Knit & Nosh

all my jars are packed, i'm ready to go

Can Jam 2010 – February – Carrots

With only one jar of spicy carrots left on the shelf I was delighted to whip up another batch for the Can Jam.

Makes me think of sitting on the deck at La Fonda, looking out across a beautiful Mexican beach, knowing that after lunch we would be swimming in the ocean.

  

 Spicy Carrots, Onions and Jalapeños 

5 pints total of carrots, onions and jalapeños, 1/4 inch thic[k slices

4 cups cider vinegar

1 tablespoon pickling salt

10 cloves garlic

5 bay leaves

5 sprigs of oregano

1 1/4 teaspoons peppercorns

 

Bring to a boil the vinegar and salt.

 

Into each jar pack 2 cloves garlic and 1/4 teaspoon peppercorns and veggies.  Pour the hot liquid in to the jars, leaving 1/2 headspace. Slip a bay leaf and a sprig of oregano down the side of each jar.  Process for 20 minutes.

  

I love it when days start like this.

  

 

today is for packing

This will be the first trip I have taken and left the computer at home.  A little scary, but it will make for a real vacation.  I had to purchase a USB wall charger, to keep the ipod and flip powered.  Because I will not be able to download photos everyday, a bigger camera memory card was in order.  That is that.

Last night I decided what to pack, knit wise.

Three projects feels like a lot, but they all have their purpose.

The pinkies here are knit through the heel of the second sock.  I expect to finish them up during airport/plane waiting on the way down south.

The greenies will be the sock project that is cast on once pinkies are done.  They will be the airport/plane project for the return trip north.

And Seraphim, just in case.  This is pretty mindless knitting, perfect for the kind of weekend I expect to unfold.

There you have it.  I am so ready to say hello to the warm sun.

  

favorite foods

Its a wet and dreary sort of day around here.  Perfect day to make some stew.  I use the basic beef stew method, only I substitue cubed Field Roast, Celebration Loaf instead of beef.  It bubbles away on the back burner for a good long time and is amazing.  Baking rye bread today too. 

oscillation

I have a cycle that I repeat every few years.  It begins when I agree to take on a new challenge or task that sounds interesting.  Innocent enough.  Then I will be asked to take on another project that piques my curiosity.  This will continue until I realize that I have totally underestimated the time involved for each endeavor.  The next thing you know life is crazy busy and I resolve to not take on anything new once my current commitments end.  That lasts for a few months, then I get a little bored and the cycle begins again.

Right now I am in the crazy busy portion of the cycle.  I am only home one night a week and the stress is starting to get to me.  Things that I used to find enjoyable, I now dread.  Its time to let the curve make a downturn.  It will be six months before I reach a valley, but marching toward the valley will be good.

longest night begins

A while back I purchased the pattern for The Longest Night Shawl by Lori Law.  Oh how I love this pattern.  Even the pointy edges did not turn me away.  In fact, I love the pointy edges because they are formed by snow angels.

When finished, this shawl is enormous and requires 1600 yards of laceweight.  I looked around for just the right color, but nothing was grabbing me.  Then I realized I had the right color sitting on the shelf the whole time, its just not yarn.  At least not yet.

Around the holidays I picked up some Merino/Tencel from Dragonfibers.  In the braid the colors are dark with pieces of white that shine like stars.

Drafted the colors lighten up quite a bit.

 

Once spun they are the perfect thing for Longest Night.

4 ounces down, 8 to go.

without guilt

Last month Youngest Son began taking a Tae Kwan Do class.  The class ran for about an hour, once a week.  Now he has graduated to the colored belts class.  This class meets 3 times a week for 1 ½ hours.  Do you know what that means?  That means 4 ½ hours of guilt free knitting time.  Oh yeah.

On Monday I knit the cuff and one pattern repeat of Fox Faces (RL).  By the end of the class I had finished the leg.  On Wednesday I was able to knit the heel and gusset.

 

Friday has me almost done with the foot.  If I had smaller feet I would probably be at the toe right now.  This is going to be great!

the beach shawl

It is done and I love it!

The size is good.

The color is great.

The stitch pattern is perfect.

sore hands

This morning I powered through and finished the Beach Shawl.

Blocking tomorrow.

carrots

Woo Hoo!  The Can Jam ingredient for February is carrots.  You know the bowl of pickled carrots, onions and chilies that sits on the table of every mexican restaurant in southern california? Well, that is a staple for our house and we are down to our last jar.  Also, I have seen pictures of beautifully quartered and stacked carrots that I totally want to try.  Better make sure I have enough pint jars.

taking a run for the border

I am ready to begin the lace border for Wandering The Moors/Beaches.  Only 35 more ever-increasing rows to the bind off.  If I can mange to work 4 rows a day, I should be blocking in plenty of time to break this baby out on the beaches of San Diego.  Did I mention that the huge long rows are still increasing by 4 stitches every right side?  Cross your fingers for me.

BTW, if you click on the pattern above you will see that proceeds are going to Haiti.  A fun knit AND a good cause.