Archive for 2015 November

Friday Roundup: Thankful

What I’m Knitting

As promised, I’m knitting away on other designers’ patterns for the Indie Designer Gift-A-Long! I finished my Cascada Mitts—didn’t they come out beautifully?

I was planning to keep them for myself… but the stash yarn I chose just happens to be my sister-in-law’s favorite color, and I think she’d love these. So they’re going to her, and I’ll just have to knit another pair for myself.

Here are the FO specs:

Pattern: Cascada Mitts by Karen Troyer Ladman

Yarn: Cephalopod Traveller in Finger Lakes, about 1/2 of a skein (left over from my Concord Vest)

Notes: This is my favorite kind of gift knitting—simple enough so the pattern is easily memorized, but complicated enough to keep the interest and attention. I didn’t even have second mitt syndrome on these!

I’ve also discovered that Magic Loop is my absolute favorite way to knit mitts, although I tend to prefer DPNs for sleeves. Separating the mitt into two pieces (instead of 3 or 4 with DPNs) tends to work better, since there’s usually patterning on the back and stockinette or a simpler pattern on the palm.

I’ve started the next pattern on my Gift-A-Long list, an adorable aviator hat for my son. More about that next week!

What I’m Cooking

Whew, a whole lot of stuff, thanks to US Thanksgiving being yesterday and us hosting dinner for 15 people! I did manage one recipe from my low-fat vegan cookbook challenge, but then all bets were off when the big day rolled around, haha.

Here’s a cauliflower ricotta lasagna from the cookbook (forgot to get a pic while it looked all pretty, oops):

And the few things I managed to get pictures of on Thanksgiving Day (there was a lot going on!):

For an appetizer, I made tiny deviled potatoes. I bought a cheap pastry bag and tip to pipe in the filling, and they tasted as good as they looked:

I made roasted balsamic Brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes, and zucchini gratin for the main meal, which you can kind of see in this pic of my plate (along with my mom’s fantastic marinated fake meat turkey loaf!):

And for dessert, I made two kinds of apple pie, which went perfectly with the four other kinds(!) brought by other guests:

It was a fabulous meal and a fun night with family and friends. We’re still enjoying delicious leftovers. :-)

What I’m Reading

My friend Amy Reichert’s book released this summer and I’m finally getting a chance to read it! Lots of fun and yummy food so far.

Friday Roundup: Mitts and More

What I’m Knitting

The Indie Design Gift-A-Long kicked off yesterday evening with a week of 25% off selected patterns from over 300 designers. (Check out all the details here in the Gift-A-Long Ravelry group.) After perusing the designer offerings, I settled on this cute cabled fingerless mitt pattern as my first knit-someone-else’s-pattern outing:

(Cascada Mitts by Karen Troyer Ladman)

Aren’t those adorable? I cast on last night and managed to get up to the point where I start the thumb increases on the first mitt:

It’s so fun not to have to worry about stitch counts or thumb placement or anything. I’ve already got two or three more projects on deck.

What I’m Cooking

I made two savory soups this week, but only managed to get a picture of one:

This tortilla soup definitely makes my top five recipes list from the Appetite for Reduction cookbook. It’s awesome.

What I’m Reading

I devoured the most recent Cameron Strike book in just a few days, in spite of my limited reading time. It was even better than the last two! This one ended on something of a cliffhanger, so I’m going to be waiting impatiently for the next one.

Friday Roundup: Greens and Browns

What I’m Knitting

I’ve doubled the progress on the sweater from last week:

It’s about to go on hold, though, because the Indie Design Gift-A-Long starts next week! (If you aren’t familiar with it, check out the Ravelry group for the annual event here. It’s awesome.) This is pretty much the only time of year I knit other people’s patterns anymore, so I’m really excited. I’ve already got a pair of yummy cabled fingerless mitts in my queue. I’m hoping to find a small pattern to try steeking for the first time, too!

Twenty of my patterns are included in the Gift-A-Long sale (25% off from Thursday, November 19th at 8:00 pm EST to Friday, November 27, 2015 at 11:59 pm), and all of my paid patterns are eligible to win prizes. Check out the details in the Ravelry group, and you can see the patterns I’ll be discounting with this direct link to my Ravelry bundle.

What I’m Cooking

For some reason, everything I cooked this week happened to be some shade of brown. It doesn’t make for very exciting photography, but everything was delicious nonetheless.

From my Appetite for Reduction cookbook challenge, this is a mushroom and cannellini bean dish flavored with wine and smoked paprika, served with caulipots (the author’s tasty mixture of mashed potatoes and cauliflower):

The leftover caulipots went really well with the next recipe, chili-lime rubbed tofu:

The tofu tasted really good, but it wasn’t crispy the way I like my baked tofu. I think it’s because I didn’t press the tofu to get all the water out before baking. I really have to remember to do that 20-30 minutes before I start the recipe.

And overripe bananas meant I had a good excuse to whip up some banana-oat muffins. I found this recipe that doesn’t have any refined sugar and used local maple syrup that we bought recently. They were SO GOOD.

What I’m Reading

After completing my tour through Jane Austen’s world, I picked up the second book in the Cormoran Strike mystery series and just finished it last night. It was so good! Although this series (written under a pseudonym) is completely different from JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series, it still has a lot of the same compulsive readability. I’m hoping to grab the third book in the series sometime today.

Friday Roundup: Yummy Cables and Even Yummier Chili

What I’m Knitting

The dolman-sleeve sweater is well underway! I’m knitting directly off of the old sweater—which means the yarn is all kinked up and the stitches in the WIP aren’t quite as even as they’d usually be. But I know from experience that it’ll look just fine after blocking.

What I’m Cooking

I continued with my private low-fat vegan cookbook challenge this week. This chili stuffed with vegetables is quite possibly my favorite thing I’ve made thus far. It was SO GOOD. And its healthy aspect was much appreciated after some, uh, overindulgence in Halloween candy last weekend…

And this next one might be a contender for the prettiest dish I’ve made from the cookbook so far. It’s a sort of salad niçoise, although I used black olives because they’re the only kind I like, and a mashed chickpea mix stood in for the usual tuna.