Parsnip soup

So a little while ago – some time BL (Before Lurgy) someone (John) bought a bag of parsnips. These have been sitting in the fridge for some time. So this afternoon, having done the washing up, and wanting something else to do in the kitchen so I could carry on listening to Brenda Dayne’s Cast On (I’m a little behind – she’s not taken her break yet so far as I’m concerned… ). So my attention went to the parsnips. I love curried parsnip soup – I’ve only had it about once, but I used to make pureed parsnip for Adam and Ruth when they were itty bitty tiny things, and often used to add a pinch of curry powder, and it was gorgeous. So curried parsnip soup it was to be. I browsed through a couple of cook books, and got started. Part-way through my peeling and chopping adventure John mentioned that Maggi Dawn had posted a recipe for parsnip soup on her blog today. This was in response to a plea from Dave of the Cartoon Church and this wonderful cartoon resource for bloggers. Apparently he’s been so overwhelmed with parsnip recipes that he has drawn a selection of parsnip cartoons – go visit – there’s one to suit every palate.

(The soup wasn’t ready by dinner time, so we had cold roast chicken, cauliflower and mash – and I’ve only just remembered that there’s a tub of particularly nice gravy in the fridge Ah well.)

Off to hang up some laundry now. Happy, happy happy.

Things that make me happy ...

... there are are many of them, but this one is top of the list right now:

YAY!!! After 10 weeks without, we finally have a washing machine again.
Soooo happy. (And look – those little red lights mean that we’re using it already. Happy sigh.)

Better now

I am! Wheee!! I’ve eaten whole meals and everything

Sadly Ruth is not I won’t give you details, but she’s definitely not – poor love. So I’ll be at work tomorrow, and John will be at home looking after her. (I can’t really take any more time off.)

How long?

OK, I’ll get the whingy bit over and done with at the beginning. I’m still ill – still being “otherwise distressed” after four (or is it five? – I’m losing count) days. And Ruth has had it too, although she’s been OK since Saturday afternoon, although she was still under the weather yesterday – so much so that she fell asleep just before dinner time:

So I’ve been to see the doctor who has given me the name of some stuff that I can’t get on prescription, that the pharmacist doesn’t have in stock… Update: it’s not in stock because it’s not made any more…

Enough of Moaning Minnie. Unfortunately I’ve either not been feeling well enough to knit, or just not been in the mood. However I do need to confess some progress…

The conversation on the phone with my mother on Thursday went something along the lines of, “That yarn you agreed to pay for for my birthday arrived today, but don’t worry, I’ll finish your scarf before I start it.” Now if you’ve been paying attention (and there’s absolutely no reason why you should) starting the scarf was in itself going against the spirit of the WIP-Wipeout I’m trying to commit to. Ah well. Let’s have a little look at that scarf now shall we:

Does that look finished to you? Me neither.

So clearly I won’t have started the Sunrise Circle Jacket yet, will I? Obviously not. So what is this then?

Er…. – a swatch? No, it is indeed the back of the jacket (don’t you just love the way the colour goes from burgundy to copper and back again – yum). And it’s worse than that. Not only did I buy the 10 balls needed for the pattern, when I looked back at Stash I saw that they had exactly 5 balls of it left. And by a curious coincidence exactly 5 balls of Karaoke is what I need to make this felted bag. And I’ve been wanting to make a felted bag. And I was beginning to be a little concerned in case I didn’t quite have enough yarn for the jacket anyway, so it would have been irresponsible not to get them all – right?

Alright then. It’s time to get serious about this. I AM NOT GOING TO BUY ANY MORE YARN UNTIL I HAVE KNITTED UP THE STUFF I ALREADY HAVE.

Anyway, all this not knitting time has been spent reading – I’ve finished Victoria Finlay’s Colour:Travels Through a Paintbox – it’s been a fabulous read – an adventure story to all sorts of remote and exotic locations, tracing the origins and history of paints and dyes. I hadn’t really realised before just how fragile some of the pigments used by artists in the past were. (I kind of knew that many of the Masters have faded, but hadn’t really taken on board why, or how much.) Nor had I realised how dangerous some of the pigments were – both to obtain and to use.

