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Friday Roundup: Scraps

What I’m Knitting:

After 10+ years of knitting, I have a huge drawer full of partial skeins of yarn that are at least 1/3 skein each. Most of them are worsted-ish weight, and there’s a distinct weighting toward the green-blue-purple color families. I had the idea to start a scrap lap blanket last month. First I organized my yarn into a rough color progression:

And then I pulled out some size 7 needles and cast on! I love it so far:

I figure it’s going to take me a while to get through this one, but it’s nice to have an easy project for road trips and nights when I don’t have any deadline knitting.

What I’m Cooking:

I’ve been wanting to make this cold noodle salad with peanut sauce for a while, and it finally got warm enough so that a cold salad sounded appetizing. It was really good–a little spicy, which is just how we like it.

I was in the mood for a little spice later in the week too, so I tried out a new curry recipe. This one has potatoes, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and chickpeas. It was really yummy and made a ton–leftovers FTW!

What I’m Reading:

After finishing THE INQUISITOR’S MARK (so good!), I started another book that I didn’t like much after the first few chapters. So I’m giving that one up and starting a beta read of a writer friend’s YA manuscript instead. Much better!

I have a cardigan pattern in the brand-new Knit Picks pattern collection, and you know what that means–a pattern book giveaway! Look for the post later in the week for your chance to win.

Friday Roundup: Two FOs!

What I’m Knitting:

Remember the sneak peek of the blue yarn from a few weeks ago? Well, the yarn (Knit Picks Preciosa Tonal) has now been released, so I can show my new FOs off properly.

Here are the specs:

Patterns: My own Give ‘Em the Slip Set, modified slightly for the different row gauge of the Preciosa as compared to the original Malabrigo Worsted.

Yarn: Knit Picks Preciosa Tonal in Maritime, 1 skein for both (with a generous amount left over!). This yarn is yummy! It’s very much like Malabrigo Worsted, but slightly lighter–and with more generous yardage as a result. I love that I got both parts of the set from a single skein.

Notes: I wrote these patterns and knit the original samples three and a half years ago, when I was just a baby designer. They were only the third and fourth patterns I published. It was kind of fun to knit from something I wrote so long ago and see that it was well-written and error-free. Not to toot my own horn too much, but I think that’s pretty cool. :-)

What I’m Cooking:

I snapped up some shiitake mushrooms on sale this week, so we had a sort of vegan pasta carbonara:

The day job has still been crazy, so I was looking for quick meal ideas mid-week. In the grand tradition of taking something pre-made and making it my own, I started with this:

Added a whole bunch of green veggies:

And ended up with a tasty and healthy meal!

I also made a double batch of our favorite vegan queso. This stuff is OUTSTANDING. Cashew cream, miso, nutritional yeast, veggie broth, and spices are blended together and cooked up with fresh onions and jalepeños. We put it together with some sautéed bell peppers and other fixings on corn tortillas:

What I’m Reading:

Don’t you hate it when life gets crazy the moment you start a good book? I’m still working on THE INQUISITOR’S MARK, but not because I don’t like it–in fact, I’m frustrated every time I have to put it down! Ah well, at least it means I get to savor the book longer.

Friday Roundup: Colorwork FO and Plenty of Cooking

Last week was just as busy day-job wise as the week before… but somehow I managed to get plenty of cooking and knitting done. Go figure, right?

What I’m Knitting:

The adult version of my baby/child Transposed Hat is finished! We went out to the field around the corner from our house and spent a cold fifteen minutes getting some pictures with the baby strapped to the back of my husband. I think they turned out rather well, considering those circumstances:

I’ll be releasing the pattern in the next few weeks, so expect more pictures soon!

I’ve also finished that secret hat I was talking about last week, and guess what? The yarn isn’t secret anymore–Knit Picks just announced that their Preciosa merino single-ply is back. I’m knitting away on the matching mitts, so hopefully I’ll have a set to show off next Friday.

What I’m Cooking:

Like I said, plenty of action on the cooking front this week! First was a rare scramble made with actual eggs rather than tofu or some other analogue. Served with fake sausage patties and toast, it made excellent Sunday breakfast:

I only had about ten minutes to throw together this next meal, so I took a can of Amy’s Tom Kha Phak (Thai coconut soup), added veggies and some cornstarch to thicken it up, and served it over rice. It worked surprisingly well. I’m rather proud of this one.

