Now Knitting: Hats For Giants

Taking a break from baby knitting last week (I finally seamed the sweater -- it's amazing how a little university gossip can distract you into completing the most tedious tasks), I knit up the beanie below. It took all of three days, I zipped right through it. TOO BAD IT CAME OUT SIZED FOR GIANT PEOPLE. 

My bad. Because I'm a lazy knitter, I don't often check for gauge before I start a project from a pattern. I don't think I've ever checked gauge on a hat at all, ever. I like my hats slouchy, and I used to think that the slouchier the better. This humongous thing, though, makes me look like I belong in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Or like I need to dread my hair to have something to stuff it with. Become a dreadlocked cartoon dwarf.

What a quandary. I decided that I had two options: either gift the hat to a person with dreadlocks and/or an enormous cranium, or wet block aggressively and then intentionally shrink it in the dryer (surely felting it in the process, very risky). A shame either way, really. I was really looking forward to wearing this thing in inclement Brontë weather! And that yarn was absurdly expensive! A friend then suggested that I do the reasonable and rational thing, which is to frog back halfway and then knit it up smaller, DUH. Thanks, reasonable and rational friend, I think that's exactly what I'll do!

For those of you interested in the pattern, it's Jared Flood's Rosebud from the Brooklyn Tweed Fall 2011 collection. Beautiful, just like everything else from the Brooklyn Tweed universe. JUST CHECK YOUR GAUGE, PLEASE. 

I'll post back with some "after-after" photos when I'm through, but I need to finish a baby bonnet and some tiny booties first. In the mean time, I'll leave you with this final, dreamy close-up of the mega-cable. Yes, sweet woolen dreams.

Walking with mr. Coe: sociopath and/or werewolf edition

Jason and I started walking Roscoe together on a regular basis recently. I love the three of us walking into town together. I love waving hello to our neighbors as we pass. I love that Roscoe waits attentively for us at the door of the store, and that the owner gives him treats as we leave. I love that, like the store owner, the winos and drunks on the park benches in town are literally delighted when they see Roscoe (it's weird, we're used to it and it's harmless).* I love that I get to walk with the two of them, though I have to admit that I don't think either of them care as much about the group walks as I do. Jason, at least, does it because he knows it makes me happy, but the dog couldn't care less who's doing the walking or how many of us there are.

Look at that dog go, full speed ahead! Roscoe has this home-store-home, Glen Arbor Drive circuit memorized.

Here he is at his favorite ivy patch on Glen Arbor.

Take a look at that insanely happy face above. A walk a day keeps the neurosis at bay.

On this afternoon's walk, I was able to snap some photos of the missing cat flyers that have been popping up in Ben Lomond over the past couple of months. These are just the two on our Glen Arbor circuit; there are tons of others (of other cats) tacked up around town.

The one above has been up for quite some time -- three months. The one below is "more fresh." SAD.

Oddly, I wasn't the one to take notice of all the missing cat flyers, Jason was. It may be because I'm just not that into cats** -- and Jason is -- but, in any case, I'm jealous that Jason made the Jessica Fletcher-esque old lady detective observation and not me. 

A couple of weeks ago, Jason said that he was concerned about the amount of missing cat flyers. When I asked why (because I'm a jerk who doesn't care for cats), he told me that he suspected that there must be teenaged boys in the neighborhood abducting and killing neighborhood cats. And then I said: THAT'S CRAZY. 

Once again, I'm jealous that Jason's having the weird old lady thoughts and not me. 

Rather than blame the missing cats on burgeoning young sociopaths, I actually think that it's coyotes. OR WEREWOLVES. I CAN PLAY THIS GAME JUST AS WELL AS HE CAN. 

But, no, really, I think it's coyotes.*** Which isn't any less scary! We've been having a lot of late night/early morning coyote pack action in the neighborhood lately. Few night-scares are scarier than waking up in the dark to the sounds of a yipping coyote pack. They sound like horrible old screaming crones. SPOOKY. 

I'll keep you updated. Or, actually, Jason might. This seems to be his crusade. 

* MOUNTAIN LIVING. 

** It isn't that I actively dislike them -- except for maybe one in particular whose name starts with an H and ends in a Y SARAH T KNOWS. 

*** Or a mountain lion! It's been a while since we've had a mountain lion prowling around, though, and word travels pretty fast if there's a new one so it's unlikely.

Jonah Matranga and two new postcards take us into the summer season

Well, this is a blast from the past...

On the back, Rachael only wrote: nostalgia! Indeed, Rachael, indeed!

Remember Jonah Matranga, also known as onlinedrawing, bandleader of New End Original (anagram of onlinedrawing), and member of earlier band Far? No? Here's the wikipedia link, then.* I found the postcard above in the mailbox earlier this week and thought: woah. Rachael must have been hoarding this postcard since, like, 1999. I remember that we got really into his music around that time, and saw him perform at the Troubadour in LA at least twice (oh what fond teenaged memories). The music was important to us then. I think I'll scrounge up those CD ep's of his that I have hiding in CD sleeves (OLD) and give them a listen. Apparently he just came out with a new album! And did you know that he has a twitter?**

A couple of days later I received the postcard below. What is going on in that image?

And on the back, a lovely message (though I do wish that I had the info for whatever's going on on the front of the postcard... perhaps you'll humor me in the comments, Rachael?) You can just barely make out a little text blurb under the sticker Rachael put down to write over, but I don't want to peel it back and ruin the text.

Thank you for being an enthusiastic postcard sender, Rachael! Keep them coming! I'll see you in August (if you don't take a weekend roadtrip to visit us up here first, HINT HINT)!

* Also check out this April 2013 Huffington Post piece with horrendous writing done by Salvatore Bono. 

