A week in: Weaving, Playing music, Cleaning house!

A week of distance socializing.  I like that term a little better than social distancing.

Today was a grey and a little chilly, but I still took my walk.  Fewer people today, probably because it was not the drop dead gorgeous weather that we've been experiencing.  It was...seasonal.  I had to wear a sweater in March.  Still lovely though - birds, flowers, nature waking up.

The seeds I planted 10 days ago are sprouting - lettuce, kale, chard. I have finished the 'fine tuning' of the mulching project, so the remainder of the dump truck load of chips can just go to a big pile in the back of the yard.  My goal is an hour a day, but I might be to finish up in a session or two, if the rain holds off.  Yesterday's treat:  I discovered a single trillum in the southwestern corner, while I was trimming back some overgrown vines.  

Actual Fiber Content:  On Thursday I warped my rigid heddle loom - a 15" Cricket  - and wove a lovely scarf over the next few days.  I enjoyed the process and I think I like the product as well. It's in shades of autumn - brown and orange.  I think I'll put it on Ravelry.  We need more weaving projects.

I continue to play music, though not every day.  Yesterday I played and sang a number of songs, mostly on ukulele, a few on the banjo-uke, only one on guitar.  I only stopped playing to listen to a friend's online concert on Facebook live.  

Tonight's dinner - Homemade pizza  - the dough is finishing its second proof, in the cast iron skillet.  It is so good!  The biggest problem that I have face so far with this recipe: not eating the whole pizza in one sitting. It's all in keeping in solidarity with Italy!

On the Covid19 front, I learned today that an ECD friend in Florida is in the hospital, but is getting better.  My heart goes out to him, his partner and the rest of his family.  He spends a lit of time with his grandson.  A little cutie to be sure!

Wait, more fiber content!  For the last month or so, I've been knitting what I call, the farm sweater.  It's a dark red, recycled yarn, rather rustic in nature.  I am knitting a very simple yoke pullover to be an everyday, throw-on-over-everything, very warm sweater.  I have a navy blue Woolrich sweater that I bought more that 20 years ago that has suited me well.  I took the measurements, and started knitting.  Of course, I have to knit it twice.  The first draft was WAY TOO BIG!  Minor adjustments to the sleeves, but I needed to start the body over. I should get to the first decrease this evening.  Since I never wore the first sweater I knit with this yarn, I was due for recycling.

What I've been watching:  Self-Made, a Netflix mini-series starring Octavia Spencer about  Madame C.J. Walker, the African American hair care entrepreneur.  Binged the whole series the day it was released!  Hey, I was knitting!  and hunkered down.

The Bon Appetit 6 Hour Cake - and yes, it's that good!

In honor of my sweetheart's birthday, I baked a cake.  Not just any cake, but the Bon Appetit Almond Praline cake with Marscapone Frosting and Chocolate Bark.  I will confess up front that it was a special request and at first I thought  - "What, are you nuts!?!"  Now I like to bake, but this a bit beyond the pale.  With about 5 separate recipes to assemble and more than a few ingredients that aren't the kind of thing that usually jump into my shopping cart, it seemed that it was not the kind of thing I usually bake.  Cookies, sure.  Scones, yum!  Doctored cake mixes, of course.  But really!  What the heck - his birthday comes but once a year! 

The first component was the pralines, which were a complete failure.  So I threw them out and tried again.  Complete and total failure again.  Loud, swearing failure.  So what if I skip them? What if I just use chopped almonds and chocolate bark and skip the added sugar?  Will anyone actually notice? hmmm....

I gotta say, no one noticed.   Any 3 layer cake that looks this good and tastes this good - no one is going to notice if I leave out the pralines.  After all, there was the dense almond cake, the rich ganache filling, the mosaic of chocolate bark, and the fluffy marscapone frosting that makes any standard cream cheese frosting pale in comparison.  We had a few friends over for cake, ice cream and bubbly and my friends were properly impressed and will now be inviting me to all their birthday parties, with a cake of course.  Great for my ego, but not so much for my waistline!

btw, the Cobblestone pullover - not finished but so what. Still coming along and I'm on the upper yoke, time for the final decrease and a few short rows.  Some thinking and measuring is in order, so it was not the knitting to do last evening when I was tired and rather baked out.  Besides it's not Olympic knitting! Final pictures coming soon.

How to Spend a Snowy Weekend

Here in Western North Carolina, we had a several inches of snow with a warmish Saturday that melted the top layer into a crust of ice.  I planned ahead so that I would not need to go anywhere.  Plenty of food, a choice of beverages, good reading material and no shortage of fiber!

I baked a delicious Pumpkin Sour Cream Bundt Cake.  The center is a cinnamon-sugar struesel.  The cake is substantial without being heavy.  I plan to add a dollop of Cream cheese based hard sauce this evening.  It's yummy!  But I have 3/4 of a can of pumpkin leftover, so I'll be looking for some more pumpkin recipes to use it up. We also made a delicious beef stew and chicken soup.  Yum!!!

I carded wool.  Last December I was in the neighborhood of the Mid States Wool Growers Coop and purchased a few pounds of natural colored wool. I've been separating it into different colors.  This is the 'Oxford Grey.'  Should be enough for a very nice skein, though I did not weigh it.  Fills a copier paper box; could be this evening's spinning.

I cleared the walk.  With the help of my fine neighbor, we shoveled the snow.  Light and fluffy on the bottom, crusty on top, so not a difficult task.  The street is still icy, but today it should get up to the mid-30s with sun.  Let the thawing begin!  I hope to finish digging my truck out and free it from its snowy bondage.

I started my taxes.  Not thrilling but necessary.  Besides I wanted to see how Smoky Mountain Fibers did.  The short answer:  Don't quit your day job! But with a good sized ending inventory of fiber, yarn and dyes, not bad at all.  2011 will be a year of cost-containment.  Hear that? Watch your spending!  Maybe time for another destash!

I knit!  My raglan cardigan was at the stage where I attached the sleeves to the body.  A dozen or so rows later, it is coming along nicely.  The best thing about raglan sweaters (other than the minimal sewing up at the end), is how each row gets successively shorter as you go from the armpit to the neckline.  Now with 300+ stitches, it's still a slog. 

I also washed hand spun yarns and planned an English Country dance that I'll lead next Sunday. J and I laid out some garden plans for the coming spring and summer.  Won't be long until it's time to put peas in the ground!