Well, time to find some dry toast for lunch…

Joke day

OK, so Sandy has a joke, and Norma has a joke, and I’m in a weakened state, so much more likely to fall for a bandwagon, and this one really did make me chuckle the other day:

Several scientists were all posed the following question: “What is 2 * 2 ?”
The engineer whips out his slide rule (so it’s old) and shuffles it back and
forth, and finally announces “3.99”.
The physicist consults his technical references, sets up the problem on his
computer, and announces “it lies between 3.98 and 4.02”.
The mathematician cogitates for a while, then announces: “I don’t know what
the answer is, but I can tell you, an answer exists!”.
Philosopher smiles: “But what do you mean by 2 * 2 ?”
Logician replies: “Please define 2 * 2 more precisely.”
The sociologist: “I don’t know, but is was nice talking about it”.
Behavioral Ecologist: “A polygamous mating system”.
Medical Student : “4” All others looking astonished : “How did you know ??”
Medical Student : “I memorized it.”

from Anne-who-has-discovered-that-a-warm-bath-on-an-empty-stomach-can-be-very-difficult-to-get-out-of – dizzy, dizzy, dizzy So please forgive the above joke – I needed it.

Feeble and pathetic

I’ve just spent most of the last night “being sick and otherwise distressed” as John so delicately put it when he emailed in sick for me. I’m not good with stomach bugs – I get all kind of panicky. Anyway, the worst is now over, and I just feel grim.

Secret Pal – thanks for your message – just the thought of being spoilt has cheered me up immensely.

I’m back off to bed now. (Oh, and did you know that breaking your specs just before you kneel in homage in front of the toilet does NOTHING to make life better?) Fortunately John has been a total star and has looked after me beautifully – even sitting up with me for several hours to keep me company. (In case that sounds too wierd, when either John or I are really ill we sleep downstairs so we can do whatever we have to do without waking the children.)

Various knitting

First – thank you to Donni and Mary for their suggestions, I’ve concocted my half-page of wittering about knittering and emailed it off to the relevant person. Now to just wait and see (I suspect that it will be a “no”, but there’s no harm in trying.)

My parents are visiting this week, and my mother, also a knitter, weaver, quilter, embroiderer… has been knitting for Ruth, and for Ruth’s dolly, Tilly:

So Granny is the soft one who knitted matching cardigans for them both – Mummy is the soft one who dressed her little girl in pale blue to match Tilly’s outfit too… (hey, my little girl won’t be my dress-up dolly for very long, I’m going to enjoy it while I can!)

And not to leave Adam out (for once I’ve managed to get a half-way decent photo of him):

There has been a serendipitous set of events in my knitting world. Firstly, my mother did indeed reject the hat I made her – the colour was all wrong for her, I knew it would be, but I didn’t bargain on Adam adopting it – it looks utterly ridiculous – he really does look like he’s wearing a teacosy. Ah well, I just need to knit him one that is properly intended for him. So, I still needed to knit a Christmas present for my mother. Secondly, I have two balls of Berocco Uxbridge Tweed that my secret pal sent me. The colour is gorgeous, but I’d been wondering what to do with just two balls. Thirdly, I signed up for the “Purl’s Snake-a-long”http://purlsnake.blogspot.com/ and was feeling a little guilty that I was doing nothing about it.

Now, can we see a solution to every problem there? Yup – I’m knitting a Snake Scarf for my mother using Berocco Uxbridge Tweed:

For some reason the red really didn’t want to show up properly, so I’ve played with the colours a bit using the Gimp – but this is reasonably close. It will only be a little scarf, but it will be long enough, and yay! Three birds with one stone!

Yesterday we all (my parents, Adam, Ruth and me) went shopping in Cambridge. The main target was the Rainbow Cafe for lunch – a wonderful vegetarian restaurant with lots of gluten-free items on the menu (I had cream of curried parsnip soup with ricecakes, followed by a slice of dandelion and burdock roulade – yum!!). I won’t bore you with a list of all the shops we traipsed round (although be proud of me – I didn’t go to Sew Creative! – although I did go to Robert Sayle (our John Lewis shop), where I fondled some Rowan Felted Tweed, but I didn’t buy any.) I did fall for the “3 for 2” in Borders though – including Colour by Victoria Finlay – a fascinating history/exploration of pigments used in paints. I’m only up to page 36, but it’s shaping up to be a really good read.

Oh, and John – look over here for a moment will you?

Has he gone? Good.