I was cooking for a crowd again on Wednesday (I do this most weeks), so I whipped up the coconut vegetable curry from Budget Bytes (adding chickpeas for additional protein). With some naan on the side to soak up the sauce, it’s soooo good.

And finally, continuing cold temperatures yesterday (boo) called for a large pot of stew with dumplings. I used fresh thyme instead of dried like I usually do. It made such a difference!

What I’m Reading:

I’m a little ways into the second book in THE EIGHTH DAY series, THE INQUISITOR’S MARK. It’s just as good as the first one (which I loved) so far!

Friday Roundup and Bonus New Pattern Release

What I’m Knitting:

I’m still knitting the adult Transposed Hat from last week, unfortunately. I finished the whole thing… and realized it was too long, and I didn’t like the top decreases. So I ripped it out and started again from the beginning of the crown shaping… and then the day job got crazy, so I haven’t had time to finish, sigh.

So to distract you, here’s the last pattern included in my Babe in the Woods collection, the Riparian Vest!

(You can purchase the pattern here on Ravelry.)

I was going for the knitted equivalent of a puffer vest, and it turned out rather well! It’s knitted in Malabrigo Mecha, same as the cabled hat and scarf set in the collection. The interesting thing was that the skeins of yarn in this colorway were noticeably thicker than the Mostaza (the gold-colored colorway). I ended up using a completely different needle size on each one. Moral of the story? Always check your gauge, even if you’ve used the yarn before.

The vest is sized from 0-6 months to 4-6 years. It’s shown in the 12-18 month size. As you can probably see from these pictures, the vest is a little big for my son, who was wearing 6-9 month clothing when we took the pictures. It’s tough to estimate how big your baby will be when you knit the sample months in advance!

What I’m Cooking:

Lentil, quinoa, and kale stew:

A new recipe that I’ve been wanting to try, tofu stroganoff (it was yummy!). I put it over rice noodles instead of wheat pasta, which was a little weird–next time, I’ll use regular pasta like in the recipe:

Eggplant parmesan with rice mozzarella and cashew/nutritional yeast “parmesan” (much better than it sounds, I swear!):

And this one is sort of cheating because most of the ingredients were pre-made… but I did cook the meatless meat crumbles with onions and spices, so I’m counting it, haha:

What I’m Reading:

Fairly boring here too, I’m afraid. I only managed to get about halfway through Greenglass House (see previously mentioned day job craziness). It’s really good so far, though! I’m looking forward to reading the rest.

Friday Roundup: Comfort Knitting and Comfort Food

What I’m Knitting:

I’m almost finished with my Transposed baby hat in the adult size.

It’s such relaxing knitting–an easy colorwork pattern that I’ve already knit before, so no surprises. This skein of Malabrigo Rios in Pocion is the kind of crazy colorway I usually wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole, but I LOVE the way it’s working up in this hat.

What I’m Cooking:

Lots of comfort food this week! I started with a nice goopy stir fry (love me some thick, glossy sauce):

Early in the week I was craving pasta, so I made some roasted red pepper sauce and poured it over quinoa-corn pasta. We’re not a gluten-free household, but I was happy to discover this GF pasta that’s much more tasty than any other kind I’ve tried. Sometimes you don’t want a whole plate full of wheat, y’know?

The leftovers were delicious over some steamed broccoli the next day:

A few days ago, I had to come up with something to cook for a crowd that included vegans and GF people… so I decided to make the same thing! This time I threw in lots of veggies, though. With fake parmesan cheese (raw cashews, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, and salt pulsed in the food processor), a salad and crusty bread, it was deeelicious.

The last vestiges (I hope!) of winter are making themselves felt here in Indiana today, so I’m planning a big pot of hearty stew. Can’t have enough of that, right?

What I’m Reading:

I just finished Stormbreaker yesterday. I wasn’t a huge fan–it was like one of those loud action movies in book form, although it was decently written. Today I’m starting Greenglass House by Kate Milford, because I keep seeing rave reviews. I want to know what all the fuss is about!

Friday Roundup: Mmmm, Colorwork

What I’m Knitting:

Remember that Stitch Sprouts Yellowstone I mentioned a few weeks ago? I’m most of the way through the first of a set of mitts in a fun colorwork pattern. I wanted the back to have totally different colorwork for variety’s sake, but I also wanted to keep it simple. I like the way it’s coming out!

I’m not a huge fan of magic loop in general, but I favor it over DPNs for colorwork. Getting the tension right when switching between three needles is that much more annoying than switching between two. The only thing that makes me sad is that I can’t use my beloved ChiaoGoos for magic loop–the cable is too stiff.

