you always remember your first... knitting swap PT 2

Finally I know my package has been receivied.

I have done other swaps with strangers before, the large BT list has an ornament swap that they do every year. [If you like kidlit or have little girls get yourself some Betsy/Tacy books asap, they are back in print] I have enjoyed it but stopped doing it after a few years, I got too many ornaments that I disliked and I felt bad because I didn't want them. So in order to have a more stress free life I decided it just wasn't for me.

In the years that have followed knitting related swaps have become legion, but I never did one. I resisted. Just like I resisted Ravelry "knitting cr@ck" they called it. But when knitting becomes entangled with MWMF my defenses go down. All due to Tanya, I joined Ravelry. [luckily she uses her powers for good: sock knitting at warp speed and sharing knitting joy with others] After she had reeled us all in to the Fest/Ravelry group she suggested a swap. It's been great.

Unlike my ornament exchanges you have a chance to 'read up' on your person thanks to elfster and ravelry. Our swap also had a limit of one skein, so certainly no sweaters...at least not that I could do in that time. I was able to find out her favorite colours and at least get an idea of items she does and does not go for...it was fun and taxing and cool all at once. Now the blue[ish] hat is in the mail and I am just hoping that it fits and that she likes and if she doesn't that she is a good liar and...

Not that it didn't have it's frustrations. She very simply stated that blue was her favorite color. Now blue is not a color I go towareds much at all but I found a fabulous hand painted skein of wool, sure it had bits of green and purple in it, but mainly blue. It wasn't 'me' but I could see it was beautiful. I didn't trust my judgement though, I took it home and showed it to my best friend, who is all about blue. She has ocean blue eyes and looks fabulous in blue and wears blue all the time. I showed her the skein and asked her what color it was? Blue and it's beautiful she said. I felt triumphant and started knitting, and darn it all the hand painted yumminess came together in a fabric that, well, could have been more blue. I tried though I really did. I wish I was faster and had the time to try again but the swap deadline had to be met.

I also have another reason for enjoying this swap. It seems likely I will be in India when all the women are cavorting in the MI woods at fest. I will miss MI so much this year. I hope what I made for my swapmate will be going to MI in her luggage.

You always remember your first...knitting swap PT 1

It's an emotional time in a knitter's life when she has done her first swap and I have just completed mine--at least my package is in the mail and I have gotten mine this past weekend.

It was a beautiful package. The outside of the box was decorated. The was a fest music mix CD, great chocolate and my beautiful knitted item. Everything was wrapped in cheerful tissue paper. Really, it was like opening a box of spring time. My scarf/necklet was knit from a lovely wool [in garnet] that I have heard of but never bought. I wish you all could feel how cozy and soft it is. I feel very spoiled [in the best way] by the giver, who is not blogless and you will see is an extremely creative and talented person.

I can only hope that my own recipient feels the same way about my box.

I know this is a stressful time for many not just me. The 2 shooting sprees this week show that in a horrible way. My stress feels puny [but still anxiety provoking] in the face of those who are worried about keeping their children fed and a roof over their heads.

It makes me more grateful for things like this swap and the chance to take part of it. Or Iowa's recent decision to legalize marriages between all adults. It is so wonderful to be able to remember kindness. It is lovely to reach out to strangers in a caring way. It is something be reminded that people can tend toward love and not because they fear retribution or punishment.

I feel blessed.

closing week fright

I could write about the yummy palm sugar cookies I made today and question why exactly they were so crispy. I could bemoan the fact that it is cold and wet and snowing here this weekend. I could also try to write a more intimate truth.

We are closing on the lake house this week and I am freaking out! It is all going to become so real so very, very soon. I still have no idea if I will like spending lots of time in a lake house I am responsible for...I don't know how hardly anything works...I worry I won't have time, I'll lose activities that I enjoy doing here and now. Nothing is really in my control. Why am I making a big purchase when the economy is spinning? What if house prices drop even more and I kick myself? Why is this the week when I am so busy at work? What if work goes away like it did for over 600,000 people last month alone!! Is the weather ever going to warm up? Do all my friends and family think I am nuts to be doing this?

Basically, I am spinning around in my head. The fear of the unknown is something. And this is something I signed up for, it's not something that just happened to me. eeekk!!
....deep breathing...
Of course today I did realize I could get the red toaster oven for here, the toaster oven I have been craving since Rome and take my great copper toaster up to the lake. That made me pretty happy. I am such the appliance nut.

I will breathe and think about the new appliances I will now have an excuse to buy.

Dinner Party IV

Time to plan dinner party IV. We spent a good chunk of March trying to figure out when Carolyn would be in Boulder for work. Ends up it will not be happening in April.

This means we could finally nail down a date for our next dinner party, 4/24. We will be inviting people this week. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes down, so many people have such extremely busy schedules.

I think we will have several vegetarians in this round so it will have to be scrumptious and meatless. The weather could be 75 or 45. It will be a bit of challenge, early spring being such a 'dead' time culinary speaking. No local asparagus yet, perhaps some strawberries? though not local...

