New Knitting Websites

Planet Purl

Planet Purl is a new website by Beth Moriarty, a knitting fanatic and world traveler who realized after doing countless web searches that it was nearly impossible to find information regarding yarn stores, knitting events, etc around the world in an easily searchable form. She founded a website that not only solves these problems (with a worldwide knitting store feature, travel guides, and events listing) but also hosts knitting blogs and forums, reviews yarns and gadgets, and includes knit-alongs and patterns.

Sweaters on Mr. Rogers




I was watching Mr Rogers today with the rugrat. I am a huge fan, always have been. Anyhow, he was wearing the greatest sweater! A cardigan (of course) with cabling on each side of the zipper with a knit 1 purl 1 waist in a soft grey, collar like the sweater above. There was no cabling on the arms, though. Really cool! I never remember Fred Rogers wearing anything more than a stocking stitch cardigan in powder blue or red. I stand corrected! Am thinking of adapting the sweater and placing some darts to make it more fitted (lots of inspiration from Knitting Daily for that one). You never know where your inspiration will come from, so you?

Twist Collective

Every knitter that I know is excited about this one. Twist Collective is a webzine that launches August 1st (45 days and counting). It will feature how-to articles, reviews, and most importantly, patterns for download. No one knows if we will be charged for the downloads (I'm thinking we will), but from what I have seen, they will be worth it. If you go to the website now, you will see teaser photos of the upcoming patterns. I, for one, want to make them all!

Rain, Spaghetti Carbonara, Spaghetti Face!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Haven't written in a few days, looking for a job - Uuggh. It has been raining cats and dogs in Ohio; yesterday, it rained so hard that a major freeway artery (315) flash flooded during rush hour. No one was hurt, but startling nonetheless.

All the rain has been good for the flowers, but they are all tamped down from the constant downpours. With the soggy conditions, I haven't been able to get to any of my endless list of gardening projects - the arch is leaning over further, the weeds are getting higher (they like the rain, too, darn it).

My mystery clematis that I planted a few years ago with my New Dawn rose has finally decided to flower - looks suspiciously like a Nelly Moser. Both clematis and rose are flowering now, which makes for a pretty display.



My remaining lavender row (the most stalwart bunch, apparently) is beginning to bloom. Lavender is my favorite flower, bar none. I am a bit obsessed with it, and at one time had around 70 plants in the garden. But time and Ohio blizzards have taken their toll, and now there are only 10 or so surviving plants. It has taken everything I have in me not to go out and buy up all of the lavender in Columbus this year.



Spaghetti Carbonara

It was just my daughter, the baby, and me for dinner. Kendall, the baby, and I went to the pool today (until the most recent torrential downpour started) and when I got home, I wasn't in the mood to cook a grand dinner. Thankfully, Kendall and Will love just about anything, so I decided to whip up a quick pot of Spaghetti Carbonara. This is one of the simplest, most satisfying pasta dishes (well, besides opening a can of spaghetti sauce - nothing wrong with that, as you will soon see), and cooks up lickity-split.

You'll need:
A 1 lb box of spaghetti (linguini works well, too)
3 eggs
1/2 cup grated parmesean cheese, or 1/4 cup parmesean and 1/4 cup romano
1 TBSP black pepper
1/2 TBSP dried basil (parsley is the traditional herb, but I love basil, so that's what I use)
1/2 - 1 lb of bacon, fried and crumbled**
minced garlic to taste (I usually use around 1 TBSP)
A big dallop of butter or margerine or olive oil

1. Cook the pasta until it's al dente. Drain.
2. While the pasta is cooking, combine the eggs, cheese, basil, and pepper in a bowl and mix together. Set aside.
3. Melt the butter in a pan. Add the bacon and garlic and saute for 30 sec to 1 minute.
4. Add the pasta to the garlic and bacon and toss.
5. Pour the egg and cheese mixture onto the pasta and toss over medium heat until the egg is cooked through, about 1 - 3 minutes.
6. Enjoy!

If you really want to be impressive, put the pasta in a large bowl and garnish with a few sprigs of fresh basil or parsley, sprinkle some freshly grated parmesean cheese on top, or some pepperoncini. Or just serve it out of the pan. It will taste just as good.

** Bacon is the traditional meat in this dish, but I actually prefer ham (around 2 cups diced, which is what I used tonight), or better yet, proscuitto (around 1 cup, it goes a long way). I guess the uniting factor here is that some sort of preserved pig should be used!

Spaghetti Face!

We've been on a pasta kick recently, which is just fine with Will; he is like me and would gladly eat pasta every day. He is especially fond of spaghetti marinara, and is quite skilled at covering himself in it!



Of course, there is no such thing as too many photos of your baby covered in spaghetti, so in that spirit, here's a picture of his first spaghetti dinner.



He just grew out of the sleeper, which is remarkably spaghetti sauce free!

Visit these Websites!

Noble Pig

I am now a Stumbler (check StumbleUpon for more info on how you too can become part of the mind suck that is Stumbling). Anyhow, I just came upon this sinfully decadant cooking site, Noble Pig with more waistband straining recipes than you can shake a stick at. Want Carmelized Chocolate, Banana, and Marshmallow Sandwiches? You can find the recipe and the mouthwatering recipes in an article aptly entitled "Get your fat pants out." Cathy describes herself by saying that gluttony is her sin of choice. You may have to join her after reading these recipes.