I’ve been a little bit naughty – since I first saw this pattern, I’ve been desperate to knit it. I can’t find the Karabella Soft Tweed anywhere in the UK, but then I noticed that Stash have a sale on and that South West Trading Company’s Karaoke is reduced from £7.25 to £4.00, and that it knits up to exactly the right gauge (yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I still need to check that it works for me, but I’m usually pretty close to what the label says). So I’ve bought 10 balls of this:
– shade 286 – lovely rich coppery tones.

Anyway, I’d better go and be sociable.

Very quickly

Bother – I meant to do this over the weekend, but I forgot.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I may be able to set up knitting as an “enrichment activity” at college – i.e. get a group of students (16-18) together to knit about once a week. To have my proposal considered, I need a half-page of A4 concocted to go in the brochure that will go out to all students.

HELP!!!

I’ve had a few ideas (and sorry, don’t have time right now to list them), but if anyone has any experience/ideas, I’d be incredibly grateful. In fact, since this is what seems to get people going, let’s say it’s a competition – there may be yarn involved…

Oh, and I need to get this done by Wednesday, so please help soon! (And please spread the word.)

Thank you all so much.

Do not adjust your sets...

... yes, it’s still me, but I’ve got a new look. A great big THANK YOU to John for all his work on this this evening. Oh, and I’ve finished my mother’s hat (sewn the ends in and everything – but I still think it’s not going to suit her… ) and I’ve finished my first Sockapaloooza sock – and weighed the yarn, and yes, the leftover yarn weighs more than the sock, so I should be OK to knit the second one – and I’ve cast on for it, so I’m hoping SSS won’t be too much of a problem.

WIP wipeout day

Bah! NTL is down, but at least I can get this entry written, then post it up later.

Today is WIP-Wipeout-along day. (Update: it may not happen today, life has rather taken over for Risa – I really hope things look brighter soon.) So, here is the current state of play:

First the grey selection:

From L to R: First John’s Linux Illusion Scarf – you can just about make out Tux’s feet. Still quite a way to go with that. Then, nestling at the back, we have the rear end of a donkey – it never did get made in time for Christmas, and I’m afraid it’s not a priority now…, then on the right we have Swatch (a lace scarf/stole for me) – she hasn’t grown at all since last time you saw her.

Next, to show that I can do colour too:

Again, from L to R: First – my first Sockapaloooza sock – I’m just about to do the toe – I’ve decided to go for short row heels and toes, and I need to be able to get online to check the pattern. And NTL is down… (Update – clearly I’m now back online – still need to check the pattern though… ) Still, I’m pretty sure it will fit my recipient – I hope it’s long enough as she doesn’t like short socks. And I’m desperately hoping that there’s going to be enough yarn. As soon as I finish this one I’ll weigh it against the remaining yarn. Watch this space… Next, we have attempt 2 at a hat for my mother for Christmas (you will remember she spurned the first one) – I have the horrible feeling that this one will be spurned too – not really her colours Still, she’s coming this weekend, I’m hoping to have it finished by then, so she can see what she thinks. And that garish thing in the foreground is the first of a pair of mittens I started for Ruth … about (cough) a year ago. Something tells me that these have been outgrown already…

So there you are – all my WsIP. I don’t really think it’s that bad, especially since 2 (donkey and mittens) can easily be ignored. There’s not much left to do on the hat, ditto the sock (although it is only the first one… ) John’s scarf is plodding along (not really loving the whole illusion knitting thing – yes, it’s only knitting and purling, but it takes a lot of concentration, without the cues that you get from knitting lace) and I love Swatch so much that I know I will get back to her. So why have I joined a WIP-along? Well, you see, yarn talks to me. Sometimes it gets quite loud – and this little lot are getting very loud indeed. They know what they want to be, and they want to be it NOW!

Again, L to R – Phildar Phil Luxe – desperate to become a tam jacket (from Debbie New’s Unexpected Knitting) for a baby due in May. Curious Yarns silk – patiently waiting to become a lace scarf (she’s too elegant to shout loud, but I can tell from the expression on her face that she’s not used to being kept waiting… ) Black bamboo for I do for a friend. Lilac designer Cotton Cashmere for a sweater for John and finally the new love of my life – Trekking XXL destined to become gloves for me. (I’ve been feeling utterly wiped out the last couple of days, so last night I went to bed at 8 o’clock – the Trekking XXL came with me – it’s nothing serious – we just did a little swatching… Oh who am I trying to kid – it’s the real thing – it’s love.)

