good things

Nothing beats a hearty and healthy bowl of soup on a cold winter's day:

Spicy mulligatawny soup is a tried-and-true favorite recipe from Cooking Light. I started making this soup back when I lived in Madison. My friend A and I took turns making dinner once a week, always making enough for leftovers for both of us to pack in our lunches. We were both working on master's degrees while teaching and were crazy busy -- it was such a treat just to relax, catch up, have a healthy meal, and know that you'd be all set for at least a couple more days. Fast forward a few years, and now she lives just a few blocks down the street (and across the river).  We don't have the same set dinner schedule, but I still sometimes stop by her house with a tupperware of soup. :-)

NB: I skip the celery, substitute red bell pepper for green, and slightly up the amounts of carrots and bell pepper to make up for the missing celery.

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- One of my goals for 2011 is to make cheese!  Here's a nice collection of links for easy soft cheeses to try.

- The Chrysanthemums mitten pattern in the new Knitty is just too cute. Chrysanthemums always remind me of my grandma Franzie, a true gardener. Her front yard was full of rose bushes, and the back yard was a lush, more casual flower garden (with chrysanthemums, of course).  My grandparents joined up with their neighbors to grow a huge plot of vegetables in a co-op garden a short walk away. My mouth practically waters as I recall picking peas and eating them right there in the garden and as I remember the crunch of their amazing dill pickles.

- A little piece of Wisconsin in the West Village. Stuhlman's model for this place, the charming but now-closed Cafe Montmartre in Madison, was one of my old haunts. 

- Wow, do I miss Wisconsin when I read a story like this. Here's a video:



Note this adorable guy's accent and the Bucky Badger pillow on his sofa. I do worry about how chubby that kitty will become on his high-cholesterol diet...

winter in the city

Scenes from a wintry walk:

an unexpected pop of color.

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city streets frosted with snow

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A new knitting project on the needles (so many babies on the way this year!):

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Tasty orange and dark chocolate buttermilk scones fresh from the oven:

the best of what's around

on the needles

In a fit of whimsy I cast on for my Oatmeal Pullover on Thursday. Inspired by Amanda Soule's gorgeous version, I'm using Quince & Co. Puffin in Bird's Egg. It's one of my all-time favorite colors, and the yarn is rustic yet cushy --  "a faux singles composed of two barely twisted strands of fiber that have been plied together into what appears to be a singles," according to Knitter's review guru Clara Parkes. So far it's knitting up very quickly! It may be a bit too bulky to be flattering, but I think I'll be happy just wearing it around home while curling up with a book or typing away at my Mac.

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in the kitchen

I used Williams-Sonoma store credit to buy an ice cream maker last weekend, and yesterday was the trial run! I made a super-basic vanilla ice cream from the Cuisinart manual and then sprinkled in some mint chips and mini chocolate chips near the end of the churning cycle. Yum! You can really taste the vanilla goodness. I did leave the ice cream in the freezer overnight to solidify a bit more -- straight out of the ice cream maker it was still a bit too soupy for my taste.

I'm really excited about trying creative pairings -- cheesecake ice cream, brown sugar-sour cream, goat cheese-fig, lime-basil sorbet, etc.  Jeni (of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams fame) has a cookbook in the works that sounds awesome. Anyone have recipe recommendations?

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on the tube

Downton Abbey is coming to Masterpiece Theatre tonight. Hooray!

decemberists in january

I came home today to find both kitties snuggling in the much-beloved heated cat bed. Kind of a tight squeeze, but what could be cuter? Many thanks for all the comments and well wishes for my sweet Kylie.  She's walking a lot better these days.

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For those of you in the pro-Decemberists camp, here's a delightful array of links:

- The new album, The King is Dead, is streaming in its entirety here. Hear that jangly Rickenbacker on "Calamity Song"? Love!

- An interview with Colin Meloy here -- I don't love the interviewer, but Colin's charming (as usual), and the live songs are marvelous. I was thrilled to hear Colin to talk about R.E.M., another old favorite of mine.

We have tickets to the Feb. 4 show here in Chicago, huzzah, huzzah!

