Christmas 2008

I actually have been doing some knitting, but today's post is all about the meat. My neighbor and friend Di are preparing an early Christmas feast for tomorrow. Our preparations began with a cooking class with Caprial and John Pence on December 4. The menu included a beautiful prime rib, a to die for dish of sweet potatoes with bacon (very savory) and a Chocolate Marquis for dessert.
Di picked up the roast last night. Just look at this beauty - 6 ribs, perfectly marbled and a nice layer of fat on top. My DH will do the actual cooking of the meat as he is the master of the grill. The preparation for the meat is a rub with the usual olive oil, garlic, fresh sage and rosemary, brown sugar, thyme, salt and cracked black pepper. Now it sits in the refrigerator to soak up all of that great flavor. It also makes a beautiful crispy covering that tastes fabulous.
We will roast it tomorrow. Meanwhile, I need to venture out in the snow to pick up some Scharfenberger bittersweet chocolate for the Chocolate Marquis. This dessert is a little thicker than a mousse, but fluffier than ice cream and melts in your mouth. We will serve it with a cranberry caramel sauce and whipped cream.

Knitting Club Spring 2008

Well, here we are. This is what I do on Wednesday afternoons. Fourteen kids, two nutty knitters and lots of fun! The two nuts, ahem, dedicated teachers, in question are in the back row (me on left and Tessie on the right, and yes, I am standing up!). Two of the gals are wearing their furry boa projects, having finished them in record time. They are now on to bigger projects - one 4th grader is starting her first pair of socks!! Four in this group are still finger knitting, however, they enjoy it and are focused on their fiber art, so who can argue with that? Six are really good knitters that can talk and knit at the same time. Tessie usually hangs with them and discusses the finer points of the literary world of Harry Potter and the motivations and moralities of the various characters. The rest of us less experienced, ahem, serious knitters are quiet and very focused on our knitting. Or on untangling balls of yarn, which, as those of you with yarn OCD* know, can be very consuming.

I'm told that the knitting after school club is the most popular one in history, so, HA!, take that, those of you that think creative writing is a fun after school activity!

*Repetitive behaviors or mental acts that the person feels driven to perform in response to an obsession, or according to rules that must be applied rigidly. In the subcategory of yarn OCD, yarn MUST be cleanly and neatly rolled or wound into balls and the affected person will spend precious time (sometimes HOURS) in said activity, and has great difficulty walking away until satisfied.

Knitting for the bears

Here's me and one of my knitting buddies modeling mittens made for some unfortunate sun bears. Tess is a bear-lover and is spreading the word about the project. Read more about the sun bears here.

Distractions

Here's one of the distractions that kept me from completing the last pair of socks.

A while back the Cupcakes attended a local bead show. The rationale was that people knit with beads, right? And Tessie had given 2 tutorials on knitting with beads so it was OK, right? Once we arrived, however, all thoughts of bead knitting was gone, replaced by dilated pupils and slight drooling resulting from exposure to all of the pretty, pretty, shiny, shiny beads.

The RockStar saw a bracelet (kit) very similar to this one and coveted it, however she had already used up her budget for the show.

With her birthday coming up I took on the task of shamelessly copying said bracelet. Three beadstores, 2 online retailers and a month later I had acquired all of the necessary materials. The open copper bead frames contain a Swarovski crystal each and are separated by Labradorite roundelles (RockStar's favorite stone), tiny copper spacer beads and more Swarovski crystals. Copper chain and clasp finish the piece.

Then time to photograph. I had no idea the difficulty of photographing small, shiny, sparkly things! Flash on, Flash off, too dark, too light, and blurry. DH suggested building a little mini studio for this purpose. I guess I'll do that eventually. See the one here designed by the gals at WikiKnitting.

We're celebrating her birthday tomorrow night. I hope she likes it!

Some things just take time

These socks for the poor DH have been on the needles for months! Between the tennis elbow and being really busy, it has taken way too long to finish these. OK, OK, I must also confess that I have been quite distracted by beads and jewelry making lately.

The yarn is Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock-Medium Weight. I lost the ball band so I don't remember the colorway - sorry!

The Twin Rib pattern is from Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks. I think this makes a nice manly sock in a very cushy yarn.
While this is a medium weight sock yarn, I knitted these on size 1 dpns because the fabric looked better.

Another sock is already on the needles - hopefully I can get this one done a bit faster!

Tennis Elbow Anyone?

What a drag! Last fall, after not having played for, let's see, 30 years, I took up tennis again. I thought it would be something fun for my son and I to do together. Well, I was right about that. I dug up my racquet, bought him a new junior size one and we headed for the neighborhood courts. I was exhausted, out of shape, but in heaven. I signed us up for lessons at the rec center and never looked back.
I played on the team in high school so I had some skills. My backhand was never really strong, so my instructor helped me get it right. However, I've been hitting the ball too late (poor technique) in my swing which puts pressure on the tendons and so developed tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis). I bought one of these arm bands and it's helped tremendously.
The reason I'm blogging about this is that it's put quite a damper on my knitting. I'm having to ice my arm after knitting!

Things are getting desperate in my DH's sock drawer as more socks are wearing out!

Baking Bread

Hey, I know this isn't knitting, but it's something I made with my own 2 hands! And thanks to Tess, I have the knowledge! She thoughtfully gave me a copy of "Artisan Bread in Five minutes a Day" by Hertzberg and Francois for Christmas. A while back there had been an article published in the Food Day section of the Oregonian (or "The Big Zero") as I call it discussing a new technique for making bread that requires no kneading. (Hey, that's kneading with a "K" just like knitting with a "K", so I feel even more justified adding this to my knitting blog). What a good looking loaf if I do say so myself. I've scored major points with my DH as he does love bread as a vehicle for delivering mass quantities of butter. Thanks again Tessie! By the way, the only redeeming section of the local paper is indeed Food Day.