** All of this information is purely for Rachael's amusement. Unless I start developing weird Jonah Matranga fan base blog traffic to rival my weird Enriqueta Martí serial killer fan base blog traffic. 

Kitchen (Mis)Adventure: Spinach Pesto Pasta Salad

I took this photo of one of my favorite meals months ago, look at how beautiful it is! I was reminded to post a Kitchen (Mis)Adventure about it on Sunday when I was making a new batch. I generally get six servings out of any given batch of my spinach pesto pasta concoction and, though Jason will have it once and maybe repeat with leftovers the next day, I'll eat it every day (sometimes twice a day) until the bowl's empty. Because it's amazing, and filling, and wholesome, and rad.

It takes all of 15 minutes to prepare, it tastes better the second (third, fourth) day, and you can eat it straight out of the fridge. DECADENCE. 

Ingredients:
8 oz penne pasta
0.5 cup pesto
8 oz baby spinach
2 cups kidney beans
juice of 2 lemons
0.75 cup toasted almonds
handful of chopped up sun-dried tomatoes
a healthy dash of red pepper flakes

While the pasta's cooking, prep and then dump the fresh spinach, beans, and sun-dried tomatoes into a large bowl. When the pasta's done and drained, quickly dump it on top of the spinach, legumes, and tomatoes and let it sit and steam for a bit. Toast your almonds (or buy a bag of pre-toasted almond slivers at Trader Joe's like I do and avoid all that), slice up and juice your lemons, measure out your pesto, and then dump all that in, too. Super excelente, you're all done.

We generally eat it at room temperature or cold, with some broiled chicken, as seen above. It's perfectly great on its own, but adding the chicken helps Jason feel like he's eating a real meal (eye-roll). It doesn't even need any grated cheese sprinkled on top (though I do add some generally because I'm a glutton) -- making it a great vegan dish! OOPS, wait, pesto sauce has cheese, right? I'm sure somebody's figured out how to make vegan pesto, probably Sarah Britton at My New Roots. Have you seen this shit? Vegan food has never looked (so) attractive. HA! 

I originally adapted this recipe from theKitchn's Lemony Pesto Pasta with Edamame and Almonds (mouthful), and it changes slightly every time I make it. The "pasta, pesto, lemon, legumes, iron-rich dark greens" formula is super versatile. As long as it's light on the pasta/pesto and heavy on the greens/lemon juice/legumes,* I don't think it really matters what you use, it'll always come out perfect. Doodle around with it and let me know what you come up with!

Lastly, I want to mention that this stuff is super healthful. Don't be turned off by the pesto -- you're using a very small amount, so little that it isn't really "saucy" just "bindy" in a small-amount-of-salad-dressing kind of way. I calculated its caloric and nutritional information** on Sunday, and (with a light sprinkling of grated pecorino-romano and not including the broiled chicken) two heaping salad-tongs full is all of 450 calories and a swell balance of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, etc. AM I BORING YOU YET? 

* Do be sure to "steam" the greens with the hot pasta a bit before stirring in the pesto and lemon juice, though. Especially if you're working with some gnarly fresh dino-kale or something.
** Can you tell that I'm trying to lose weight? I wouldn't be able to without this dish, life would be too awful.

Now Knitting: Knits for small people

EZ sweater for a small girl baby.

A couple of weeks before I left for Spain, Stevenson's Core coordinator started up a knitting circle at the college, the Stevenson Stitch, Monday evenings. It was perfect timing -- I was a couple of weeks out of my Forever Spring Break period, I was looking forward to new ways to be a sociable human being, I needed to get started on some knitting for Paula's baby girl (due in June), and I wanted to get back to doing an activity that would help me to, generally, CHILL OUT. I hadn't worked on a knitting project in over a year.

I showed up on the first day, and it was just Caren, my coordinator, and handful of her students -- two of which were just learning to knit. Let me tell you: it was delightful. Delightful. We sat and talked, I helped a girl learn to distinguish knit stitches from purled stitches (scarves vs. nooses!), and I cast on for the baby sweater above. I went straight home after we stopped at 9pm and continued working on the sweater until 2am like a crazy person. I'd forgotten how relaxing knitting is! It's like yoga for the brain, I can meditate on those little stitches for hours and hours and hours.

I finished knitting the sweater by the end of the week and went back to the next week's Stitch to sew in all the loose yarn. I intended to sew up the under-arm seams (the only seams that the sweater has!) as well, but I'm a lazy person who hates seaming so screw it, I'll do it later.

I got the pattern from the book above: Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac. EZ has beautiful, simple and intuitive designs and a great knitting ethos. Consider the following gauge notes for baby leggings:

Don't worry too much about size; babies vary, and knitting stretches. 

Revolutionary! No numbers listed at all. WHO CARES if it isn't perfect! WHO CARES if you forgot to put in a botton hole or two! WHO CARES if you goofed the lace pattern a couple of times! The baby certainly won't!

Here's a photograph of what the finished sweater will look like, above. When I first got started on the sweater, all those knitting-produced endorphins shot me into expectations turbo over-drive: I was convinced that I would get the sweater, bonnet, leggings, and blanket all done in time for my visit to NYC this summer. Since I've had about a month to let my expectations settle, reality has set in, and I've come to set my goals to completing the sweater, bonnet, and a pair of booties to match. Those leggings look like a lot of fun, so they're definitely on the list for later, but I need to pace myself (and she won't need them until winter). 

I won't be posting any finished images to the blog until after my trip to NYC in July (lest Paula checks in on the blog regularly, not sure that she does), but I'll post little tidbits to the Instagram feed and here as well as I work on this and future projects. The knitting bug has bitten again, hard. (GROSS)