Sycamore Grove

It's been a couple of days since the last post. I've been recovering from the holiday rush. Christmas was good; we spent it over at the in-laws' house. There's nothing more fun than a four- and a six-year-old on Christmas Day. We had a low key dinner of lasagna and salad and then I wasn't feeling good, so we went home. I have a couple pictures, but none of them were very good. Too little light and two hyper kiddos don't mix well in pictures.

After I got over my 72 hours of misery, I was fine. I didn't however, get the Very Mysterious socks finished in time. I gave them to the recipient, Joy, still on the needles. I know she appreciated them, as she is a knitter herself (and just finished her first sock; I'm so proud!). I just have to finish them, which should happen by this weekend.

Today, though, I've been working on another pair of socks. I signed up for the Vintage Sock Swap, where you knit a pair of socks from ___ by ___ and send them, along with some yummy smelling and tasting goodies, to your swap partner. I'm hoping I won't be late sending them out; they're supposed to go by the end of this week, but we'll see. Officially the deadline is the 7th, so I may be able to make that. The Very Mysterious Socks may have to take a backseat to these.

I started out with this Cloven Pine yarn, which is kind of a crappy dye job (I can say it, I dyed it):

After overdying it to a 1.5% depth of sapphire blue, it looks like this:

After knitting the cuff and a pattern repeat of the Child's First Sock, in shell pattern (page 61), it looks like this:

It's actually longer than that now, as I'm just starting the third pattern repeat. I'm hoping to be finished with the leg tonight. I have to work, but I should be able to get most of it done before I go. I want to do at least two more repeats before the heel.

New Year's pictures to come soon.

I think I may make the Vintage Sock Swap after all. In two days, I've finished the first sock. Oh my goodness, I love it.

I've made some changes in the pattern, only because my gauge was off a bit. Instead of seven repeats, I did six on size 1US needles. If I'd gone down a size, the fabric would have been stiff. As it is, it's thick and squishy. It is a bit splitty, though. I think this blank was Kona sock yarn, maybe? I remember thinking that it was a little under-plied when I got it. But it really doesn't detract from the overall look of the fabric, so it's all good.

So, without further ado, update pictures:

I love, love, love this design. It's funny, I picked this design partially because my swap partner thought it was a cool design, and partially because I thought it was something that I didn't really care to knit for myself. The thing is, though, this sock is awesome.

The design is so very intuitive. I spent about a repeat looking at the pattern (it's the same motif twice, offset) and then it was memorized. Well, not exactly memorized, it's more like I could see exactly what was coming next.

I have to go, you know, actually work on it, though. Otherwise I shan't get it finished in time.

I'm trying to be better about Eye Candy Friday; I don't have any excuse now that I have the Camera of Doom.

Since I didn't really go out anywhere today, I give you yet another sleepy kitty picture. Somebody needs to smack me like a CD player so I can skip this groove.

...

He is so cute, though.

I've decided to try a new thing. Whenever I make a good recipe, I'll post it here with a picture of the finished food. Of course, if it's from a book, I'll mention the book, the author, and page. So, first recipe.

Wait, what? The Vintage Socks? Yeah, they're still not done. I'm on the foot of the second sock, though, so it's the home stretch. Fortunately, my spoiler pal isn't done, and neither is Amy, so I don't feel that bad about it. I have the rest of everything ready to go (except the stitch markers I'm planning to make) so I'm good. Okay? Now the recipe.

Tomato Toast

2 slices homemade bread (okay, so you could use any yummy artisan bread) sliced sandwich thin
1 tomato, sliced
4 slices Monterey Jack cheese
butter
fresh ground pepper
kosher salt

Turn on your oven's broiler to high (or just on, if there's no variable control).
While that's heating up, toast your bread. Light, dark, it doesn't matter.
Then, butter your bread, lightly. The purpose of this step is to make sure the tomato's juice doesn't make your bread soggy.
Put your tomato slices on the bread and cover them with the cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste, and then slide that on in to the oven.
Broil about three to four minutes (you want the cheese to be melty, and possible golden, but not burnt). Let cool a moment, and then enjoy!

There's other things you can do to this basic recipe that will make equally yummy applications:
Substitute roasted red pepper, or even fruit, for the tomatoes.
Substitute basil pesto for the butter.
Put fresh herbs on top after broiling.
Substitute different cheeses.

Some other really yummy options are pesto, roasted red pepper and fresh mozzarella, or Granny Smith apple and cheddar, or, for something restaurant worthy, pear, prosciutto, and blue cheese.

And, for no reason other than because it's food related, two pictures of the yummy tea (and teapot) that Mel gave me for Christmas. They're not in reviews because I don't know the brand or really anything about it, as they all came in one pretty but unmarked box.