Friday, June 18, 2010

wool yarn+heat wave=sweaty fingers

(long time, no post.  too busy enjoying the amazing weather!)

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We had our first intense heat wave (by Michigan standards) in May, right after we discovered our (new) air conditioner was broken.  A very long, and familiar, story short, we're waiting for our landlord to get it out and fixed.  Buuut, we learned some pretty amazing heat-proofing tricks that will definitely come in handy over the next few stormy days.

Knitting has been a struggle.  One of my formal summer goals  (I have a list!) was to knit as many projects as possible and finally accomplish some of the ideas I brew up during the semesters.  So far I've:
  • knit my first shoulder bag, learned to block, stitch, and make I-Chords
  • learned the wonders of t-shirt yarn and significantly added color and texture to my stash (all while cleaning the closet, another summer goal!)
  • knit Nick a winter hat with my first ball of Malabrigo Yarn (love, love, love their yarn, 300+ colors, and business)
  • created a list of baby hat ideas that I think will be really easy but creative and adorable
  • dug into the good stuff and began my next bag (pour moi!) with some of the yarn I've been saving

One in particular, 'Iceland', is an amazingly soft, off-white yarn from my favorite shop.  100% wool and loosely spun, the 250 yard skein wound up to a little smaller than my head!  It was like a big, fluffy snowball.  A big, fluffy snowball that make my hands sweat like crazy in this heat.

Really bad photo courtesy of Photo Booth.  The tan is my favorite yarn by Lion Brand, a super soft cotton, this one in 'khaki.'  The dark gray stripe is really slate/dark navy, depending on the light, and is the most interesting yarn I've ever knit with!  Because of intentional uneven tension, the gauge varies from 5 to 3 st/in and creates an amazing texture.  I can't wait to see how this bag turns out!

In the cooking news (cooking? huh?), a fellow dietetics major (now graduated) has created a great cooking blog and asked me to be a guest blogger!  I have a few recipes rolling around... I'm leaning toward a nice summer salad with a homemade dressing (test run at a housewarming party went ok, I think?), salmon with my honey-garlic-soy glaze, and some type of wild rice.  My favorite summer meal.  Her blog is over at Michelle's Kitchen, a must-see.

More on that to come!  Get hungry!

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