I have a fabulous cauliflower soup that I adore, perhaps we'll have that maybe with homemade bread. For the entree maybe the seitan wild rice casserole with green beans or a green salad. Strawberry shortcake on biscuit not sponge is a spring favorite or cheesecake. Will have a lot of no alcohol types in this crowd probably, must stock up with the fun juices when on sale.

I wonder if we'll be having dinner parties on the lake in September!

cast of millions...in my fridge

Have I ever mentioned my sweet pets that live in my fridge? [quick check for tag] Nope, I don't think so. [or maybe I did in the artisan bread post] They are no trouble at all, so happy, useful and yummy. It's my sour dough starter.

Apparently I am a goofball, but I think it's hysterical to start talking to someone about my many pets...in the fridge...who are my starter. My inner-chef must be about 12 years old.

I have had a starter for about 6 months now and it has been an interesting road. A lot of information on the web has been too scientific for me to bother to wade through. Also I like to cook with whole wheat, almost exclusively, and I have not yet found many doing that. Add my not baking with processed sugar, you probably are not surprised to hear I make a lot of things up.

I have had triumphs. My WW dark chocolate chip cookies are really good. They are made with agave nectar and chips are grain sweetened. However my second attempt at WW sourdough cinnamon rolls was a complete flop, although the dogs are enjoying them.

I made them once before, spur of the moment, and they turned out ok. Too sweet though with all the agave and pecans I thought. They didn't rise enough either that first time. I tried v2 this week, I was so in the mood for yummy yet semi healthy sweet rolls, but they were horrible. They weren't sweet enough for me! It's been a long time since I thought something wasn't sweet enough. They took forever to rise. No, I am not putting a recipe out here, although I guess I could as a grim warning.

It was so disappointing. Notes on possible fixes:
-more sweetener, this may be the recipe to try out rapadura.
-starter more robust so that it happily doubles in the 2-3 hours given
-pecans always make things better.
-don't skimp on butter, or cinnamon in the middle.

Once I and the dogs recover, my feelings and their stomachs, I'll have to try again.

plane fares to India

Although I am in the fortunate position of having my work pay for the flight to India my wife is not. So if she wants to go we have to pay for her ticket. The same summer that we are buying, cheaply sure, a place up north. If we had a choice we would change the timing of that.

She was feeling conflicted last week "I want to go, but the money should we do it right now" I reminded her that she has always wanted to go to India and she would probably end up being pretty bummed if she does not. I had a foolish, silly, brilliant idea.

If we gave up eating out for 3 months, I said [April, May and June] we could probably save the money for your airfare. We do eat out quite a bit. This seemed so doable last week. [we will treat ourselves once a month btw]

Last night, I was feeling rushed and overwhelmed. I had forgotten to start dinner [corned beef with cabbage]. I remembered at about 4:45. My sweetie came home, I announced I wanted to eat out. I announced I knew we weren't but that I had to say it. Then I opened a can of soup and got fed. It was the evening of April first.
*sigh*
I didn't even make it one day without the desire. How long do you think I'll last until I cave? Can I make it 3 days, 3 weeks, much less 3 months!?!

CSA decisions '09 and pre gardening

Here it is April and it is time for me to think about CSAs and gardening. Since it's so early I don't have to do much more than thinking which is bug free and can be done inside at a sunny window [or you know a window with snow/sleet swirling outside--whatever]. Pretty sweet.

We joined a highly recommended salad based CSA last year. We figured we certainly needed more salad in our lives. It didn't end up being a good fit for us though. We wanted more of a mixture of veggies not just greens that ended up needing to be used very fast and were at times very hard to identify.

So I have spent some time over the winter researching various CSAs and we have many to choose from around here. We decided to go with Driftless Organics. We like what we have heard about them, the boxes look like they have a good mix, including local soft fruits and root veggies. They also do unrefined, local sunflower oil, we got a small share of that. I am feeling pretty pumped. Who cares about winter having a last hurrah up here? Fresh tomatoes and BLTs with organic cottage bacon are closer than they seem.

I have also been musing about gardening this year in our large southerly exposure yard. I have never been much of a gardener. Not something my family had room to do. But I have been thinking. Eating good quality food is so important to me. Being more connected to my food is something I am working on. I want to appreciate my food for all the effort that goes into it. I want to be more engaged. Also I don't want to stress myself out or bite off more than I can chew. I want to do things small.

We have a double lot here in town with lots of sun and space on one side. We have a nice warm low bed perhaps 4' x 20' where we have some roses and delphiniums planted with plenty of room for additions. There is a primitive but useful watering system set up there and it gets plenty of light. There are lovely neighborhood nurseries I like supporting. I think I may actually do some gardening this year and not just flowers and herbs but some veggies like tomatoes and peppers.

I am a bit excited about it. Fingers crossed I am maintain some focus and enthusiasm as the spring progresses. Related goal: Finally get a compost bin set up, it's so silly that we don't have one with all this room.