Author: Lorette

My name is Lorette. I learned to knit in 1999, and took up spinning in 2009. I'm a physician specializing in internal medicine, and live in the Pacific Northwest. Enjoy my blog!

Mind the Gap

Another finished project!

Project Details

 

Pattern: My own jerry-rigged pattern. 72 stitches, flap heel and gusset

Yarn: Trailing Clouds Nimbus sock yarn, color Mind the Gap. It has all the colors on the London Tube map. You can also get this in the Etsy shop.

Needles: 2.00 mm

For: Me

Started/Finished: Started 1/17/18, finished 7/18/18

Modifications: none

What I Learned: This isn’t really new, I guess, but I still love knitting socks, and I love self striping yarn. “Oh look! Another red stripe!”

And I have already started the next pair.

And Done

I’m not doing a whole “finished project” post here. This is a big rectangle with ribbing on either end, then the sides are sewn. I used Cotton Ease in Bubble Gum pink, and 4.5 mm needles. I started this two days ago, and finished today.

It will be a good chemo hat, the yarn doesn’t have a lot of springiness, but it is soft. I think I’m going to do another one a little smaller.

And that’s that.

Sidetracked

Of course, as soon as I posted last time that my plan was to finish about six months of knitting by the end of the month, life took over. I’ve hardly had time to touch my knitting since then. So there was only one thing to do. Start a new project!

A friend is starting chemotherapy and requested a hat. Not just any hat, but a pink pussy hat. I dug through the stash and pulled out a couple of balls of my hoarded Cotton Ease stash. I think that is quite pink enough!

We’re on vacation for the next week at the beach with the kids and grandkids, so hopefully I’ll get some good knitting time in. I’ll leave you with a sunset photo. John took this last night.

Project Update, July Goals

I haven’t done one of these in a while. I’m hoping that by posting my monthly knitting goals, I’ll actually get something done.

Here are the projects that are in the current rotation:

First up is Rogue

I’m done with everything but the hood, then sewing in the sleeves.

Longest Night Shawl

That’s gotten to that unfortunate not very photogenic blob stage.

Balvraid Hap

That’s basically a big garter triangle, when it’s big enough you pick up stitches on the sides and knit a big lace border.

Mind the Gap socks

I have two other lace shawls in the pile that are on the back burner until the Longest Night one gets finished.

July Goals:

Finish the socks

Finish Rogue, if the weather doesn’t get too warm around here.

Finish the Longest Night Shawl.

The hap will be easy TV knitting at least until the lace.

Have a happy and safe 4th of July!

Trillian

I finished this a few weeks ago, but keep forgetting to post!

Project Details

 

Pattern: Trillian, by Martina Behm, part of her Hitchhiker series

Yarn: Schaefer Anne, 560 yards

Needles: 3.25 mm

For: Me

Started/Finished: Started 9/15/17, finished 6/3/18

Modifications: none

What I Learned: These little shawls are like potato chips. They are fun to knit, and very versatile to wear. I’ll probably make this pattern again. It uses sock weight yarn, and God knows I have a lot of that.

Sparkle Plenty!

Well this just amuses me to no end.

I haven’t used nail polish in years, but one of my nieces is a stylist for Color Street nails. They’re basically stick-on nails, in lots of fun colors! These are a pretty close match to my knitting. Go check them out.

Ripley has definitely made herself at home. She and Zoe have become good buddies.

That’s a rare moment of quiet. They’re usually galloping around the house after each other.

Finishing

I realized this morning that I haven’t actually finished a knitting project since late January. That is somewhat embarrassing for someone who claims to knit all the time.

On the needles currently:

Rogue sweater. I need to finish the hood and sew the sleeves in.

Mind the Gap socks, one done, second about a third done.

3 lace shawls in various stages.

Trillian:

I think the problem, if you wish to call it that, is the three lace shawls. I’ve gotten sucked up by the shiny and started too many, so I’m not finishing any of them.

I’m going on a marathon to finish Trillian. It’s a brainless knit, all garter stitch except for the lace edge at the end of each row. I need to knit until I have about 8 grams* of yarn left and then do the lace border and this is done.

23.1 grams left. I’ll post updates along the way.

For those of you who don’t follow me on FB, we have a new family member.

Meet Ripley. We rescued her from the Humane Society about 10 days ago. She’s probably about 8 months old. I think she’s settling in nicely!

*I’m not stupid. I’m going to give it a bit of a cushion, maybe stop the main body section at 12 grams or so.

