autumn already?

These early autumn days are flying by. Cool, crisp mornings, pumpkin spice lattes, lots of baby hugs and kisses, swinging at the park, even a jaunt to the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival.

I met up with Rue at Wisconsin Sheep and Wool and had a lovely time. My purchasing was rather restrained, which is just fine since our flat is already full to the rafters with wool. Some Briar Rose merino wool for a sweater for Erik, a beautiful skein of Sun Valley laceweight just because, and whimsical buttons by Jennie the Potter. I also ran into the lovely Caffeine Girl at the Briar Rose booth. So nice to meet her in person at last!

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Some bad to go with the good -- making three trips to Minnesota in four weeks to help with some family health problems was exhausting, but all seems to be well now, and we're thankful for modern medicine.

I knit Erik a hat while sitting at airports and waiting in hospitals.

pattern: barley, by tin can knits

yarn: orange flower sw merino worsted, about half a skein

needles: US 5 and 7 16" circs and DPNs

size: child

notes:

Erik has a large head, so I went with the child size rather than the toddler size. That was overkill! This won’t fit him for another year or two.

Well-written pattern, lovely yarn. I will definitely use both again. I learned about tin can knits' free, truly easy "Simple Collection" of patterns with tutorials for new knitters from the Double Knit podcast, which I've been enjoying during my lunch break.

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A child-sized hat doesn't take too long, so I knit a shawlette while I was waiting, too.

pattern: mirabelle texture sampler shawl, by Zehava Jacobs

yarn: madelinetosh tosh sock, turquoise, 1 skein

needles: Clover US 7 bamboo circs

notes:
The yarn was extremely disappointing -- many, many knots. Weaving in lots of ends in a lacy shawl is a pain. Tosh light more to my taste than Tosh sock anyway.

I ran out of yarn partway through section 9. I bound off purlwise on row 7, doing a p2 tog, slip stitch back to the left needle bind-off.

I love the texture in this shawl, but the dark yarn was too murky to show off the stitches. I also hate doing the butterfly stitch. It ends up too taut for me, and in one case I missed purling the slipped stitches together and had to go back and make a creative fix.

As noted by others, there are some typos in the pattern, but it is not too bad. I would knit this again, using a lighter colored yarn with more yardage, and I might substitute a different stitch pattern for the butterfly stitch section. 

I learned something from this experience -- I tend to knit with yarn that's already wound. There were many skeins of yarn in my stash that would have worked better in terms of color and yardage, but I was in too much of a hurry to wind them.

I finished another shawlette, too, but will save the details for another post.

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Pasta with Roasted Eggplant and Mozzarella

Serves 6

1 lb. eggplant, diced
1-2 large red bell peppers, diced
4-6 medium-large tomatoes, diced
1 medium onion, diced
5 garlic cloves, pressed or chopped
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried oregano
3 T. olive oil, divided
1 lb. conchiglie (medium shells), rigatoni, or penne
1/2 lb. spicy Italian sausage (pork or chicken, loose/removed from casing)
8 oz. fresh mozzarella cheese, diced
1/2 C. Parmesan, shredded
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees for the veggies. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta.

In a large bowl, combine the eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, onion, garlic, basil, oregano, crushed red pepper, and 2 T. of olive oil. Toss to coat the veggies thoroughly. Spread the veggies on a baking sheet or shallow pan -- it's best if they are in a single layer, so you may want to use two pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the peppers are tender. Toss with a spatula a couple of times during baking.

Once the water starts boiling, drop the pasta in and cook until al dente.

Brown the Italian sausage, breaking it up as it cooks, and drain.

Drain pasta thoroughly in a colander and place in a large bowl. Add the veggies to the pasta along with the remaining T. of oil. Add the sausage, mozzarella, Parmesan, salt, and pepper, and toss.

NB: A good vegetarian option would be to substitute oil-cured black olives for the Italian sausage.

Neko Case fans, unite

Neko Case releases her new album, Middle Cyclone, next Tuesday, and I'm enjoying all the build-up. Fox Confessor Brings the Flood was pretty much the soundtrack to 2006-07 for me (as well as countless others). - you can stream all the songs from Middle Cyclone from NPR
- Greg Kott and Jim DeRogatis talk to Neko on today's Sound Opinions (a local Chicago affair)

I'm still absorbing the new album -- a different feel from Fox Confessor, full of love songs and paeans to nature. Only "Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth" strikes me as a dud (insipid lyrics and backing vocals). Paul and I have tickets to her April 24th concert at the Chicago Theatre. Can't wait!

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After a rather light-on-the-veggies January, I've been trying to get back into the habit of incorporating oodles of vegetables into our meals. Here's a recipe from last weekend that was a success.

This is one of the few recipes I really like that isn't as good leftover. Alas! But it's wonderful right when it's made, and it's easy as can be. The simplicity of the recipe showcases high-quality ingredients, so it's worth splurging on flavorful feta (not Athenos or whatever comes pre-crumbled in the regular cheese section at the supermarket) and olives.

Conchiglie with Roasted Vegetables and Feta Cheese
(adapted from Jeanne Lemlin's Main Course Vegetarian Pleasures)

Serves 6 (maybe 4 if you're serving only famished burly men who are accustomed to Olive-Garden pasta portions)

3 large bell peppers, any color combination, cut into 1-inch dice (I used red, orange, and yellow)
3 medium-large tomatoes, cored, seeded, and cut into 1-inch dice
1 medium-large onion, cut into 1-inch dice, sections separated (I used red onion)
2 celery ribs, thinly sliced on the diagonal (optional)
5 garlic cloves, pressed or chopped
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried oregano
4 T. olive oil
1 lb. conchiglie (shells)
1 C. (4.5 oz) crumbled feta cheese (use good feta for this -- the flavor is really showcased in this recipe. I used a Bulgarian sheep's milk feta from Whole Paycheck)
20 black oil-cured olives, halved and pitted (once again, it's worth buying good olives for this)
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees for the veggies.

In a large bowl, combine the peppers, tomatoes, onion, celery, garlic, basil, oregano, and 2 T. of olive oil. Toss to coat the veggies thoroughly. Spread the veggies on a baking sheet (or 2) so they rest in one layer. [Lining the baking sheets with foil leads to easier clean-up, but is a bit wasteful.] Bake for 20 minutes, or until the peppers are tender. Toss with a spatula once during baking.

Once the water starts boiling, drop the pasta in and cook until tender yet chewy, about 12 minutes. Drain thoroughly in a colander and place in a large bowl. Spoon the veggies onto the pasta along with the remaining 2 T. of oil. Sprinkle on the feta cheese, olives, salt and pepper (be generous with the pepper), and toss.