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A very pleasant Christmas was spent at home as our sweet Kylie recovered.  We started off the day strong with gingerbread pancakes (yum!) for brunch. For dinner I cooked up what must be one of the healthiest Christmas feasts on record -- curried vegetable and chickpea stew (sans the cauliflower) with whole wheat couscous and goat cheese and leek focaccia. 

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Not the most flattering photo of me, but I do want to share the scarf and slouchy beret I knit for my mum for Christmas.

Pattern: Star Crossed Slouchy Beret, by Natalie Larson (free!)

Yarn: The Plucky Knitter Merino Worsted, "Golightly," .7 skein

Needles: Clover US 9 and 10.5 16" bamboo circs and DPNs

my ravelry project page

Notes:

My mom's favorite color is aqua, and this yarn is so pretty and soft!  It's just variegated enough to be interesting, and it's just as soft and cushy as Malabrigo Merino Worsted. This hat pattern is a delight to knit.  It's the second one I've knit, and it's most definitely not the last (especially since I'd really like one for myself!).

Pattern: Chunky Ribs & Ruffles Scarf, by Nancy Kleiber (free!)

Yarn: The Plucky Knitter Merino Worsted, "Golightly," 1.3 skeins

Needles: Clover US 10 bamboo straights

my ravelry project page

Notes:

I  cast on 124 stitches since I was working with a lighter-weight yarn than the Misti Alpaca Chunky specified in the pattern. Just fyi, the pattern repeat = (multiple of 4) + 3.

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I'm totally hooked on Freaks and Geeks, courtesy of the marathon on IFC over Christmas weekend.

What a great show!  I didn't really appreciate it when it was new, even though a friend was very into it at the time. James Franco, Seth Rogan, Jason Segel, and John Francis Daley all in one show? John Francis Daley, the shrimpy little brother, looked so familiar to me, but I just couldn't place him for a while.  Then it dawned on me... he's Lance Sweets on Bones now! Linda Cardellini is convincing as the former mathlete turned "freak." The only downside is that the adults are all a little wooden and not very finely drawn.

Anyway, I love the show -- it's less melodramatically angsty than My So-Called Life, and it captures just how awkward and painful high school can be, but also how it can be exciting and full of new experiences. Some of the geek storylines can be too painful for me -- I find myself cringing in the most visceral way. So far my favorite episodes are the keg party and the fake IDs.

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Happy 2011 to all! Here's to a fresh start.

peace and joy

 

Merry Christmas to those who are celebrating today!  We had planned to trek to Minneapolis to celebrate Christmas with my family, but my sweet Kylie cat has had some health problems, so at the last minute we've decided to stay here in Chicago.  The vet has prescribed three pills a day, and she needs to be kept quiet and monitored. Kylie's so happy to be home from the vet, and she's all curled up in a heated cat bed that was a thoughtful gift from a friend.

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I'm still chugging away on the handknit gifts. Spending Christmas in Chicago is actually giving me a bit of grace time here! Snow is gently falling, the tree is lit up, and cookies have been baked. 

The cabled earflap hat is off the needles!  I'm modeling it along with the Awbrey cowl in their unblocked states, as I'd like to wash them before giving them as gifts.  I'll add braids to the earflaps, as per the pattern, post blocking. Details for the cabled cowl are here.

Pattern: Snowboarder Hat that Rocks, by irishgirlieknits

Yarn: Malabrigo Chunky, "Mariposa,"  ~ 1.5 skeins

Needles: Clover US 10.5 bamboo circs (16") + DPNs

my ravelry project page

Notes:

The yarn is just delightful to knit, and the pattern is clear and easy to follow. The cables are a bit complicated, so you can't just zone out, but they're not too tricky. I worked 3 pattern repeats rather than 4, and it's plenty big. I'll definitely be knitting this pattern again, as I want one for myself!

elvishness

Lots of holiday cheer in the last few days! Now I must pay the piper and finish grading papers this afternoon and evening. Some highlights:

- knitting holiday gifts

Pattern: Acorns, by Melissa LaBarre

Yarn: Orange Flower Superwash Merino Worsted, in "Cadet" (3/4 skein)

Needles: US 5 and 7 bamboo circs + US 7 dpns

my ravelry project page

 Notes:

 Wonderful squishy yarn in beautiful blues!  The pattern is very well-written, and seeing the acorns emerge is delightful. I still need to block this, but the next few days are going to be hectic, so I'd better document it now.

