deep in the heart of winter...

having survived the recent deep-freeze and the cold/flu epidemic that tagged along for the ride, i am back to using the dreariness of deep winter as an excuse for eating yummy things.  i had fried plantain slices and a Mineola orange for lunch every day this week...

and we took a break from eating marathon amounts of sarma (the subject of my very first post here) to enjoy a dinner of homemade calzones...

stuffed with spicy Italian sausage and a mixture of ricotta, mozzarella, and Parmesan cheeses.  i even tossed in some fresh rosemary and oregano from my window herb box...

and served them up along with a very rustic marinara.  by rustic, i mean... too lazy to chop the garlic, so i just smashed the cloves and left them whole.  [the sauce is usually served on the side and NEVER inside the calzone.  if there's sauce inside, then you're not eating a calzone.]

i've also discovered a recent fascination with pears.  it's usually a bit of a his and hers situation around here with him reaching for the pears in the market while i gravitate toward the apples and grapes. but,  i can't seem to get my fill of the delicious pears we've been getting lately...

which means that there's probably another upside-down pear cake in the near future (this one was from a few months ago, and it was yummm).

on the fiber end of the diet, i've been doing a lot of dyeing and even a touch of spinning in the last few weeks.  i finally got around to to finishing up the merino top i started working on waaay back in October.  this drop spindle was a gift from my Sweetie when i first started spinning for sanity back in grad school.  it is still the only one i have that i did not make myself.

the wool was dyed during last spring/summer's dyeing frenzy, in a combination inspired by my calico kitty...

i added a healthy splash of goldish-yellow to the mix for bright cheerfulness.

to preserve the color changes, i split the top lengthwise into 4 thinner sections and lightly pre-drafted each into a loose nest all ready for spinning...

into a single-ply, fingering weight yarn.

i left it on the niddy noddy for several days...

but there was still quite a bit of twist in the end.

it needs a soak to set the twist, but... that is some mighty sweet-looking yarn, if i do say so myself.

road tested...

it was -35°C (-31°F, to my fellow Americans) out last night, and i'm still getting over something that keeps crossing the line between the flu and the common cold... so, naturally, this was the perfect time to put my deep-winter gear to the test.  after 10 minutes standing on the sidewalk, listening to strings of profanity being whispered by folks passing by (it's a time-honored method for staying warm in the extreme cold of Montreal winter), i came to the conclusion that this is officially the most awesome hat on the planet.

the pattern is Sunflower Tam from Norah Gaughan's Knitting Nature.  the yarn is a bulky baby alpaca, purchased from my LYS (local yarn store, for the uninitiated) when they were still located near le Marché Atwater... way back when Montreal was just a place i visited in between semesters (before i lost my mind and decided it's where i wanted to stay).  i knitted the hat around 2008, when i was lecturing in Massachusetts, but it proved far too warm for even the coldest of days, so i shoved it in a bag with plans to recycle the yarn into some other project.

until... i found myself rushing out in a hurry last night, and neither the go-to fuzzy purple slouch nor the slightly-less-loved rose-pink beret were anywhere to be found, so i stuck my hand into the box of random knitted accessories above the coat rack... and out came this forgotten gem.

because this is "a Norah" (trust me, her designs are that recognizable), it has to be more than just a run-of-the-mill warm hat.  this one features an array of cables that mimic the growth pattern of the humble sunflower.

there's even a little corded "stem" to add to the cuteness factor.  perfect!

bienvenue à 2014...

to be perfectly honest, the Holiday season is typically not my favorite time of the year, but i made a concerted effort not to be a total Scrooge this time around. apparently it worked a bit too well, as not a single one of my attempted photos of our Christmas dinner (lamb, roasted baby potatoes and whole mushrooms, and sugar snap peas) turned out even remotely in focus.  guess it could be said that i didn't exactly get into the Christmas spirit, though quite a bit of the Christmas spirit got into my glass.  cheers!!!

yesterday, i stepped into the -20°C (that's roughly -5°F for my fellow Americans) Montreal air just long enough to carry the trash out to the corner of the building, and by the time i got back inside, my lungs were absolutely screaming in pain. slumped there on the floor just inside the apartment door, coughing so that my whole body shook violently, i was struck with the disappointing realization that this was how i would start the New Year.  i usually complain non-stop when i'm sick.  luckily, i have the internet and a lot of yarn to keep me distracted.

this was a swatch i knitted and blocked on the previous night.  it's a little honeycomb lace over 3x1 ribbing done in a sport-weight mercerized cotton yarn. i twisted the stitches in the ribbed section at the top, which made it a bit too tight for the lace, so i will stick with the regular ribbing, like at the bottom of the sample.  this is intended to be knitted in the round (i.e., in a tube), so i carried the yarn across the back of the work at the end of each row, so that the knitting was all done on the right (front) side of the piece.  the carried strands were cut before blocking, meaning that i won't be able to unravel the swatch and reclaim the yarn if needed, but it was worth the sacrifice.

it even looks good from the back side... which, i'm sure you will agree, is never a bad thing.

i did a bit of experimenting while sorting through the Cheviot fleece i purchased last month.  this was my first time spinning in the grease (which simply means, before washing any of the dirt or grease from the raw wool).  i purchased a pound of lightly-washed wool some years back, and it was an absolute joy to feel the slippery fibers slide through my fingers as i spun, but this was my very first time spinning the stuff as it comes right from the animal.

after washing with a small amount of the baby shampoo i keep exclusively for yarns and fibers, it looks pretty good in the magical glow of the screen.  i'm already looking forward to the Spring shearing season so that i can get my hands on a fresh, greasy fleece.

in a word...

