, Dave, humping up the gully)















(The start of the climb)















That's me on some sweet, sweet ice. Yippee!!! I led all the climbs that day ! (Applause)

The ice was beautiful and solid. The climbs were rompy and fun. It was a fantastic day that left all of us good and tired. Us lucky buggers got to return to Dave’s place where his wonderful wife had dinner and a tribe of cats ready and waiting for us.

Here’s my most favorite cat in the world, Lakshmi (aka. Meep), keeping me company during a pre-dinner knitting session.

So cute! One of these days she's going to 'accidently' fall into my knitting bag and I'm going to have to bring her home with me.

On Sunday morning, I rolled my aching body out of bed, down the hill and onto the ferry to get to the Vancouver for dinner and the Serena Ryder concert with my dear friend, Abby. I had a few hours to kill before meeting her and ended up wandering about downtown in shellshock at how busy and frantic the city was despite the pissy weather and rumors that whole world was going to be hunkered down in front of a big screen TV watching commercials sandwiched between slices of a football game while stuffing it’s face with buffalo wings and 7-layer dip.

Lo and behold, I ran into my friend Ky, a vegan warrior and knitting fiend, and Aaron, another vegan warrior and knitting novice. We sequestered ourselves in a corner of coffee house and had a mini-knitfest amongst all the hustle and bustle of rainy Vancouver Sunday. I was working on my 3^rd incarnation of the sleeve for my Honeymoon sweater. Ky was working on a lace shawl for his grandma for her 85^th birthday present. Awwww.

Aaron, who’s totally new to knitting game, was working on a scarf for his mom. Double Awwwww. Well, he was knitting when he wasn't talking up the cute girls who kept coming over to ask him what he was knitting ;)

Men who knit are sexy but they do swear a lot. They’re not able to go 2 stitches without cursing. Their patterns must read ‘Knit 2, Curse 1, Purl 2, Curse 1’. LOL!

The Serena Ryder concert was incredible and intimate. I can’t believe that they booked such a small venue like the Media Room for her. Supposedly, it was sold out pretty fast. That said, I’m glad that I got to see her at such an intimate setting. She’s got talent up to her eyeballs and then some. With a voice that channeled the greats of past decades, mixed with exuberance and an eclectic, unique style all her own, she was absolutely captivating. My girl crush for her multiplied a hundred fold that night. It goes to show that you don’t need a zillion dollars of lighting, lasers, fireworks, an opera of costume changes, an army of stylists and a bunker of gimmicks to put on an incredible and memorable show.

I decided to stay in Vancouver for a few days and work out of my folks place. I even got to give my sister her birthday present in person. Happy Birthday T!

I also got to meet up with the whole gang of vegan warriors for a knitting and 100 Mile diet vegan baking lesson. The guys have been going to the monthly Winter Farmer’s Market at the WISE Hall and had a bounty of locally grown ingredients to use, along with stuff they’ve preserved from the summer. Have I mentioned how that boys swear a lot when they knit? They also swear a lot when they bake. I forgot to bring my camera so I don’t have any photos to share. But when I left, pretty much every flat surface in their house was covered with a cooling rack loaded with cookies, cakes and dessert bars and the living room was filled with flour dusted boys knitting up a blue streak.

After a never-ending streak of errands, I hopped onto a ferry back home Tuesday night. I got home just in time to watch ‘House’ and fall asleep in my knitting chair.

Yesterday I celebrated the soggy weather by staying indoors and baking up a storm. I made muffins with locally grown kiwis and hazelnuts. I also made a mountain of bagels. The house was toasty and yummy smelling all day long! Aromatherapy really does work ;)

The muffins were made with the recipe from Muffin Mayhem.
I used 1 cup of local kiwi fruit- peeled and cut, a 1/2 cup of local hazelnuts (from Footes Hazelnut farm). I used 1/3 cup of local wildflower honey and whole milk for my liquids.