And that’s not everything – there’s also the Kureopatora scarf I’ve committed to making, not to mention a hat for Adam, some clothes for Ruth’s doll Tilly, another couple of balls of sock yarn that are sitting singing to themselves…

So, my plan – I’m going to allow myself:
a) 1 Sweater
b) 1 Lace thing (or thing that requires concentration)
c) 1 Small thing
Which means that I’m a sweater behind… So I need to get casting on… No – first I’ll finish the hat and the socks, and make some progress on the scarf…

Oh, and Sandy – some sky for you – dull, grey and overcast – but it’s still beautiful in its way – I love the soft shades of grey.

Very new podcast

Check this out. My secret pal doing her very own podcast. (Getting careless here, but it’s close to reveal time after all – just don’t go telling her directly, that’s all!)

My new favourite website...

is this one – I mean, what’s not to love?

Very cool pics...

can be found here and here

Thanks to yummyyarn for the links.

Sock so far...

Meet Ra ’s identical sock twin:

Clearly this is yarn that is just begging to be knitted up as Crusoe socks! Daisy did it too. Any others out there?

New Book and Essential Shopping...

So, I’m a maths teacher (yes, maths, not math ) I teach 16-18 year olds. This can sometimes be dispiriting – for various reasons, but mostly I love the job. I also love the opportunity to see what sort of knitted items they are wearing. So when this sweater walked into my classroom, of course I noticed it instantly.

And yes, I do mean this very sweater. It’s owner is a sufficiently chatty girl, that when I admired it, she told me that her mother had written a book on knitting and designing with mohair. So, I found a second-hand copy on Amazon, and it arrived today:

and indeed – opposite p 132 is a picture of her brother modelling the sweater. I’ve had a quick flick through the rest of the book, and although it is very 80s (first published 1987), there is a lot of useful stuff in there, with good clear pictures demonstrating the appearance of various different stitches in mohair. There is also design advice which can be applied to any yarn, including Scandinavian and Fair Isle motifs.

But now I’m sitting at the computer at home with my brain slowly dripping out of my nose. I hab anodder code. I went into work this morning, but have given up and come home. Apparently at John’s work it is written into their contracts that if they take time off sick, they must not go out apart from to the doctor’s or for essential shopping.

On my way home from work I did some essential shopping – I bought:

and lastly
(note the fairtraide stickers).

I’m sure you’ll all agree that the above constitutes essential shopping – come on, there’s even fruit in there! (And the little tub of Dark Toffee ice cream was delicious.)

Oh, and in knitting news – my WIP monogamy lasted all of one day – I’ve now cast on my Sockapaloooza socks – sorry no pics yet (sheer laziness, but you’ve got enough pics for one post) – I’m doing Crusoe using Opal Handpainted. Following comments from a number of people (thank you Daisy amongst others) I’m using a lot more stitches than the pattern calls for. It says 48, I’m using 64. (I figure I have a gauge of 8st/inch, so since my recipient is 9” round the ball of her foot, 9×8=72, 72-7.2=64.8, rounded down to a multiple of 4 is 64) and I’m knitting the stranded rows very loosely. It’s a bit tricky not being able to try it on her for size, but I’ll keep measuring. That Opal yarn really does have a totally different character in daylight compared to artificial light. The effect is even more marked when knitting with it than it was when balling it. I love it during the day, but really not so much in the evening. Perhaps I’ll have to include instructions to open the parcel in daylight!

Another pair of socks...

Really dodgy picture I’m afraid – sorry:

but at least it’s enough to demonstrate that I avoided the dreaded Second Sock Syndrome. I love these socks – just as much as I did after the first one – the yarn is gorgeous, and they fit him perfectly. (Of course that won’t last long – he’s 4. His feet grow between breakfast and dinner.) He’s thrilled with them, and wants to wear them all the time. (Don’t you just love children who haven’t yet discovered “cool”.)

Update:
Pattern: basically Thuja
Yarn: Angel Sock Yarn in Chocolate Plum
Needles: 4×2.5mm dpns.

Now, be impressed, be very impressed – am I immediately casting on for another project? No, I am not (OK, so there’s a little matter of some Trekking XXL that somehow fell into my shopping basket at Wollsucht this afternoon, but what’s one ball of sock yarn between friends…?) – I have dug out the illusion scarf I’m knitting for John, and I’ve even made a little progress.