... yummm!!!

had a hankering for good caramel popcorn for weeks now, but it seems to be largely unknown in Canada (aside from the gross Cracker Jacks of our youth, that is)... so i gave up looking and made my own.

i read about a hundred recipes on the interweb, before i drummed up the courage to give it a go.  most recipes seem to rely on some combination of sugar (white and/or brown) and corn syrup, but there were also a lot of recipes that substituted maple syrup for the sugar, and i live in Quebec (where even the snow is mapley), so it seemed like the way to go.  my final formulation was based on this recipe.

[note that the proportions can be easily halved or quartered if you want to make a smaller batch, but the full recipe offers enough for sharing... if there's any left]

n.ayisha's maple popcorn
10-12 cups freshly popped corn (discard unpopped kernels)
1 cup pecans, toasted then roughly chopped
1 cup roasted salted cashews (toasted 3 minutes for a 'freshly-roasted' crunch)
1 stick butter
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups pure maple syrup

non-stick cooking spray

- if you're not especially good at multi-tasking, get all the parts in place before beginning to make the maple coating.
- combine the popcorn, pecans, and cashews in a large bowl or container that will allow for mixing in the maple topping.  i used a roasting pan lightly-coated with cooking spray to make cleanup easy.
- coat the lower half of a wooden spoon with cooking spray and set aside.
- line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.  in a pinch, you can place the parchment directly on a kitchen counter or similar surface.
- in a saucepan, melt the butter on low-med heat, then add the sea salt, vanilla extract and maple syrup, without stirring.  bring to a boil and continue to boil (without stirring) on low-med until it reaches 300°F on a candy thermometer, or until it reaches the hard-crack stage, if you're not using a thermometer (**see note below).  how long this takes depends on how rapidly you're boiling the mixture, but most estimates are roughly 20-30 mins (although it took me nearly an hour at a moderate boil).  keep a careful eye on the mixture as it nears this final stage, as the line between perfectly-done and burnt is a mere blink of the eye.
- (taking extreme care not to spill any of it on yourself) drizzle the maple coating over the popcorn-nut mixture.
- working quickly, toss with the greased wooden spoon (i used two spoons) until the mixture is well coated and the maple coating feels like it's starting to harden.
- spread the mixture onto the prepared parchment and allow to cool for a couple minutes.  it should be cool enough at this point to use your hands to break it up into clusters.
- cool completely and enjoy!!!  store any leftovers in an air-tight container .


** i made this without a candy thermometer, by using the cold-water method (here's a handy guide for making candy without a thermometer). place about 2 cups of very-cold water into a small container.  remove the pan from the heat. using a small spoon, drizzle a few drops of the maple mixture into the water, then reach into the water and use your fingers to form it into a small ball.  (if it doesn't form a ball at this point, skip directly to returning the pan to the heat).  pull the ball out of the water, stretch it (using the thumb and forefingers of both hands), and observe.  the test ball should break apart, producing a "crack" noise when it reaches the hard-crack stage.  if it simply stretches like taffy, return the pan to the heat and continue boiling another 2-3 minutes before testing again.

the blues...

[in an effort to clear up the several thousand photos i've taken in the past few months, i am (hopefully) going to post a series of entries of recent (mostly knitted) projects.]

i did a marathon amount of dyeing earlier this year, mostly of mill-spun yarns, using a combination of commercial acid dyes and home-sourced natural dyes.  the challenge comes in turning all of that into useful objects.  honestly, i'd be perfectly content to mount them on a wall where i can stare in awe at the interplay of colors, but (apparently) i can't justify making any more fiber purchases unless i reduce the stash a bit.  so, here goes...

 

it all began with a mill-spun combo of wool, alpaca, and silk which i kettle-dyed Caribbean Blue (foreground, above) using Dharma Acid Dyes.  this was the single-most frustrating color ever, and i gave up when there was still dye bleeding after the twentieth rinse.  my wardrobe consists of an array of blacks and greys, so this was a challenge... which i (partially) overcame by striping it with a dark blue (Azul Profundo, to be precise) kettle-dyed, semi-solid yarn by Malabrigo (background, above).

the rose/rouge pattern was written for a lighter-weight yarn, so it took a bit of mathemagic to make it work... but it worked, and i crafted a totally sweet (short-sleeve) sweater....

for moi!!!

as a total aside... i would like to add that the reason why people with cats take so many photos of their cats sitting on random stuff is because it is near impossible to get a photo of your stuff without a cat getting in the way.

i said, "get off my sweater", and she did this...

i give up.