I’ve been thinking about food more than yarn today, and it seems that what we eat is on the brains of more than one knitter these days. Stephanie can’t get home from the store without her lettuce freezing, Hannah had a post yesterday about Vegetarian Times magazine and their article about non-vegetarian ingredients that sneak their way into foods.

On my other blog, Comfort Kitchen, you can see a link to a video investigation about turkey factories.

I bought Jerusalem Artichokes (sunchokes) at the coop yesterday because they looked so fresh and the sign said they were local (local produce is a rare thing around here in February), but I’ve yet to find a recipe for them online or in any of my many cookbooks that strikes my fancy.

Jay (who’s two) studied bugs in his playing with dirt “science” class this morning, so we had butterfly pasta for dinner.

Selma Making a Snow Angel
Originally uploaded by John’s and Amy’s Dad.

Things have been quiet here because a WHOLE WEEK of snow days (caused by things like icy sidewalks, no plows to clear school parking lots, not actual snow drama), meant I was doing a lot more kid stuff and a lot less of anything else.

This weekend, we decided the iciness that was pretending to be snow here in Maryland wasn’t good enough, so we drove north, 400 miles to my parent’s house in central New York. Drifts were above my head, and the kids got to ski and sled and hang out with the grandparents.

Even the drive was fun–I finished my second sock.

Today, if I ever dig out from the avalanche of e-mail, I got while I was away, I get to swatch. First, with O-Wool’s new Balance–a organic cotton/wool blend, and then, with Tilli Tomas. Yum!

Comfy Crocheted Sock
Originally uploaded by plainsight.

That’s what Walter, the owner of Adega Wine Bar, where SSK, (Silver Spring Knitters), meets, said when Debbie and I walked in. It was sleeting a little outside… Carol also appeared a few minutes later, but we were the brave few. We had a great time eating and knitting and sharing stories–Carol is last in the line of afghan crocheters in her circle of friends and she gets nominated to make one for every big life event–she makes sure to throw in a color that wouldn’t go with anyone’s decor so they still look like those that a grandmother would have made.

I finished this sock on Monday night when I should have been working on a sweater design. I’ve told myself I CANNOT crochet the second sock until I’ve finished the back of the sweater. I figure in typical reverse self-psychology, telling myself I can’t make it will help me avoid any “second sock syndrome.” (Actually avoid isn’t exactly the right word, I’m drowning in SSS, I’ve never actually made a pair of socks knitted or crocheted, but this one was so fun and easy and it fits so well, I’m determined to finish the pair).

I got the Domiknitrix book today. It’s fun even before you open it–it has a rubber cover. The book itself is organized in two parts–technique and patterns. Author jennifer stafford uses her “domiknitrix” persona to teach basic and advanced techniques and there are clear instructions and lots of color photographs. The patterns in part II fun and campy with lots of intarsia graphics, slinky tops, a mens vest with a pipe-smoking head on it, a bright green “mohawk hat.” Patterns include lots of charts and schematics and a list of what you’ll learn by completing the project.

Alpaca Silk Scarf
Originally uploaded by plainsight.

Here’s a bit of what I finished over the weekend (while battling the ever increasing barage of viruses weilding their way through my neighborhood, no less!) It’s a little one-skein scarf for Amy Swenson’s upcoming Sensual Crochet book. I’m only helping out by creating a couple of tiny patterns–she’s designing some amazing things for this book all our of super-luxe yarn.

Amy on Teevee
Originally uploaded by such sweet hands.

Cecily was an awesome friend/host/tour guide while I was in LA for Knitty Gritty–she’s posted a set of pictures on Flickr of the filming and hanging around back stage.

She also documents our amazing trip to the Japenese $.98 store.

0208071707.jpg
Originally uploaded by plainsight.

