Mardi Gras socks

I've been knitting plain socks lately and needed a little color explosion. This is some stashed Opal Hundertwasser sock yarn. Each colorway is based on one of the artist's paintings. Imagine dyeing your own sockyarn (we once used Yarns to Dye For) using the colors of your landscape, your garden in Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall, the tree branches against the sky outside your window.

If I were to begin right now it would be with the clover devouring my yard: the toe would be the light yellow clover flowers with a soft green foot in st st for the clover leaves. At the ankle would begin the light grey bark of the crabapple tree in a rib stitch. It would grow up my leg until it hit a soft blue sky and I'd so some simple fair isle pattern to fade the branches into sky blue.

You could custom dye a ball of yarn to knit up this way. Or, you could tie bits of yarn together and wind it into a ball. The best part would be designing a label with directions and the original scene that inspired the yarn. This would make a great Lenten project - using stash and leftovers to create landscape socks, mitts, tea cozies, neck warmers.... waiting for Spring.

Espresso art in clay

My local coffee shop is closed for remodeling so I'm working out my coffee muscles with this tiny barbell. I am studying frothing and tamping. And I am dreaming of espresso cups and cappuccino cups thrown from Navajo clay - thin porcelain burns my finger tips, smashes on the faucet. I like to stack cups bottom up - wouldn't some white slip painted like latte art on the dark clay be nice? If Mr. Lear makes the drinks, they will have a design on the top and on the bottom!

Queen Ann's Lace

My friend Eleni is making a Queen Ann's Lace scarf from Silkgarden sock weight. It is so delicate and fine and beautifully colored. I found a Silkgarden scarf I did not love and began ripping and crocheting this over the weekend. It is extremely addicting. A huge round of orange chenille rolled out of my cabinet and now it too is being made up into a scarf. The wonderful thing about chenille is that all your mistakes are hidden in the plump softness. There are a ton of examples in the Ravelry gallery. The pattern is here.

London Fog, Berkeley Fog

Lately I've been making my coffee or tea and bringing it along in a thermos. Today I was early for pottery and it was pouring rain when I heard the siren call of Starbucks. I went in looking for a cup of tea, but I was curious about the drink London Fog. It's a cup of Earl Grey with steamed milk and a shot of vanilla syrup and it's wonderful. As I sat there drinking I planned my homemade version: it begins with a super-strong cup of Earl Grey with Lavender (while you wait for the tea bag to steep, the milk is loosing its steaminess), a bit of steamed milk with some vanilla sugar mixed in. Maybe I'll make some orangey sugar. Maybe I'll make some Earl Grey ice cream and fold in candied orange! Do you see what Splendid Table is doing to me? The above is the only foggy pic I could find, one of Mr. Lear's stencil photos.

Stormsvale middle band

I'm a little farther on this one. We had a party over the weekend and all our clutter is still balanced precariously on top of the washer and dryer. I'd like to keep it that way; it's so pleasant. I was very sad to see that Domino Magazine folded. I just checked their book out of the library. I will now devote myself to scrounging up back issues.

Of Sugar and Snow

Mr. Lear and I were enjoying a wonderful lunch this afternoon when I looked up and thought I recognized Carol Field from her photo in The Italian Baker. Mr. Lear (who has made many many treats from The Italian Baker) swore I had been brainwashed by nonstop Splendid Table podcasts. And then he stared at her for a while and thought so too. I don't know if we were correct, but we did see this book being handed across her table: Of Sugar and Snow. Back at home, I googled the poetic title and now I am really looking forward to Jeri Quinzio's newest book on the history of ice cream due out this Spring. Till then, I have her blog. 

Lemon gold

I am treating these beautiful Meyer lemons from my friend Eleni like deer I have shot with a bow and arrow, using every part to honor the noble citrus. Here I grated the peel into sugar for lemon-flavored ice cream. I also candied some peel and put it in a jar with the syrup - it's marmalade really. I wonder if I could make a simple syrup from the peel for sodas and drinks and then candy the peel separately for breads and cookies? I can't nail their antlers to the wall, but maybe I should paint a still life of the last three and hang it on the wall.

Mustgo meringues

For my grandma and grandpa, Thursday night was Muscow night. I never understood what a smorgasboard of leftovers had to do with the a strange country called Muscow. It was only later that I realized they were saying "Must Go" night. We usually celebrate Muscow Night on Fridays when we make homemade pizza with leftover salami, cheese, olives, and vegetables.

These are Muscow Meringues. The egg whites are leftover from ice cream making and the candied fruits and raisins and almonds are from nooks and crannies in the frig and cabinet. When I grew tired of spooning out little blobs, I threw some coffee concentrate into the bowl, gave it a mix, and plunked the whole thing out on a cookie sheet as a giganto flat meringue. I hope this ends up as some kind of Pavlova thing.

Bread starter

I'm so jealous of these bakers with starters passed down from Medieval times! Yesterday I decided to begin my descendants' starter. There's a bowl of half flour half water on the counter. One day they will pinch off bits and give it to their children headed for Mars. I washed my Central Park Hoodie and it grew a little. I need to block it back to size but I can't take it off. I'm not sure if I'm shivering from the rum raisin ice cream or trembling from the concentrated ice coffee.

