Mind Over Matter.

I'm very happy to report that I've gotten past being Peed Off at knitting socks.



Turkish toe-up socks! Aren't they pretty? The color of the yarn, a worsted-weight acrylic, kind of reminds me of beach glass. For that and my change in attitude, am thinking of calling them "sea change."

With a bit of determination and a lot of help from some friends over at Ravelry, figured out how to do the Eastern style toe-up technique*, rather than work from the cuff down. Made all the difference in the world and I absolutely flew through these.

Don't know if I'm necessarily hooked on sock knitting like I've heard so many others to be. Will have to knit a few more pairs and get back to folks on this.

***

* I've heard it said that socks and (I think) mittens are knitted from tip to cuff, as the knitter always wants to be knitting towards the heart. I don't know if that's true, but it is awfully poetic.

Sesame Street, Math Help, Helpful Bugs.



What more could one ask for this Summer?

Words, maybe:

One two three
Four five six
Seven eight nine
Ten eleven twelve
Ladybugs
Came to the ladybugs' picnic

One two three
Four five six
Seven eight nine
Ten eleven twelve
And they all played games
At the ladybugs' picnic

They had twelve sacks so they ran sack races
They fell on their backs and they fell on their faces
The ladybugs 12
At the ladybugs' picnic

They played jump rope but the rope it broke
So they just sat around telling knock-knock jokes
The ladybugs 12
At the ladybugs' picnic

One two three
Four five six
Seven eight nine
Ten eleven twelve
And they chatted away
At the ladybugs' picnic

They talked about the high price of furniture and rugs
And fire insurance for ladybugs
The ladybugs 12
At the ladybugs' picnic
12!

The leaves this year are absolutely spectacular. This week, too, the sky's really been pulling out all the stops in its competition with the leaves for our attention.

Tonight it was layers upon layers of different types of clouds shifting and swirling above. The pastels - pink, orange, lavender, gray and periwinkle - made their first appearances of the season.



Between two houses on the crown of Spring Hill.

Even after the sun slipped from view, we were treated to some startling colors from its last, fading, reflected rays.



Porter Square at about 7:00 pm tonight

Love this time of year. Heck, I love all the seasons for the surprises they bring. Gosh darnit, it's stuff like this that, no matter how tough or weird things get, makes life worth living.

Girl cat's last wish may well be to outlive me. Two can play at that, though. Got some pill pockets, a love glove and some catnip today. Am going to kill the brat with kindness.

***

Didn't take long for her to figure out how to suck off pocket and spit the pill out. We're doomed.

When I posted on Cambridge Ladies at the poetry site, I was serious about belonging to an eco-exchange group. Here's how the net bag's progressing:



(Note the 1/2 a$$ed little stitch marker doodle. Was annoyed with it last night, but now think it's actually kind of cute:)



Am enjoying the pattern; it's not monotonous at all and is working up fast in the thick cotton yarn. Since I have tons of the stuff and I believe it'll take one skein per bag, one can guess what sort of gifts I'll be giving out in the foreseeable future.

Earth Hour.

You know, I just checked out the 'GBH website and saw that after Vicar of Dibley, there's a Chef! marathon. Cool.

Am slowly making up for the lost sleep. Not totally there yet, but will be soon.

Decided to drop Interweave Knits (haven't been crazy about the projects, the editing, the photography lately. More do-able projects in Vogue the past year or so, actually) for Piecework, which is another Interweave publication. This isn't exclusively knitting, but is more within my realm of interests (technique, history, other culture stuff) than its sister publication. This month's edition's primary focus is on textiles for Historical Reenactment; the projects concerned being mainly from the Civil War era. I particularly like the sontag pattern.

They feature a lot of embroidery, as well. Haven't done that in years, save for a bit here and there to decorate knitting. Will be interesting to see if this prompts me to get back into that.

I don't normally like to link to other blogs. However, this person in particular has an awful lot of good, important stuff to say to those who aren't so connected to his world. (Idem pour Sisu, Solomonia, Jo.)

Please take a look; ils ajoutent beaucoup au discours. (Don't know how to translate - I kind of hang on their words, maybe?)

Crème Brûlée and Cattails.



Katia's Irish Tweed, something that just came out in the fall. Am loving working with this tasty melange of wool, silk and nylon; is both a pleasure to look at and to touch. I'm working 32 stitches on my airplane needles - size 6-7 circulars - in what I can only describe as a fake brioche stitch. (All rows: Sl 1 *K2 P1* K1) Great airplane knitting; interesting pattern that works well with the flecks and slubs of color in the yarn.

Picked this up at the stall in the market at Versailles that sells notions and not-too-expensive but actually quite nice wools. Was a skein short, so sent the Frenchie out to get another - he was kind of amazed that the woman at the stall not only remembered him, but remembered our conversation about yarn requirements, etc. (Course she would remember! It's her job. Aside from that, I'm a fair rarity there in that I'm a stranger who doesn't rest cloistered behind the gates of the palace. My accent and chew-yer-ear-offedness tend to mark me, as a result.) Will finish this scarf hopefully on the plane ride over.

Worked a bit on it on the Buffalo flights, but really couldn't put my heart into it. It wasn't the sadness, but rather a book that I got caught up in.