I had a Mid-Island Weavers and Spinners Guild meeting last night. We’re getting ready to host our own fiber show next month. It’s so exciting. I’ll post more info as soon as I get it. Aside from setting up the space for the event, each of us are also in charge of bringing a baked goodie to sell. I'm batting about a couple of 100 mile diet goodies ideas to bring.

Once I’m done wrestling with work, I’m dedicating the rest of the today to knitting and spinning. BTW, here’s the 5th and (thankfully) final incarnation of the sleeve for the Honeymoon Sweater:

I tried many different stitch combinations from Old Shale to ripples to a meandering ridge stitch to try to capture the big rolling waves that dominated our crossings in Kyoquot Sound on our honeymoon kayak trip. I had this pattern idea whispering to me from very beginning. For whatever reason, I tried every other idea before I went with this. I really have to sharpen my knitting intuition nerves and just go with my gut from the get go. It’s basically a braided cable on stockinette.

It’s actually the sleeve, shoulder and upper chest piece. It’s one piece extending from wrist to upper collar. My friend, Karin, says that if it doesn’t work for a sleeve, it could work as a boa constrictor cozy :P

A bonus feature of this pattern is that because the cabling constricts about ¼ to 1/3 of the width, once I return back to just stockinette stitch, the sleeve widens enough to fit around my upper arm and shoulder. That means no need to increase stitches at this junction point.

Once I get the other sleeve done, I’ll have a better idea of what the rest of the torso will look like. I have a few ideas fluttering about in my head. Hopefully, I won’t have to go through 5 incarnations to figure it out how to capture the spirit of that breathtaking coastal adventure for the rest of the sweater.

So that’s what I’ve been doing instead of blogging. Of course, if didn’t do all that stuff, I wouldn’t have anything to blog about so I have to do all that stuff. You see how that works? It’s a vicious cycle. Oh woe is me…

Have a great day!

Jen

There's a honeymoon in my yarn!

Last night’s pre-Chinese New Year dinner went splendidly well. Here are some pics of the feast:

Panfried noodles with moose sausage and gai lan in black bean sauce. I serve the noodles on the side of meat and veggies so the noodles stay pan-fried crunchilicious!

The hot and sour soup:

And of course, the potstickers (BTW, Gina, anytime you're on the Rusty Coast, you're welcome to join my potsticker sweat factory)

The pork was locally raised and the moose sausage was from the stash that DH’s uncle so generously gifted us with. Pretty much all the veggies from the gai lan to the carrots to the mushrooms were all BC, if not locally grown or from the backyard.

Hot & sour soup is one of my favorites. It’s super-easy-peezy to make. It does call for a few non-local items but it my version is also chockfull of local veggies and meats. It’s a great soup for the chilly weather and it certainly warmed up the crowd. It’s actually nothing more than a stir-fried dish souped up.

Traditional hot & sour soup calls for bamboo shoots, lily buds and black fungus. I don’t like bamboo shoots, especially canned bamboo shoots which resemble waterlogged woodchips IMO, so I don’t use them. Instead, I add carrots and parnips cut up into matchsticks to add some crunch to the soup. Lily buds and black fungus can be found in most Asian food aisles in the dried food section. They don’t so much impart a taste as much as they are there for texture. Quite frankly, you don’t have to have them (stop throwing those chopsticks at me!). While at the Asian food aisle, pick up a bottle of the red vinegar. It’s not red wine vinegar but traditional Chinese red vinegar. You’ll need it for dipping for potstickers. I actually used Marley Farm’s blueberry vinegar since I had it on hand. Now that I’m completely pissed off all the Chinese food traditionalists, here’s my recipe for a Fast & Dirty Hot & Sour soup:

Pork:

2-3 oz of shredded or coarsely ground pork

2 teaspoon soy sauce

½ teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon cornstarch

Mix all these together and set aside to let the pork marinade.