Coffee concentrate

Lynne of Splendid Table - the soundtrack of my life - mentioned making a coffee concentrate by mixing a pound of medium grind coffee with 11 cups of cold water and letting it sit all day and then keeping it in the frig. I halved the recipe yesterday and this morning I tried mixing 2 oz of concentrate with 6 oz of boiling water. It wasn't hot enough for me. It had an even wonderful full taste, but it wasn't hot. Then I began sipping ice cold concentrate from the measuring glass and it was glorious. Tomorrow I will make milky ice coffee - very milky.

2/1 edit: I've relaxed the formula a little, I mix a half pound of coffee ground on an 8 and 6 cups of cold water and leave it overnight. In the morning I strain it into a glass pitcher with a tight cap. I'm going to start using some as a flavoring in meringues and chocolate sauce.

Stormsvale collar

I'm almost ready to begin the next band of Fair Isle. I'm going to have to wear this around as a cropped, high-collared vest for a while. I need to be sure about the width before I commit to the next band.

All Creatures Great and Small

We have been watching All Creatures Great and Small in the evenings while I make my way through Stormsvale's collar band. I can imagine dozens of Stormsvales inspired by all of Tristan's Fair Isle sweaters. James's aqua pullover in that cobblestone pattern is so beautiful under a brown jacket! In one scene Tristan stood next to him in his green zip-up tweed and they looked like a page from a knitting book for men who take their sweaters to work.  

Stormsvale for lazybutts

I began the wonderful Stormsvale pattern the other night, but could not keep the details of Michael Wood's In Search of Shakespeare separate from the decreases in the herringbone pattern. And so, like Shakespeare, I made a choice. I'm going to save the herringbone pattern for another version. Yesterday I knitted every minute of the Inauguration. 

Wall accessories

Last month I saw a magazine photo of a bedroom with silhouettes of birds flying over the bed. I have been going through my clip art books looking for something to perk up our walls/furniture and/or appliances.

Altered books

The cover of the FT magazine last Saturday featured Su Blackwell's "The Girl in the Wood" - a handmade popup carved into a book of fairy tales. I found a lovely book to re-use as my daily planner. Perhaps I should forget about pasting calendar pages into it and instead concoct a popup for each month.

Smashing pumpkins

I'm feeling like Ma Ingalls, butchering my Halloween pumpkin for soup. I roasted this baby and threw it into some stock. I'm knitting away on a Central Park Hoodie and planning how to use my stash.

Thyme and cornmeal

Do you listen to Splendid Table on your local NPR station? For me it was like discovering an old cable series now available on Netflix. Their e-newsletter for this week had this advice:

"Instead of making yet another new year's resolution aimed at self-improvement, consider what Sally Swift, the managing producer of The Splendid Table, often does. She picks a cookbook that's new to her and cooks her way through it during the coming year. She says it's a fun and simple way to learn a new cuisine. Select the book, stock your pantry with the staples unique to the cuisine you'll be "studying" and you're good to go. I love this idea!"

This worked out so well over the Summer with David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop. I may try an Indian book. Today I began my journey through the 2006 Martha Holiday Cookies magazine. (I think this is the issue they turned into a cookie book.) This is what you can make with some raggedy old thyme from your yard and a handfull of currants. They are wonderful.

Cookie plans

I'm not finished with the holiday cookie binge. See how pretty these are? They tasted like spicey cardboard. I have that Martha cookie magazine from a few years ago - the one with the picture index organized by texture. I'm going to make cookies this year. 

The red sweater

My version of the Cardiff sweater is off the needles and living its own life. It is so gratifying to knit from an old photograph, like time travel without the temporal anomaly worries. I will explore this category of knitting further in the new year.

They are fine

We made these potato doughnuts last week. Towards the end of the batch we tired of rolling out the dough and cutting doughnut shapes. I liked the way the little blobs of dough we threw in at the end turned out best.

Tis the season

This is my current scarf relaxing with some of the pastries we enjoyed today. Knitting Contessa has been posting interviews with crafters (me today) and recipes for handmade gifts if you need some ideas. I mailed off all my Pay-It-Forward gifts, Cristina. I'm in the clear now and can rest easy with you and Benjamin Franklin!

Button crafts

This is a very addictive craft project from an old Martha Stewart Kids. 

A lighter gingerbread cake

I've been making this gingerbread snacking cake from Martha. This time around I switched out the molasses for agave syrup in one cake and brown rice syrup in the other. The spice mixture comes through a lot stronger. I wish I had kept track of which syrup went into which cake. I'm going to try this with cookies next. I'm shuffling the spice mixture around as well. I like cardamon. This post is to remind me to take notes, or repeat the mistakes of the past!

The Three Kings Go Shopping

A Small Miracle by Peter Collington is about a nativity set that gets ready for Christmas. There are no words. I like to listen as people read it.

Mario Kart

Mario Kart fans, I don't know if you caught Cassie Smith's Mario Scarf in the latest issue of  Nintendo Power, but here's Cassie's blog for photos and story. It's beautiful. If you still can't get enough Mario love, listen to this. Listen to it over and over until your whole house can sing it. The three inches of striped scarf in the photo is another stab at the Gap scarf. The cobbler's husband has no shoes!