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Pattern: Awbrey (free!), by Stacey Simpson Duke

Yarn: Malabrigo Chunky in "Mariposa," 1 skein

Needles: Clover US 10.5 bamboo 16" circs

my ravelry project page

Notes:

This truly was a quick knit, and the thick cables are super cozy. The Russian lace bind-off that Stacey suggests is easy and very effective.  The slightly flared shape is perfect -- it keeps the top (cast-on edge) from being saggy, and allows the bottom to flare out a bit where your neck meets your body.

My first time using Malabrigo Chunky!  Wonderful stuff -- very soft and cozy, and less fragile and prone to pilliness than the worsted since it has more plies. I love this colorway in the skein, but I was afraid that it would look horrible knit up.  As it turns out, it's still lovely! 

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I'm knitting a cozy cabled hat with earflaps to match! These cables are more complicated, but they're fun to work. The pattern's another freebie -- Snowboarder Hat that Rocks by Irishgirlieknits.  So cute! I was halfway through the fourth repeat of the cable pattern when I noticed that it was looking awfully tall; I ripped back a bit to do just three repeats before starting the decreases.  I'll definitely knit this pattern again!

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- listening

Low's Christmas EP, a (post)modern classic. Low hails from Duluth, by the way. 

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- watching

Paul watched Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas many times when he was a kid, but it was all-new to me this year! In a word, awesome. It's a Jim Henson piece, with plenty of Appalachian folksiness, mixed with a battle-of-the-bands with some super-psychedelic rockers. Very sweet, plus you can see forerunners of many Muppet Show characters. 

We also watched The Holiday, which is a mixture of treacle and charm, with bad acting by Cameron Diaz in particular. That said, the set designers are geniuses  I want to move into Kate Winslet's darling cottage in Surrey posthaste. Plus all the meta bits about movie-making were fun. I rather think that if casting had been done differently (Diaz and Jack Black), this could have been a great guilty-pleasure romantic comedy.

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- decking the halls

We decorated the tree while sipping fresh grapefruit juice & gin cocktails concocted by Paul and listening to the Magnetic Fields.  A very hipster Christmas, I suppose.

P.S. Have you read Neil Gaiman's piece on persuading his parents to get a Christmas tree yet?

the christmas elf is hard at work

knitting hats, night and day...

 Pattern: Cranberry Sauce, by Brittany Tyler

Yarn: Misti Alpaca Chunky, 1 skein (~ 100 yds.)

Needles: Clover US 7 and 9 bamboo 16" circs + US 9 DPNs

my ravelry project page

Notes:

I switched to smaller needles than this time, and it worked perfectly!  The cables are squooshier and cozier, and I managed to knit the whole pattern this time using just one skein of yarn.  

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PSA
Melissa LaBarre, AKA knittingschooldropout, is having a pattern sale (25% off) through 12/20. It's just her self-published patterns (not ones in books or through yarn companies), and some very lovely ones are included. For example, I have a Crooked Paths hat underway:

The yarn is madelinetosh tosh merino (in "saffron") -- it is bleeding like crazy, not just on my needles while I knit, but all over my white shirt. Boo. :-( We’ll see how much good a wash with vinegar does… Great pattern, though -- very fun to knit.

Next I'm casting on for Acorns (which comes with instructions for both worsted-weight and chunky versions!). The Christmas budget is a bit leaner than usual this year (due to acquiring Jeep #2), so it's handknit hats for everyone!

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on the hi-fi

- Florence + the Machine ~ Lungs

- Arcade Fire ~ The Suburbs (definitely wins my vote for best album of the year)

- Vince Guaraldi Trio ~ A Charlie Brown Christmas

What are you listening to now?

progress

A road trip to Minneapolis last weekend made for excellent crochet time.  Three of the four granny squares are off the hook:

I'm still loving them, but the autumnal colors no longer seem quite so apropos after we saw 9" of snow fall while I was in MN.  The snow was just beautiful, and I got to trim the tree, decorate the china hutch, and bake pfeffernüse with my mum.