Knitting Cybrarian

This is a great blog by knitting librarian Laura Gayle. Insight on life, nature, and of course knitting and librarianship make this blog a joy to read. There's a lot to absorb here, with postings on books of all genres, music, pretty much everything you can think of. Check it out.

School Products

I was paging through an issue of Vogue Knitting from 2004 when I found the ad for School Products, the oldest yarn store in Manhatten. According to the website, "[for] almost 60 years School Products Company has been serving fiber artists with the best equipment, accessories and widest selection of yarns." You've got to see the selection and prices to believe it. They carry highest quality yarns (cashmere, kid alpaca, etc), mill ends, and stock a huge selection of European yarn. As of this posting, I found a cashmere/merino blend yarn for $8.50 a skein and baby camel at $4.50 and ounce. They also carry a huge selection of books and other tools and accessories.

DROPS Designs

Amazing database from GARNSTUDIO/DROPS Designs, the Norwegian yarn producer. Thousands (2769 in English) of free, downloadable patterns featuring every skill level. The patterns are written a bit differently than the American patterns that I am used to (amounts of yarn needed are in ounces, no yardage is given, and you will find instructions telling you to cast on a certain yardage of yarn with no number of stitches given). Nonetheless, you'll find many patterns incorporating Norwegian colorwork, an incredible amount of stylish sweaters, hats, sock, etc, etc. There is also a link to suppliers of the yarn, both on the web and local yarn stores.

Yarndex Knitting and Crochet Directory

Sister site to Yarn Market, this site is a reference site for all of us yarnies. Information has been catalogued on over 4,000 types of yarn to help the crafter pick out the perfect yarn for their chosen project. Each entry includes MSRP (with a link to Yarnmarket if that yarn is currently available), current available colors, and patterns using the yarn, if available. You'll also find all of the standard yarn specs (distributor, yardage, weight, needle sizes, etc).

Good Year for the Roses

At the risk of sounding like Elvis Costello, it's been a good year for the roses, at least so far. Most of the roses have started to bloom, and many of the ones that I though I had lost over the winter are actually thriving. I planted a teensy "volunteer" rose that I found in another part of my garden last year by an arbor, and this year it's a good 2-1/2 feet tall. I was hoping that it was the yellow wild rose that is growing in a neglected space in my neighbor's yard, but it turned out to be an 'Alba,' which is ok, because I love wild and old roses. It is a quick and short bloomer, but I suspect that it will be extremely showy in a few years. It joins an Apothecary Rose that I found in my backyard (another teensy slip that grew into a monster).


The first ever bloom if the Zephirine Drouhin slip that I planted three years ago

The Ferdinand Picard and Gertrude Jekyl, which were pruned to the ground last fall by some well meaning friends, are coming back and have lovely blooms.


This Ferdinand Picard used to go all the way up (and cover) my rusty iron work. It had been looking sickly over the last few years, so the good pruning should help it a great deal.


The Gertrude Jekyls with Salvia 'Midnight" and Johnson Blue Geraniums

My favorite, Mme Alfred Carriere, is blooming so profusely that it is falling over from the weight of its flowers. And because it has been so hot, the air is full of its wonderful, heady smell.


I planted the Mme Alfred Carriere to cover the front wall of my house. It's time to use some rope to train it to the wall and start training it up.

I still have a lot of pruning to do. And the aforementioned arbor has broken and is leaning over, so it has to be replaced. I have Gooseneck Loosestrife that is taking over in places that it shouldn't (I made the huge mistake of not planting it in a sunken pot), and, as ever, there is a huge amount of weeding to be done. But things are looking pretty good nonetheless.


Yikes! Always more work to be done!

Finally, my Tree Peony is looking great this year. It only flowers for about a week and a half, but this year it has grown much larger and the flowers are the size of coffee cups!

Ravelry

Ravelry

I haven't posted in a few days. I received my invitation to Ravelry and was sucked into its vortex for a few days. What a great site! Cool groups, places to organize your projects (who needs to buy a knitting journal now?), and thousands of patterns, a lot of them free! I am in love.

Have started two new projects. Began the aforementioned colorwork project, the Fair Isle Rapids scarf on Knitty. Am using Red Heart yarn as it is my first Fair Isle project; didn't want to use expensive yarn when I didn't know how it would turn out. But it's looking good so far, although I haven't gotten through one repeat of the pattern yet.



Also have started a pair of legwarmers for my daughter's birthday on July 10. She will be 15!!! She's a figure skater and has talked about how cool legwarmers are, so I came up with a pattern and am cranking a pair out. Am using Caron Simply Soft in Confetti - I was tempted by some self-striping yarn that I found on the internet by Yarntini, but times are tight, and I had the Caron yarn. The legwarmers remind me of Rainbow Brite or Punky Brewster as they are so colorful. Kendall will love them. Will post a pic when I have completed one.


Such a rainbowy girl!

Now I'm going back to Ravelry - I predict a Ravelry 12-step group in the future!