The new Interweave Knits in its redesigned loveliness (including a fantastic piece about Camel yarn from Mongolia), some swatching balls (merino with beads, silk with sequins, yum!) from Tilli Tomas that came in the most lovely silk drawstring bag, and a complete set of Crochet Lites from the lovely folks at Clover USA. The Crochet Lites are shaped like Clover Softtouch hooks, but they’re acrylic and the entire hook part lights up (unlike they’re knit counterpart where only the point lights up). It’s particularly exciting to me because I don’t have a complete set of any type of crochet hook (I’m working on a set of addis, one by one), I may have to make a special case just for them.

UPDATE: I’ve discovered, since I’m up too late, that the crochet lites are bright enough to serve as a small flashlight (yeah LEDs!)–I wouldn’t use them in a movie theater, they’d probably distract other viewers, but they’ll be great for late-night car crocheting.

shrug front
Originally uploaded by Erin Bee.

Erin Bee has crocheted the Sweet sweater as a cute shrug. I may have to try this version myself. I I love how the sleeve caps fit her shoulders just right, and she’s lengthened the V-neck to fall right at the closure. Great job Erin!

Doris Chan Top
Originally uploaded by plainsight.

On Monday night, I was teaching a crochet class and one of the students wanted to make this top (The Abydos Vest from Amazing Crochet Lace: New Fashions Inspired by Old-Fashioned Lace), so I thought I’d try it out too. I bought a ball of Lana Grossa Millenweit sock yarn (which happened to be on sale), and got the whole thing out of one ball. It was a quick and fun crochet, and I love how the garment was worked down from the shoulders. I may try another tunic with this construction style using a slightly less open pattern (but of course, that would use more yarn!). Also, if I were to do this particular one again, I’d probably add waist shaping–but I’ve tried adding a belt to the top as is, and I like that too.

The sock yarn has so much “memory” that it was pretty scrunchy before a vigorous steam blocking, but now it drapes and swings just fine. Actually, that “memory” would be useful for other types of garments that I didn’t want to drape so much. Sock yarn is the perfect weight for crocheted garments, and even the so called “self-striping” varieties end up with nice random bits of color when crocheted.

We have some great thrift stores near my house… When I go, I often find myself rescuing handmade items. I share this penchant with Jennifer Hansen who wrote a great essay about it in the book Hooked: A Crocheter’s Stash of Wit and Wisdom. I haven’t had a chance to go thrifting in a while, but last night, at SSK (Silver Spring Knitters), Hannah and her family had just been. She gave me the dress you see the detail of here. You can see more pictures of the dress as well as her other finds on her blog. Thanks Hannah!

I have a new favorite tool–it’s Google Reader. I’ve been using it to keep up on blogs for the past few days, and I like it better than any other tool I’ve used (like Bloglines or Net News Wire, etc.). Google Reader easy to use and it lets you share your favorite posts. I’ve also put a sidebar list of posts I’m sharing–you can see it by scrolling down below my profile. I also like the interface–the only thing you can’t do within the reader (and you can’t do this in any reader I’ve found), is comment. That’s ok, because I like to click over to folks’ actual blogs too, so I can see their sidebars, etc. I love to read lots of blogs and keep up with commenting, but sometimes I feel like I’m just dealing with too much digital information. I’ve done a lot lately to lighten the load. I’ve unsubscribed from almost every opt-in I receive via e-mail and I changed all my yahoo group subscriptions to web only. Now, I don’t get e-mail all day long, and most of what I get I really need to read. It’s refreshing and it leaves me more time to blog and read blogs.

Of course, the stark reality of it all is Google Reader loves me too. As with GMail, they track everything I do–it helps them sell targeted advertising that keeps the whole Google behemoth moving. Interestingly, they’re not subversive about the whole tracking thing. In fact, you can see your own blog reading statistics by clicking on their “trends” link on the google reader home page. It tells you what you read most, etc. I haven’t been using it long enough to have much data, but my curiosity was piqued.

How do you manage all your digital information?