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The new Johanna quilt is just perfect for winter. 

Capricha has taken to spending every morning snuggled up in the down comforter at the end of the bed. Smart girl!

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Pattern designers seem to be reading my mind right now:

- Ysolda has put her Last-Minute Stockings pattern on sale. I'd *just* been thinking about knitting some stockings to hang over the fireplace.

- Jane Richmond is having a 50% off pattern sale.  Hurray, as I've been eyeing the Oatmeal Pullover pattern for quite some time, and winter break seems like the perfect time to knit one.

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For all of the Jane Austen aficionados out there:



Delightful! Richard Armitage, be still my heart.

best peanut butter bonbons ever

I'm not sure if the stars aligned correctly last year, or if I really concocted the best variation on buckeyes / peanut butter bonbons ever. These received RAVE reviews from everyone. People at parties asked who made them and then grilled me on my recipe. I received emails asking for the recipe.

The secret? They're vegan. Also, mix everything very thoroughly.

1 lb Earth Balance vegan margarine (sticks, not spread)
2 lbs creamy peanut butter (Skippy)
3 lbs powdered sugar
36 oz semisweet vegan chocolate chips (Whole Foods brand)
1/2 bar paraffin

Melt Earth Balance. Using a hand or stand mixer mix melted Earth Balance with peanut butter. Gradually beat in powdered sugar. Roll into balls, chill 1 hour.

Melt chocolate and paraffin, dip balls into chocolate. Chill.

Makes about 150 or so.

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My new Johanna quilt from Garnet Hill arrived today!  I love it.  The prints are designed by Snow & Graham, a local Chicago company, and the mix of modern prints and black paired with a traditional design make for such a cute and different look.

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elf duties

- These super cute knitting-themed note cards at Papersheep would be a perfect gift for a knitter! I found these via Design*Sponge and immediately ordered some.

- Penzey's extracts gift box is a delight for the baker!  I love Penzey's spices (based in Wisconsin, of course, as many good things are). I'm especially enamored of their vanilla sugar and natural cocoa powder. Also, the new baking mini gift box would make a lovely hostess gift.

Back soon with photos of a handknit scarf and beret for my mum.

harvest time

I baked carrot cupcakes for a birthday gathering for Paul that we hosted last weekend.

The carrot cake recipe was unremarkable, but I do want to share one tip. I added 2 tsp. orange zest to the cream cheese frosting, and it was quite nice!

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I'm crocheting some autumnal-looking granny square covers for throw pillows for our downstairs den.  The yarn is some long-stashed Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, and I'm using a D hook, which feels TINY! Usually I crochet with worsted or chunky weight yarn.

My Greenfield cardigan is in time-out right now, as the first sleeve turned out enormous.  Crazy big. My gauge is spot-on, so I'm very annoyed.  I'd love to wear this cardigan over winter break, though, so I'll have to rip way back and add a whole bunch of decreases.

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 Cooking Light's recipe for Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta was delicious the other week!

I loved the contrast between the sweet roasted squash and the crispy bacon.  Be forewarned, though, that this is a complicated recipe -- lots of dirty pots and pans, plus a rather odd recipe for white sauce. Lots of flour, no butter -- the sauce itself tasted a little weird and floury, but once incorporated into the recipe it was just fine.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

the mad hatter strikes again

I took a quick break from my Greenfield Cardigan to knit a chunky cabled hat for my mum.

Pattern: Cranberry Sauce, by Brittany Tyler

Yarn: Misti Alpaca Chunky, #3317, 1 skein (~ 100 yds.)

Needles: Clover US 9 and 10.5 bamboo 16" circs

my ravelry project page

Notes:
This went very quickly, and I used a super cozy and squooshy yarn. Alpaca gives me both the sneezies and the itchies, but doesn't bother Mom. I didn’t check my gauge, and I ran out of yarn during the decreases as a result. I tweaked the pattern a bit to make it work, and it still looks great! Next time I’d use smaller needles, especially for the ribbing, and maybe have an extra skein of yarn on hand.

