Knitter in the Kitchen

shared with co-workers.  Intensely chocolate-y but the banana flavor still comes through. Recipe in Baking: From My Home to Yours.

Yarn: Yarntini Pumpkin Spice, 1 skein
Pattern: My generic 56 stitch top-down sock with slip stitch heel
Needles: US #2 / 32 inch for ribbing; US #1 / 32 inch for all other parts

I’ve got to give credit to Hubby here, because he’s great at putting together lasagna!

Recipe found here. Mods:
:: used a mixture of spicy and sweet sausage
:: reduced amount of cheese between layers
While this lasagna was delicious, I should mention that it is also quite heavy. The recipe says 6-8 servings, but I think you could definitely get 8 servings out of it (particularly if you pair it with salad). It most certainly qualifies as winter comfort food!

Today is my third blogging anniversary, and the tradition for me on this day is to reflect on the past year.  After my first year of blogging, I wrote about the many roles of knitting in my life, how blogging connected me to inspiring individuals, and my excitement at exploring the craft of spinning. Overall, I was excited about the fiber arts and eager to see what would unfold in the coming months. Last year, my reflection was noticeably less optimistic — I was disappointed in myself because I felt that I was all over the place with my crafting and didn’t excel at any one thing.  I felt lost with my crafting.

If I had to describe my feelings about the past year in one word, it would be content. This was the year that I switched over from “Knot Without My Knitting” to “Knitter in the Kitchen,” which more accurately expresses my interests in knitting, cooking, and baking.  I seem to have settled on these crafts as my primary hobbies and I am quite happy with them.  I finally let myself feel okay when I preferred one over the others.  Instead of viewing them as competing interests for my time, I am now perfectly comfortable cycling through them in accordance to what I am currently interested in doing.  It’s okay for certain hobbies to be on the back burner for awhile; I no longer feel guilty for ignoring my baking because I am focusing on knitting, or vice versa.  I am still making progress.  In essence, the change this year occurred in my perspective. 

Last year I wasn’t ready at all to set goals for 2007, which bothered me because I am a goal-oriented person.  This year, I have some loose goals for 2008.

Knitting:
–Finish Chevron Scarf (in progress since October 2007)
–Finish Central Park Hoodie (in progress since August 2007)
–Finish Wicked Sweater (in progress since August 2007)
–Knit Juno Regina (gift)
–Knit another Clapotis (gift)
–Knit at least one pair of socks (gift)

Spinning:
Spin.  At least a little.  Once in awhile.

Cooking/Baking:
Try at least one new recipe per month.

As you can see, I am trying to keep it simple in order to keep it fun.  We’ll see how I do this year!

Yarn: Cascade Yarns Cash Vero, Color 19
Pattern: Irish Hiking Wrist Warmers
Needles: US #7 / 32 inches for Magic Loop
Modifications: Knit in the round. Many thanks to Marin for teaching me how to do this so very long ago! These are my mods for circular knitting:
Cast on 38 stitches and join the round.
Rows 1-7: K2, P2, K6, P2, K2, P2, K6, P2, K2, P2, K6, P2, K2
Row 8: K2, P2, CF6, P2, K2, P2, CF6, P2, K2, P2, CF6, P2, K2
Knit rounds 1-26 as above.
From rounds 27-38, knit back and forth (i.e., not in the round), maintaining the cable pattern. The odd rows (WS) here will be P2, K2, P6, K2, P2, K2, P6, K2, P2, K2, P6, K2, P2. The even rows (RS) are the same as above.
Re-join to knitting in the round on round 39. Stop after round 45, and knit 7 rounds of 1×1 ribbing.