Memorial Day

It’s lovely to have a long weekend, even better when you can share part of it with friends. We’re doing dinner today, with all the usual fixings.

Baby back ribs!

John is out firing up the smoker so we can drive the neighbors insane for the next several hours with good smells.

Baked beans!

There will also be potato salad and homemade cheddar biscuits, with lots of beer to wash it all down. John found fresh corn on the cob at the market yesterday, so we might do some of that too. You can’t have too much food at a picnic, I always say. I am definitely my mother’s daughter in that regard.

Here is my baked bean recipe. As always, ingredient measurements are mostly suggestions. Feel free to adjust to make these your own.

3 cups great northern beans

Large yellow onion, chopped

2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped

Bacon-4 thick slices chopped, 4 whole

Aleppo pepper* 2 tsp

Chile powder**, 2 tablespoons

Molasses 1/2 cup

Ketchup, 3/4 cup

Dijon mustard, 2 tablespoons

Dark brown sugar, 1/2 cup

Worcestershire sauce, 3 tablespoons

3/4 cup dark rum

Black pepper*** 1 tablespoon

Salt, about a teaspoon or to taste

Water

Soak your beans. You can either do this the night before, or do a quick soak like I do. Pick over your beans, rinse, then put in a large saucepan, cover with a couple of inches of water. Bring to a boil, then turn off and let them sit while you get everything else ready.

Sauté the chopped bacon in a big Dutch oven. When it is crispy, take it out, leaving the bacon fat behind.

Add the chopped onion, sauté just until translucent, add the garlic and stir for maybe 30 seconds.

Add all the seasonings and rum. (I usually prep these ahead so I just dump them in.) Stir it all around a bit.

Drain and add the beans along with water to cover, you will need 3-4 cups.

Bring everything to a simmer, then turn off, put the bacon strips on top, cover.

Put in a 350 degree oven for about 90 minutes, then turn the heat down to 275. It will take at least 2-3 hours longer for everything to get done. Check it every 30-45 minutes or so and make sure it doesn’t need more liquid. If it’s still soupy when the beans all look done and brown, crank up the heat and take the lid off for a bit to cook it down.

These can be made well ahead, they’ll keep in the refrigerator for several days, though I guarantee they won’t last that long.

*Aleppo pepper can be found in fancy supermarkets, or here. If you want to leave it out, just add more chile or black pepper.

**I make my own, using just chiles, usually a combo of ancho and New Mexican red. You can substitute commercial. You can also leave this out. I like spicy.

***See note above about spicy. If you want yours on the blander side, adjust accordingly.

Fun in the sun

Today was the first day around here that really felt like spring. John’s kids and grandkids were here, so we took advantage of the sunny day to go to the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. This is a huge wetland refuge at the Nisqually river delta, and is a glorious local treasure about fifteen minutes from home.

This was in the parking lot. I have no idea why there’s a skeleton on the front, but it seemed like it was a good sock photo op.

The trails through the refuge are well maintained, with a long boardwalk through the marsh areas.

We heard and saw a bevy of birds, including my favorites, the red winged blackbird. There were baby goslings, frogs, snakes, and a fine turtle.

I did take my knitting.

And the family group shot at the end:

Those of you who follow me on FB might have seen my news about Will.

That’s one of the most recent photos we have of him. The last we saw him was on Wednesday. He does go in and out, but always comes back in at night, especially as he’s gotten older. He was about sixteen, and starting to show his age, so we are pretty sure he went off by himself to die. I’m sad, but we knew this was coming. I think he is probably in kitty heaven, chasing bunnies and mice.

Because I Can

Remember this?

Langsjal Jóhönnu! I knit that in 2008, then had it stolen on an Alaska cruise the following year. I’ve always planned to reknit it someday. Well someday is now. Never mind that I already have a bunch of knitting projects going, including two other lace shawls.

Here’s the yarn:

The wool is Icelandic lace, Lodband Einband. I used this for the first one as well, just in a different color. This is a deep ruby red, and I have seven skeins of it, enough to make a huge shawl.

After some dithering around, I managed to get the pattern scanned, saved as a pdf, and uploaded to Knit Companion and set up. The original pattern book is in Icelandic, which of course I can’t read. It comes with a very abbreviated English translation. My project notes from the first time around will help tremendously in getting this thing started.

That’s the project photo from the book. There are 25 shawl patterns in this book, and that woman has the same “don’t fuck with me” expression in every photo. There are several other gorgeous shawls here that I’d love to knit.