I've never really mastered the art of taking photos in the mirror, but here's a rough idea of what it looks like.

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Just in case you missed it, The Decemberists were on Conan last night!

Here's a link if they embedded video doesn't come through via a feedburner.

Colin's rocking the plaid flannel, of course.  Takes me back to the 90s and my misspent youth. ;-)

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- Has anyone seen Guy and Madeline Sitting on a Park Bench? If so, what did you think? It's a recent indie film that's part documentary, part musical, but it had a very limited release and isn't on netflix yet.  It sounds fascinating.

- Amazon has made it possible to give e-books as gifts. Huzzah, huzzah! More info here. Paul recently built 3 big bookcases for our downstairs den, and dealing with that has reaffirmed my desire to keep using my Kindle. Some books benefit immensely from physicality -- cookbooks, knitting books, art books, things you want to treasure forever or lend out to friends -- but half the books I read don't fall into those categories. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo simply doesn't deserve shelf space in my library for all time.

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new knitting patterns calling out my name

- Shalder, from The Shetland Trader Vol. 1.  I'm jonesing after the Quince & Co. Lark yarn (perhaps glacier or peacock?) for this pattern, but I must resist until another sweater (or two) is off the needles.

- Leaving, from the new Twist Collective. What a great overall issue!  I'm always a bit surprised by how expensive each pattern is, though. A $5/pattern limit is firmly entrenched in my brain; I wince at anything above that, especially since whole books full of fabulous knitting patterns are so affordable.

-  Little Owls, by Susan B. Anderson.  Just too cute! Plus you all know I'm an owl-addict.

- Holden Shawlette, by Mindy Wilkes (free).

what's ruffling my feathers

Still way too much going on chez Caffeinated Yarn for my tastes... to borrow from brokeknits: blah, blah, dissertation, blah, blah, scholarship application, blah, blah, the sound of deadlines whizzing past me, blah, blah... Plus some serious family health issues and lots on the calendar, including good things like a rather posh wedding yesterday (huzzah for top-shelf open bars, btw). One thing at a time, I suppose.

I did, however, manage to photograph a shawlette. This was knit a while back but mysteriously hasn't appeared on the blog previously:

 Pattern: Ruffle My Feathers, by Caryl Pierre

Yarn: Orange Flower MCN Fingering Weight, "Raindrop," 1 skein

Needles: Clover US 6 bamboo circs

my ravelry project page

Notes:

The yarn is soft and lovely, but perhaps a little more variegated than is ideal for this pattern. It was a pretty quick knit, although the feather-and-fan lace pattern is not handled in the most user-friendly way (cough, there may have been a wee bit of tinking, cough).  The shape is great -- it really wraps around you nicely.

BTW, please don't think I'm too enamored of 1990s country-style oak furniture. We live in a world of hand-me-downs, as my in-laws have done a lot of redecorating in the past few years. The stuff's solid and dependable, though, so we're sticking with it until we can afford to replace it with furniture we really love. It's the "reuse" part of the "reduce, reuse, recycle" slogan ;-)

walking on sunshine

Pattern: Whippoorwill, by Carina Spencer

Yarn: Yarntini Semi-Solid Sock (Honeytini, ~ 90 yds) &

Plucky Knitter Superwash Merino Wool Handpainted Fingering Weight 

(Madeleine Elster, ~280 yds.)

Needles: Clover US 6 bamboo circs

Size: Small

my ravelry project page

Notes:

I love the finished project -- it's a great shape, a useful size, and the graceful curve of the border is delightful. That said, it wasn't that fun to knit. The pattern is definitely aimed at the perfectionist who wants all the details to be just so -- mirrored increases, special types of yarnovers, etc. I am just not that kind of knitter.  My life provides me with enough small details to stress out about already!  If I'm going to be super picky about details, there had better be some fancy lace in play, not basic-looking stockinette with a few yarnovers and garter rows.