Oh, and if nauseatingly sweet stories about children aren’t your thing, look away now. Sunday morning, John and I were still trying to cling to the illusion that we were asleep. We’d sent Adam off to get dressed, and Ruth trotted after him. We then heard him ask if she wanted to get dressed too. “Yes.” “Alright then, I’ll help you. Let’s find some clothes.” So he took her into her room, and rootling was heard. We wondered exactly what bizarre combination would be chosen, but kudos to the pair of them – they found a pair of navy trousers with a pink stripe, a pink long-sleeved teeshirt, and a stripy pink fleece. There are days when Mummy and Daddy don’t manage an outfit as coordinated as that for her.**

Backyard Fieldtrip

I love, love, love this idea that I found on here (thanks to Sandy for the link) – snapshots of people’s everyday lives in all sorts of different places.

Becky’s idea is that people should give a photographic tour of their back gardens. So, here is ours in Cambridge UK (regular readers will not be surprised that it’s not the tidiest most elegant garden ever… )

Let me take you out through the back door:

Here you can only really see the “top” half of the garden.

If you walk forwards and stand next to the white table just visible in this picture, you get to see the “bottom” half of the garden:

They are nominally split as flowers/herbs/lawn and vegetables/fruit trees/climbing frames – but mostly there are lots of weeds (although once the weather gets warmer, I expect we’ll get out there – although it cuts into knitting time… ) We’re lucky to be looking over fields – we have lots of space, although in the next few years these fields will be built on. On the far left is the local hospital – they have also been building, so the maternity hospital is now obscured – when I gave birth to both Adam and Ruth I could see our house from each of the delivery rooms – not a home delivery, but an “in sight of home” delivery (not that I was looking at the crucial moments!)

And if you walk down to the bottom of the garden and look back up at the house you can see this:

As we wander back towards the house we may as well look at a few things more closely:

Part of the vegetable plot – I don’t really think we should be allowed to grow brassicas – they require attention during the winter…

Adam loves digging in the vegetable patch…

And there are signs that spring is on its way…

And just for Sandy – another sky shot.

Oh!

So I’ve been playing with ideas for John’s sweater since before September – it was going to be hemp, then I priced it up, gulped and decided not. Then I found (thank you Daisy) the Coldspring Mill stuff, and so now I have a cone of pale lilac cotton cashmere sitting waiting. But it’s probably not quite enough, so I’ll need something with it. The basic idea is V-neck, 5 by 1 broken rib, with black/dark grey rolled edges, and a band across the chest and sleeves in a couple of shades of grey. So then I borrow Stich’n’Bitch from the library – and oh. My design is in there – very different colours, but still recogniseably the same thing (Manly Sweater). Now, do I be happy that I don’t have anywhere near as much work to do, as I just need to swatch to check my gauge, maybe make a few alterations and then go for it, or do I feel peeved that I’m displaying absolutely no originality whatsoever?

I guess there’s only so many variations on a classic sweater. Sigh.

(Oh, and Mary – much as I love Durrow, cables in this pale lilac seem a bit girly to me – I’ll have to knit him two sweaters!)

Piggy things

Some of our (well, John’s really) exploits with Heron Farm pig can be found here and here and here (and what he did with lamb is here – although this post did lead to this rather strange result)

(I trust that this is circumspect enough for any veggies reading (Hi Daisy!))

A single sock...

Here is my first sock for Adam:

I’m really proud of it – it’s my best sock yet – it fits! I love the yarn (Angel Yarns Chocolate Plum sock yarn – yummy deep purple with brown heathery bits in it – and hey – any yarn with Chocolate in the name must be good… ), I love the rib pattern – and yes, it is the same as Thuja – in fact ithe sock is almost exactly the same, except that using sock yarn and 2.5mm dpns I used 48 stitches instead of 44. It was a lovely quick knit though – and I’ve cast on for the second one already (despite Adam insisting that he wants to wear odd socks – I’m trying to avoid SSS by casting on before I’ve noticed that I’ve finished one – I’m hoping that I’ll be slow on the uptake – don’t let me read this blog, will you?)

Oooh – I was interrupted by the arrival of pig. £300+-worth of delicious pork from Heron Farm – i.e. a whole pig, plus extra belly (and yes Liz, we’ve got bacon too ) waiting to be split between 4 families. I’d better go and help…