Signs of Change

The season (and temperatures) have changed. Some signs of:



Empty outdoor cafes on these chilly days



Pumpkins and gourds for sale





Christmas and Hanukkah displays in stores







No more pale, summery manicures and a handknit scarf



And, best of all, these tee-shirts:



A closer look--

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Also watch out for pointy sticks and yarn.

Hubster and I finally made it to a Yankee game the other night.

Agile players,



happy fans,



a monument for George Steinbrenner unveiled and a terrific game made it a good late-summer night.

From the Heart

A year ago today, the hubster's heart was stopped, repaired and then returned to us. One year. 37,869,120 heartbeats. Each heartbeat stronger than the last. My heart that ached for his a year ago, now sings!

Fall Cleaning

These cooler temperatures have put me in the mood to clean out some clutter. And a good place to begin is the pile of knitting magazines.

I started this project a couple of years ago. At that time, I thought I would fall into the good habit of immediately ripping and filing the patterns I liked as soon as I finished the magazine. But. . . we know how that goes.

Tonight, as I looked at the patterns, I kept my computer open to the "patterns" tab in Ravelry. How the finished product looked on real people and the knitters' comments helped me to decide if a pattern was a keeper or not.

I went from nearly three inches of magazines to one inch of patterns.



But look how much more I still have to go through!

The Brilliance of Knitters

During vacation, I worked on the Jackie sweater. When we got home, I noticed this--



a wayward stitch! A rogue stitch that somehow slipped off the needle when I did a K2tog. I put a pin in it, the sweater went back into the project bag and I hoped that, by ignoring it, the problem would go away. It didn't.

Now what to do about it?

Ladder down to fix it? It seemed awfully far to drop and I didn't trust myself to successfully do this. Rip it back? UGH! I hate ripping back and always try to figure out ways to avoid this. Finagle a fix? That would involve knotting and weaving and not being totally sure that the stitch wouldn't get loose.

I continued to ignore it.

Wednesday evening, I went to my knit group. I didn't bring anything to work on because I just wanted to catch up with everybody. Since the women in the knit group are amazing knitters, I asked them what to do.

Most of them agreed that, given the circumstances, (it didn't show, stitch count wasn't affected) a finagle would be fine. Then one brilliant knitter remarked that since the wayward stitch is only a stitch or two from the edge, I could leave it be for now but to pick it up when I sewed the seam.

Went home--looked at the stitch, nudged it over to where the seam would be and YES I could do that! Neither the stitch nor fabric gets pulled and the wayward stitch would be nice and snug in the seam. Many thanks to C. for figuring this out!

So I'm back on track with knitting the sweater. The days are noticeably shorter and we've had brief moments of cooler weather. Sweater-wearing days will be here before we know it.

The E Train Mistake Headband

The baktus scarf is now the baktus headband.



While I was working with this gorgeous yarn--Road to China--it felt very soft in my hands. BUT then I rubbed it against my neck. Razorblades! OK it was 90+ degrees -- not the conditions the scarf will be worn in. So I blasted the air conditioning in one room, sat right in front of the air and wrapped the fabric around my neck. Barbed wire! I tried this over a few days. No change.

I do have sensitive skin. Others rave about Kid Silk Haze and liken it to a cloud--a dream. Not me. KSH feels like nightmarish thunderbolts on my neck.

I suspect the alpaca and/or the camel may be the offending yarns. I'd never knit with either before--so now I know.

But what to do next? Frog it? Then I had an idea--I took what I had knitted and wrapped it around my head. Felt OK. My scalp and ears didn't itch. So I decided to repurpose it into a headband to be worn on the coldest of winter days.

Meanwhile, if you take a close look--you'll see a mistake:



Yep, one of the darker gray rows is wider than it should be. But that mistake is going to stay. When I noticed it, I laughed. This is the easiest of mindless knits and I make a freaking mistake?! Let this be a reminder to me to pay attention. It doesn't bug me at all--I actually find it funny.

I made this error while on the subway going to Queens to have lunch with two very old and dear friends. So I'm now calling it the E Train Mistake Headband and when I look at it, I'll remember the fun afternoon we had.

While this mistake doesn't bother me--I made one on something else that does. More about that later.

Something Different

At the Greenmarket, I saw a flower-looking thing being sold and asked the vendor/farmer about it. She told me it was a zucchini blossom and that it had to be cooked. Here's how:

Pull out the stamens (or is it the pistils?), trim the stems and rinse the blossoms. There may be dirt or creepy-crawly things in them. Pat dry.



Then dip each blossom in a beaten egg and dredge in flour. I use Wondra. Breadcrumbs can also be used. Heat up olive oil in a pan and fry up the blossoms till golden brown.



It doesn't take long. About 2 to 3 minutes on each side. When done, drain on a paper towel and salt.

Delicious! Crunchy, salty with a light and delicate zucchini taste. It made a perfect appetizer.



In my next posting, I'll have something truly different--some knitting!