The rest of the crap:

1 cake of medium firm tofu – cut into cubes

1 coin of ginger – smashed and minced

1 carrot peeled and cut into matchstick size

1 parsnip peeled and cut into matchstick size

1 onion sliced thin

3-4 handfuls of mushrooms (white, brown, shitake) sliced thinly

1 small handful of dried lily buds – soaked in hot water for 20 mins. Cut into thirds

1-2 pieces of black fungus –soaked and sliced thin

6 cups of chicken stock – preferably homemade but who’s kidding who?

1 teaspoon cane or brown sugar

3 tablespoon red vinegar

1-2 tablespoon soy sauce

½ teaspoon white pepper

1/2 to 1 teaspoon sambal oelek or similar hot sauce

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 heaping tablespoon cornstarch – mixed with some water to make a slurry

-In your soup pot, over medium high heat, throw in the marinated pork. If you’re using good pork, there ought to be enough fat in it so enough oil renders down to provide enough cooking oil for the whole recipe. If you’re using anemic, super-leaned up supermodel pork, throw in some vegetable oil. Let the meat brown up a bit before you start stirring it around.

-Push the meat to one side of the pot and drop in one layer of mushrooms. Let those brown in the pork fat. Once golden brown, just shove them aside with the pork and lay down another layer of mushroom. Continue until all the mushrooms are done.

-Toss in the rest of the vegetables. Stir fry for a minute.

-Throw in the stock. Then toss in the seasonings, tofu, lily buds and fungus. Bring the soup up to a boil.

-Pull the pot off heat, stir in the slurry. Put back onto the stove and bring to a boil. The slurry will thicken up the soup a bit. Ready to serve. You can toss in some chopped green onion or cilantro to make it pretty.

Oh yeah, there’s supposed to be a beaten egg in there. I don’t like egg in my hot and sour soup. I like egg drop soup, just not egg dropped into my hot and sour soup. If you want you can add a beaten egg. Make sure it’s a local and free range, dems the rules. Simply slowly drizzle a beaten egg into the pot as you slowly stir the soup. The residual heat with cook the egg.

Warning: Knitting jabbering ahead.

Now that I’ve finished my Midsummer Night’s Dream sweater and the MIL sweater, I’ve had a moment to throw some new projects onto needles. I’ve got some small stuff, a pair of fingerless mitts for my sis and a pair of socks for DH (who wants to bet that the socks never get done??). For myself, I’ve started on a cardigan that I’ve been dreaming and scheming about since 2005: The Honeymoon Sweater.

No, it’s not Jackie Gleason bus driver sweater. It’s a sweater inspired by our honeymoon in Kyuquot.




























(Yep, dat's me)

We spent 10 brilliant and adventurous days kayaking along the Northwest coast of Vancouver Island. The days were filled with huge waves and hot sun. The nights were kissed by gorgeous sunsets. The water was the blue of Hawaii postcards and the horizon was our next waypoint.

I’ve been keeping my eyes open for the right yarn. My sketchbook has a number of scribbled ideas for designs and motifs. Finally, I found a yarn that contained all the colours of our honeymoon. Wouldn’t you know it, it had to be a Noro yarn:

It’s Kureyon yarn, their wool yarn. It’s not as elegant and luxurious as the Silk Garden but its colours are so rich and intense. Since the honeymoon was more rustic than elegant, this yarn will do fine. I was able to pick up a small stash at the local yarn store on sale. Since the price of Noro yarn is a bit dear, I picked up a more reasonably priced Paton merino yarn in Peacock to help ‘stretch’ the fancy stuff.

So far, I have much of my first sleeve done. Don’t ask me about the torso. I haven’t planned that far ahead except to say that I’m thinking about throwing in some sort of beach landscape silhouette thing along the bottom. Or maybe a wave/ripple effect. Don’t know, I’ll get back to you once I figure it out. Or have the yarn figure it out for me.

I’m going to listen to Serena Ryder all day so I can sing along with all her songs at her concert on Sunday. I can’t wait!!!

Cheers!

Jen