And then for good measure, I also started an adult version of the Transposed Hat I showed off in last week’s post. I picked out the most crazy variegated skein of Malabrigo Rios I could find at the yarn shop, and I’m loving the way it’s working up! I hope to have the hat finished by next Friday, so stay tuned.

What I’m Cooking:

Not a ton of stuff to show off (I feel like pasta with pre-made sauce and veggies thrown in is cheating, and we’ve had that several times this week), but here are a few things.

Breakfast, featuring tofu scramble with veggies (told you that one was going in my regular rotation), breakfast potatoes, and meatless sausage patties:

I was cooking vegan for a crowd on Wednesday, so I made a taco bar with all the fixings (including meatless ground beef and vegetarian refried beans), as well as some guacamole. My husband has an outstanding guac recipe with some secret ingredients that make it delicious. Apologies for the bad phone snap, but here’s the result:

What I’m Reading:

I’ve had the Alex Rider series recommended to me several times, so I picked up the first one. It’s like James Bond for teenagers! Hard to believe that this came out sixteen years ago. Yeesh.

Friday Roundup: Big Sister, Little Sister

What I’m Knitting:

I finished the Entrechat for my niece! Here it is with the teeny one for her little sister, due in May:

The specs:

Pattern: Entrechat by Lisa Chemery (Ravelry link).

Yarn: Ella Rae Cozy Soft Chunky Solids in Purple Eggplant. I bought 5 skeins of this yarn and only used 3 for both shrugs. If I had one little teeny criticism of the pattern, it’s that the yarn requirements are extremely generous. But the yarn is nice and soft, seems very sturdy, and blocked nicely despite its 75% acrylic content.

(PSA: Always, always block your handknit garments! Here’s the before blocking shot in all its ugly glory, if you need proof.)

Notes: Like I said before, I now totally get why everyone and their mother has made this. It was an enjoyable and interesting knit, even when I knit the largest size directly after the smallest size. Usually I hate working the same pattern more than once (even if it’s my own!), but this wasn’t bad at all.

I found perfect little wooden sunflower buttons at Joann Fabrics, which made me happy. Their button selection can be very hit-or-miss for me, but they’re the only place in town with any kind of selection.

What I’m Cooking:

I have to get better at remembering to take pictures of my meals before I dig in, because there were a few I missed this week (like the tasty chickpea curry we had for dinner on Wednesday). But here’s what I did get.

I made this tofu scramble with peppers, mushrooms, and spinach after the success of the plain one I made last week for my vegan Egg McMuffin analogue. It was really tasty! Tofu scrambles are definitely going in the regular breakfast rotation, now that I know how to spice them properly.

I also whipped up a recipe I’ve been wanting to try for a while: seitan sloppy joes! (Seitan is a meat substitute made from wheat gluten–the tastiest sub out there, if you ask me.) They were goo000d.

What I’m Reading:

I finished the beta read for my friend and started in on the second book in Rick Riordan’s Heroes of Olympus series. It’s fast-paced and funny, as usual for his books.

Friday Roundup: Vegan Bacon(!)

What I’m Knitting:

I finished the larger Entrechat shrug for my niece and it’s awaiting buttons and blocking like the little one. I got two super-cute flower buttons that I think will look really nice. Hopefully I’ll have pictures of both together by next week (I’d better, because the baby shower is on the 28th and I should have the package sent by then).

Which means, for the first time in a very long time, I have no deadline knitting. Zero. Nada. I can knit whatever I want, which feels impossibly decadent. I’m thinking of doing some playing around with this gorgeous Stitch Sprouts Yellowstone (sport weight, 80% wool, 20% silk) that’s been marinating in my stash:

Maybe some colorwork mittens? Or a slouchy hat?

What I’m Cooking:

Okay, first, I have to tell you that I love the taste of bacon. I don’t love what it does to my waistline or my digestive system, however. So when I found a recipe for shiitake mushroom “bacon”, I thought I’d give it a try! You slice the mushrooms thinly, toss them with spices and liquid smoke, and bake in the oven, tossing a few times.

I was really surprised to find that it actually does taste somewhat like bacon! It’s mostly the liquid smoke, I think, but the chewiness of the mushrooms is almost the right texture, too. I ate it on a baked potato with chili, veggie sour cream, and veggie cheese and it was delicious. Definitely making this again!