The yarns were nice to knit but not remarkable -- both are springy merino wool with a fairly tight twist. The Yarntini might be a little thicker than the Plucky Knitter yarn.  I wish that the grey were just a bit more even and less splotchy.  The combination of the two colors makes me very happy, though -- sunshine on a cloudy day.

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Today has been unseasonably glorious for November in Chicago -- upper 60s, sunshine, a light breeze.  Lo and behold, what did I see while driving home?

A city worker wearing a jaunty Santa hat while repaving our street.

Other terrifying signs that people are starting in on the holidays way too early:

- Christmas carols blasting from the outdoor speakers at the gas station

- Trader Joe's is pushing its specialty holiday goodies. The upshot, though, is that Dark Chocolate Covered Peppermint Joe Joe's are amazingly delicious.

a monday miscellany

This past weekend had its ups and downs, so I'm doing my best to accentuate the positive. We sold the Malibu (hooray!), spent a great night in Lincoln Square with friends (love the Poor Man's Black Velvet at the Bad Apple -- Crispin cider + Left Hand Milk Stout), and Paul managed to find the elusive last bin of my winter sweaters in the storage closet.  I felt like Rory Gilmore as she's reunited with her sock drawer after the big European backpacking trip ("Hello, boys!").

As soon as I popped up from my comfy reading chair to grab a mug of hot apple cider last night, Kylie Cat cozied up in my giant granny square afghan and promptly feel asleep.  So sweet... it's the best time of year for cat snuggling. This afghan is my favorite project ever, hands down -- knitting, crochet, or otherwise.

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- Apartment Therapy's tips on "How to Clean Your House in 20 Minutes a Day for 30 Days"

Does anyone follow a schedule like this?  If so, what do you think about it and how do you make it work? We tend to sacrifice huge blocks of valuable weekend time to cleaning, which is productive but not exactly fun.

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- Garnet Hill has some cute sheepie things that would make perfect holiday gifts for knitters:

Baa Humbug flannel bedding

 

 Counting Sheep flannel PJ sets, robes, and flannel pants

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autumn's bounty

- Cooking Light's Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta is slated for tonight's menu (provided that I get enough done this afternoon). I'll let you know how it turns out!

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 - These Owl Bootees are absolutely adorable, plus gingergooseberry graciously shares the pattern.

perseverance

 

Hurray, it's Friday, a morning when I get to work at home in my PJs, sipping all the coffee I want from a real mug rather than spilling coffee from my travel mug all over my Jeep as I groggily trek to campus. :-) 

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Perseverance used to be one of my strong suits.  Now I'm not so sure... this quarter has been a little too busy for my tastes.  Just as I'm slowly but surely chugging along on my research, I'm also making steady progress on my Greenfield cardigan.  I'm to the leaf details just before the hem:

The bright color has become more and more appealing as the trees in my neighborhood are stripped of their foliage. I dazzled/repulsed one of the girls at knitting night on Wednesday as I spit-spliced the yarn. She'd never heard of spit-splicing before, which surprised me, as it's incredibly useful (in addition to being a little disgusting). So if you haven't tried it before either, now's the time to go for it! I don't think anyone likes weaving in ends. Just make sure you're using something that will felt -- no cotton, acrylic, superwash, etc.

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P.S. Design*Sponge has an interview with Carson Ellis today! 

just a little something to brighten up a cold, grey November day

Over the weekend Paul and I were reminiscing about the amazing Decemberists' show we saw two Halloweens ago. The band came onstage dressed as characters from The Shining, which was awesome, esp. since the show was (quite oddly, I might add) at the very-conservative Wheaton College in a chapel. They have a new album -- The King is Dead (perhaps homage to my beloved Smiths?) -- coming out in January, and you can download a free track here. Yes, that is Peter Buck playing the guitar. :-)

Happy Halloween!

 Capricha's enamored of my festive pumpkin cushions.

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in the kitchen ~ autumn edition

- pumpkin-chocolate-chip squares, always a hit

- apple rhubarb cake

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Here I am, standing on the bumper of my big brother's Jeep back in 1985 or so.  It should have been a sign... 

Yep, Paul and I just bought yet another black Jeep.  Now we're very matchy-matchy. Wish me luck selling the old Malibu!