Was a bit early for a date with a girlfriend from the ex job a couple weeks ago, so decided to browse around Rodney's in Central Square. Anyway, happened on another volume in Euell Gibbons's series on foraging that I'd never heard of. I believe that the Beachcomber's Handbook may have been one of the last that he wrote. It certainly was the most literary. In any event, I devoured it, digested it well, and was rewarded with sweet dreams.



Actually, I'd never seen the pinecone commercial. I remember the cattails, however, from childhood. Was fascinated by the idea of eating what seemed to grow like weeds around my aunt and uncle's house.

If I didn't have so much darn other stuff to be reading (am a bit behind in my classes), I'd bring another of his field guides along for airplane reading. Maybe I still will. We'll see.

Daube.

I always find it interesting when I go on an improvisational streak and end up with what is considered a classic by someone else.

We'd picked up a decent-sized piece of beef (guaranteed French) at Leclerc (kind of a French Walmart - right down to the messy aisles and depressing flourescent lighting) with the intention of making a bourgignon. Got home and found that all the recipes we had for said bourgignon were way too fussy, so decided to make my own something with the cheap meat and cheap wine. The ex-Mme. Frenchie, who was served this for an impromptu lunch and who grew up in Provence, declared what I'd made a "daube."

Looked up what I did in Cook's Illustrated, and found that, though mine didn't have all the ingredients that theirs did, it was indeed a sort of daube.

Anyway, for posterity:

1 1/2 lbs beef (for last night's dinner, I used a bit of steak I got on "manager's special" at Stah), cut into bite-sized cubes

2 cups beef bouillion

2 cups good enough for drinking, but not that great red wine (last night's had a California Merlot); let's be reasonable, folks.

3-4 carrots, scrubbed and cut into coins about 1/2 inch thick)

(a handful or two of sliced mushrooms)

1 onion, diced

a clove or two of garlic, minced

a couple bay leaves if you have them. (The Frenchie has a couple laurel trees in his garden, so, we're spoiled. I had to use the jarred stuff here as, well, since I was already taking a chance by smuggling a bit of pate in, I wasn't going to press my luck by bringing a handful of tree leaves home as well. If one or the other was confiscated, I could handle it. Both would be a heartbreak).

2-3 T olive oil

Saute onion in olive oil until transparent. Add garlic and saute a bit until that's tender. Add beef. When cubes are browned on all sides, add carrots, the bouillon, bay leaves and simmer until carrots are tender. Add wine and simmer further until liquid is reduced. Serve with small boiled potatoes, noodles, good bread and a salad.

Serves four. If you can manage it, try to have leftovers. They're even better.

Aside from all the light and air coming in thanks to the skylights, the new room boasts a French blue floor. This was the result of some rather intense negotiations with the contractor.

Chuck is awesome. He's doing an amazing job with Pavel's place. (That's one of the joys of having an art historian with extraordinary work ethic as a building contractor). However, he wanted to paint the attic floor red. Red apparently is a good, historically accurate color for American house floors.

Okay, I could see that - maybe in a kitchen, a foyer, or even a bedroom. Not, though, in this space. It'd suck out all the light that the holes in the roof now were brining in. The Frenchie agreed wholeheartedly. Suggested the Scandinavian choices of either white or gray.

Kind of wistfully, I brought up the beautiful blue floor I had in my kitchen in Eastie. My old landlord Jim did a bit of an archaeological survey of the mother-in-law apartment and found pine underneath like five layers of linoleum. Decided that, albeit soft, the wood was much nicer than 70s retro, so painted it. Pavel remembered that and mentioned it as a good alternative to red.

Don't think that Chuck was too thrilled by the idea, as he kind of drily mentioned it one afternoon when I came to visit. In order to butter him up a bit, I offered up the idea of a red foyer/stairway and some homemade pickles. In the end, the blue floor won out. To everyone's amusement, he even admitted that, not only did the blue work, but it had grown on him considerably.

Will take some pictures when we get things cleaned up tomorrow. It's gorgeous. Love it.

Hum a few bars-

Was straightening up the overflowing magazine collection in the living room the other day and happened onto an Idees Marie Claire from two winters ago. Generally, I don't like thinking about winter, Christmas or wool this time of year, but:



Idees douillettes et soins calins. Not enough of either of those in my life right now.

Okay, I'm in love. I want those gloves. I know I already made myself a pair of perfectly nice ones, but look at those. Look at that hat! Look at the sweater! I want a furry hat, I want a pair of thick, braided cable, fingerless lopi gloves. I want to be all elfin, peeping over the cowl of my oversized, tweedy sweater.

So, I started picking apart the cable pattern. It's not very difficult. Just the same, I'm rather pleased with myself for having figured it out.



Kind of reminded me of a past life when I used to transcribe stuff off of records or the radio either as a mental exercise or when sheet music for something I wanted to play wasn't in print. Come to think of it, taking that up again wouldn't be a half-bad idea. It's been ages since I've had the desire or emotional wherewithal to do anything musical. Used to enjoy it so much, too. Hopefully that'll come back.



Anyway. Though I really like the Marie Claire girl's white gloves, there's a bit of pink lopi in my stash that is just dying to be used up. This will look so nice against my new winter coat's lovely black tweed, I think. Don't know where I'll get a hat like in the picture, though.