Tuesday, July 02, 2013

pop!


In a moment of idiocy last spring I purchased a skein of Malabrigo Arroyo for the contrast color on my Pop Spots shawlette -- this was to go with some ochre-colored Malabrigo Sock from my stash.

I *thought* I was buying Sock, and didn't discover my error until I ran out of blue yarn with seven inches of the lace edging to go. Arroyo comes in much shorter skeins than Sock (it's a thinnish sport weight rather than light fingering). Anyhoo, I finally made it back to Windy Knitty and luckily found another skein in the same dye lot, and now Pop Spots is complete!
Kind of a frustrating project. I initially wanted to make this in ochre and natural, but no yarn stores in the area stocked Malabrigo Sock in natural, so I (being the impatient sort) went out on a limb and bought blue. The combination just isn't what I had envisioned, though it's perfectly nice. Making the spots seemed magical the first few rows, but became a chore as the project wore on. Making the small version was a good choice.
pattern: Pop Spots, by Juju Vail
yarn: Malabrigo Sock, ochre, .75 skein
Malabrigo Arryo, azules, 1.4 skeins
needles: Clover US 5 bamboo circs

The cats, on the other hand, enjoyed many aspects of the Pop Spots process, from blocking...
to supervising the backyard photo shoot:
But it's done! And I love the contrast edging! All's well that ends well, I suppose.
------------------------------------------------
Paul recently presented me with a Sodastream machine, which I was hesitant to use at first (it emits an alarming loud buzz that scares the cats), but which I am now loving. Mostly I use it for sparkling water and add a slice of lemon or lime, but I've also added homemade ginger syrup and...
 
homemade rhubarb syrup. Rhubarb soda is pretty much the best thing ever. The rhubarb syrup gives it a beautiful rosy hue, and the taste... just delightful.

I made a double batch of rhubarb syrup on Saturday morning and used the "spent" rhubarb to top Swedish pancakes. Delicious! I followed Alicia's recipe for Swedish pancakes this time, and they're just perfect.

------------------------------------------------

As many of you know, Google Reader is dead, alas. I've been trying out Feedly, Reeder, Bloglovin, and Flipboard, and I just signed up for The Old Reader. None has won my heart yet, but I'm giving it time. I'd like something that keeps track of what I've already read across multiple platforms (the various computers I use as well as my iPad). Let me know if you have any favorites or suggestions, please!

follow a caffeinated yarn on Bloglovin'
or
follow a caffeinated yarn on Feedly

5 comments:

Hilary said...

What a cool shawl! I love the colors together. But how annoying about the yardage in the Arroyo! The drinkable pop sounds sooooo yummmmyyyy mmmmm...

Samantha said...

Funny... your post was the first I read in Feedly. I just managed to import things from Google Takeout (since I failed to respond to warnings about the end of Reader before it was suddenly severed from my iGoogle page... also to be gone soon, I think). Anyway, I'm still a bit lost on Feedly but will hopefully get used to it.

I think the blue-and-beige combination is great! And we have a Sodastream and I go through phases of loving it (for sparkling water with their brand of flavorings, like lemon or orange), of forgetting I have it, and of not liking losing counter space to it. But rhubarb or ginger syrups might get me back to liking it! That and summer.

Hope all is well out east (of here). Happy 4th!

Rue said...

I'm also a big fan of the blue and beige - the blue spots really pop. It's good to know this one isn't as fun to knit as it seems (I'd be tempted if it were fun to knit but I'd probably rarely wear it).

That rhubarb soda on the other hand, now that is tempting. We're growing mint on the balcony again this year and I think it's time to break out the mojitos.

(And before I forget, do you have a recipe for the ginger syrup?)

Anonymous said...

Love your shawl! Sorry it got to be a pain to knit, though.

I have been using Feedler, backed up with Bazqix, to read my blogs and am loving it. A lot like Google Reader, you can tag and archive posts and then find them again! Woo hoo!

Jen in Forest Knolls

Amos said...

This is cool!