design WIP

Friday Roundup: Spring!

What I’m Knitting

It’s really starting to feel like spring around here, and that always makes me want to trade in my big bulky yarns for lightweight ones. Luckily, I finished the first of my secret designs (bulky yarn on US #15 needles!) and got to switch to another in light fingering weight yarn with US #1 & #2 needles. I can’t show you much, but here’s a little sneak peek at the yarn—the most gorgeous tonal gray—and the beginning of the item:

What I’m Cooking

Spring weather calls for spring rolls, don’t you think? I adore spring rolls, and this new recipe I tried with kale and tofu (from www.minimalistbaker.com) is now one of my favorites:

Peanut butter cookies were also made and summarily devoured.

What I’m Reading

I’m still working away on The Infinite Sea. While I really like this book series, and I think it’s extremely well written, I also find it a bit intense for long blocks of reading. There are lots of kids in mortal peril, something that didn’t bother me quite as much before I had a kid of my own! But I’m enjoying the read and will hopefully be done with it by next week’s roundup.

Friday Roundup: Closeups

What I’m Knitting

Well, there’s been a whole lot of knitting on the secret commissioned sweater project… which means that once again, I don’t have much to show off here. I’m cruising through the yoke now, so it won’t be long before I can show off some actual knitting content again!

In the meantime, I figured I could show you some extreme closeups of some of my favorite details. (Side note: these remind me of a feature they used to have in the Highlights for Children magazine, where they’d show closeups of everyday items and you had to guess what they were. I LOVED those!)

Texture:

A nice squishy rib:

One of my favorite features, subtle waist shaping away from the sides:

What I’m Cooking

Uhm, nothing. I’ve really fallen off the wagon on cooking healthy meals, yikes! Work has been crazy for both me and the husband, so there’s been a lot of takeout and ready-made meals stuck in the oven or microwave. But I’m determined to get back to it! Posting here makes me more accountable, so maybe that will help….

What I’m Reading

I’m currently writing a young adult mystery novel, so I’ve been looking for some examples in the genre. This one, which involves the witness protection program, a believable romance, and a really scary villain, is excellent so far!

Friday Roundup: New Year’s Edition!

What I’m Knitting

A fairly low-key day (not a day off—freelancers have it tough sometimes!) means plenty of time for knitting! I can’t show you the whole sweater I’m currently working on for a publication, but I can give you a teensy peek. Look at that gorgeous, rustic yarn:

I’m also working on two(!) other designs for publication with a similar deadline, so there’s going to be some frantic knitting around here for the next few weeks. Wish me luck!

What I’m Cooking

Family in town means lots of eating out, so not too much to show this week! I did manage to make a double recipe of this tasty tortilla soup, which everyone appreciated:

What I’m Reading

Is there anything better than getting a big stack of books for Christmas? I’m working my way through, starting with this one that’s been on my wishlist for a while:

Happy New Year!

Friday Roundup: Birthday Edition

What I’m Knitting:

I still need to block the colorwork mitt from last week, but I started another project! Remember the little nautical sweater that I blogged about last month? I was really unhappy with the way the topmost white stripe on the body was pulling up, and there were a few other things I didn’t like about it, like the way the bottom flared out a bit and the bordering-on-too-tight neck opening.

Here’s the pic—see what I mean?

So when I heard Knit Picks had a new easy-care yarn out, I figured I could kill two birds with one stone—try out the yarn and reknit the sample with some changes. I’m through the yoke and rolling along on the stripes for the body:

It’s the same general concept, as you can see, but there will be some other changes (more stripes on the sleeves, for one). Hopefully I’ll have some decent progress to show off next week.

What I’m Cooking

My birthday was this week, and a good friend had a birthday a few days later. I made a dinner of shepherd’s pie (with lentils standing in for the meat) for our little party and baked a chocolate cake for afterwards! It was delicious. I actually think vegan cakes taste better. You don’t get that eggy taste, and they’re not so rich that you can’t finish a piece. Even the omni guests said it was one of the better cakes they’d had.

We were low on birthday candles, so there’s one for each of us!

I’m still working on my Appetite for Reduction cookbook challenge! This week, the recipes on deck were fusilli with roasted veggies:

Lentil soup with lots of veggies (so good!):

And two things I never would have made without this challenge, shaved Brussels sprouts and oven-baked onion rings! The onion rings in particular were an experience, what with the battering and breading. But they were really good! Not greasy like fried ones, just crunchy and salty. I’ll definitely be making them again. We had them with some pre-marinated tofu:

What I’m Reading:

Although I managed to get a decent amount of cooking and knitting in this week, my reading time suffered. So I’m still working on A Hat Full of Sky, although I’m hurrying to get through so I can read a writer friend’s manuscript!

Friday Roundup: Chugging Along

What I’m Knitting:

Despite a terrible lack of knitting time, I managed to start the second colorwork fingerless mitt of the yarn dominance experiment. This Stitch Sprouts Yellowstone (wool/silk blend) is just luscious.

It doesn’t look like much yet, but I have some longer car trips coming up, so hopefully I’ll have some major progress by next week!

What I’m Cooking:

A trip to a semi-local farmers’ market yielded a bunch of kale and carrots, so I whipped up a potato-kale-quinoa stew:

And I got a new vegan cookbook from the library (Appetite for Reduction)! I’m excited to try lots of recipes, but the first one had to be creamed corn, which I love but haven’t had since I stopped eating nearly all dairy more than fifteen years ago. It came out delicious!

My mom just got back from a business trip to Louisiana and brought me some local brown rice, so I made black-eyed peas, collard greens, and cornbread to go with it. My first time cooking with black-eyed peas (and ever eating collard greens, I think), but it came out really good! The recipe uses liquid smoke in place of the usual pork, so it had a bacon-y flavor.

What I’m Reading:

I’m beta-reading an excellent young adult manuscript for a friend of mine before she sends it to her literary agent! Fun stuff. Hopefully you can find this one on the shelves before too long. :-)

Friday Roundup: You’ll Have to Take My Word for It

What I’m Knitting

I made some progress on the sweater sleeve I was talking about last week, but reverse stockinette doesn’t make for very exciting pictures:

Although I guess that line of loose stitches at the place where the DPNs change is exciting (for a certain value of the word). I’ll have to do some major tugging during blocking to get that to even out.

What I’m Cooking

My mom had a birthday last week and we hosted a party for 20 people at our house. My mom’s a strict vegan, so I went all out on my share of the potluck lunch: stuffed mushrooms, coleslaw, and the pièce de résistance: a vegan, gluten-free, refined-sugar-free cheesecake.

And I got exactly zero pictures of any of it. Bummer. But trust me, it was all beautiful and very very tasty.

I made an enchilada casserole later in the week and missed getting pictures of that too… but I did remember after I heated up my leftovers! This is one of those dishes where the leftovers almost taste better than fresh.

Nom. Comfort food at its finest.

What I’m Reading

Still working on The Raven Boys (which is getting really, really good!). Maybe when my son stops teething I can sneak in a little more reading at night before bed, sigh.