I also whipped up some creamy corn-potato chowder, one of my favorite cashew-based soup recipes:

One morning when I woke up, I was craving a junky breakfast sandwich… so I whipped up a vegan version! This is tofu scramble (way more delicious than it sounds) on an english muffin with a meatless sausage patty and a slice of veggie cheese. Not health food by any stretch of the imagination, but it was soooo good.

What I’m Reading:

I’m working on a beta read of an amazingly weird middle-grade manuscript (unpublished as of yet) for a friend of mine, so no published books for me this week.

Friday Roundup: An Actual FO!

What I’m Knitting:

Look, look! I finished the last project for my secret collection and actually knit something I can show you. This is an teeny, adorable shrug for my future niece, who’s due in May:

Pattern: This is the ever-popular Entrechat pattern (Ravelry link) by Lisa Chemery. I can see why it’s so famous! The shrug was fun and interesting to knit, and the pattern is very well-written. I knit the smallest size and it worked up in just a few days,

Yarn: The only yarn store near me that was open when I had the chance to buy yarn was one with a fairly limited selection, so I ended up with the only washable yarn there that would knit to gauge. Fortunately, I like it! It’s Ella Rae Cozy Soft Chunky, a 75/25% acrylic/wool blend. I got perfect stitch gauge on size #8 needles, but I was totally off on row gauge. So it’s a little longer, but still very cute!

Notes: I started another one of these with the same yarn in the largest size for the new arrival’s big sister! I always like to do something for the older sibling when I knit a baby gift to avoid any jealous feelings. I think she’ll love having a matching outfit to her baby sister.

Maybe I should have started with the larger one, though, because it already feels like it’s taking forever. :-P

What I’m Cooking:

It’s been cold here this week, so I’ve been making lots of soup. Didn’t get a picture of the beef-less beef stew or the broccoli cheddar, but I did get a shot of this vegan-tastic quinoa, lentil, and kale soup. It’s so much more delicious than it sounds!

I’m slightly obsessed with creating the perfect dairy-free mac and cheese, so I tried a new recipe this week. Instead of using blended cashews for the creaminess, this one uses unroasted sunflower seeds, miso, carrots, and nutritional yeast. It was really tasty, although I’ll soak the sunflower seeds for longer next time because it was hard to get all of the graininess out.

What I’m Reading:

I finished two middle-grade books I LOVED this week. I devoured both of them!

The first is At Your Service by Jen Malone, which was an adorable tween book about a junior concierge who lives in a fancy NYC hotel. I think this age range gets shortchanged sometimes–there are so many younger chapter books and so many older YA books, but not much in between. This one was perfect!

I also finished Ordinary Magic, which I couldn’t put down. It’s like a reverse Harry Potter–in a world of magical people, the main character discovers that she doesn’t have any magic and is sent to a special school for ords (ordinary people).

So overall, a good week on all fronts!

Friday Roundup: Soup and Marshmallows

What I’m Knitting:

So remember I told you I’d have the bulky vest done this week? I got the whole thing finished a few days ago. It looked a little big around the shoulders and a little small around the armholes, but I talked myself into letting it go. I wove in all my ends… and then those problems nagged at me so much I couldn’t bring myself to block it. After an agonizing couple of evenings spent picking out all the ends, ripping out, and reknitting, it’s almost done. Again.

So instead of a picture of anything I’m working on, please enjoy this stock photo of knitting.

What I’m Cooking:

I was pretty terrible about taking pictures of my food this week. I need to cultivate the habit, because my first instinct when I sit down with a delicious plate of food in front of me is to eat it immediately. But I managed a few soup pics!

This one is a dilly dumpling stew from my favorite cookbook, Isa Does It. It’s the first time I’ve made a soup with dumplings. It was so cool to just plop the dough on top of the stew and have it steam cook through without any interference from me. The soup itself was good, but next time I’ll use less dill.

Here’s what it looked like in the pot–cool, eh?

I also managed to get a pic of this delicious broccoli “cheddar” soup. The cheesy taste comes from a combo of cashew cream and nutritional yeast. It was amazing, and as a bonus, I got to whip out my sadly underused immersion blender.

What I’m Reading:

I got this book a few days ago and devoured it:

This is the second book in the series that continues where the Veronica Mars TV show (and recent movie) left off. It was great, just as good as the first one! I love the way the authors capture the characters’ personalities perfectly. I’m just sad that I’ll have to wait a while for another installment. Marshmallows (fans of V. Mars) unite!