I started (finally) Tempest last week, after having the yarn in my stash for a year and a half.  I bought it at Maryland Sheep and Wool in 2008, right after the pattern was released.  I even wound it and took it with me to SeaSocks, figuring I might get it started.  Yeah, not so much. 

I’m moving fairly quickly through the back.  I’ve almost finished the small stripe section.

The yarn is Brooks Farm Ellie – a lovely thick-and-thin wool-silk blend.  It’s great to work with, and I really love the texture it’s giving me.   (This shot is a little glow-y.  The colors are accurate in the other picture)

Isn’t it pretty?  The striping is a little subtle, but I think it will read well once the sweater is done.  It should be good backstage knitting, which is perfect, since we got the set mostly built yesterday, and we had our first on-stage rehearsal last night.  Only 11 days until we open!!!

I cast on this morning, and it’s moving quickly. I’ve decided to make it larger than the pattern calls for, because I’ve got lots of the yarn. We’ll see if I stick to that when I get to that point, though.

The yarn is 80% alpaca – 20% silk from Ellen’s Half-Pint Farm. I bought two hanks at Stitches East in 2007, planning to make Icarus, but when I got home and checked the yardage, I was juuuuuust short. Luckily, I saw her the next weekend at Rhinebeck, and she had another hank from the same batch. Yay! It’s lovely yarn – really soft with a nice halo – although it’s splitting a little bit. Nothing I can’t handle.

Everyday Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients

1/2 pound whole wheat elbow macaroni (about 2 cups)
1 12 oz. can 2% reduced-fat evaporated milk
3/4 cup fat-free milk
1/4 t dry mustard
1/8 t garlic powder or celery salt (optional)
1 pinch cayenne powder
2 t cornstarch
8 oz. 50% reduced-fat sharp cheddar, shredded

Makes 4 generous 1-cup servings

Cook pasta in salted boiling water in a saucepan according to the package directions. Drain, set aside.

Combine evaporated milk, 1/2 c of the milk, mustard powder, garlic powder or celery salt, cayenne, and 1/2 t salt to the saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Whisk the cornstarch with the remaining 1/4 c milk, then whisk it into the simmering mixture. Continue to simmer, whisking constantly, until it has thickened and smooth (about 2 minutes).

Remove from heat, and gradually whisk in the shredded cheddar until melted and smooth. Stir in the macaroni, and let sit off the heat until the sauce has thickened slightly (2-5 minutes) before serving.
Per the calculator on SparkPeople:

Fat: 10.5g
Carbohydrates: 54.6g
Calories:424.9
Protein: 29.5g

And I know it’s been pretty quiet around here of late – I’m just not in a bloggy mood, and I don’t want to bore everyone with  just blabber if I have nothing to say.  I am working on a couple of things, which I am hoping to get some pics of soon.  I finished that red beret, just need to get a picture.  The pink hat is still where it was.  I’m thinking I might need more length before I can do the decreases, and that basketweave cable is just so slooooooooow.  I’m glad you guys agreed that the wider cable works better, too.  I’m much happier with it.  I also started a Swallowtail Shawl last night in some Noro Silk Garden Sock – it’s coming out really pretty so far.  I got 4 repeats done last night while watching the last of the Futurama movies.  It’s a pretty easy pattern so far – I like the way it’s working in the Silk Garden Sock, too.

I finally dug out my Boteh Scarf once again.  It’s been forever since I worked on it, partly because, um, I lost it for a while.  I’ve gotten several more motifs done in the last week, though – it’s like, scarf-size!

The pattern calls for an edging, but I decided not to put it on this one – I like the way it looks right now, and this way I can just keep working until I run out of yarn.

So, since I’m making progress on a WIP, what else was there for me to do but start two new ones, right?  (::facepalm::)

Kris and I were watching Bones a couple of weeks ago, and in one scene Brennan was wearing this really cute hat.  I decided to try to recreate it.  I’ve been working on it since, and have been fighting with the decreases for the last two weeks.  I just wasn’t happy with them, in spite of ripping them back a couple of times.  I’m trying again after making an adjustment to the design.

The original plan was this (same thing on both sides of the hat):

Which has now been modified to this:

I dropped back the small cable and made it a 12-stitch cable bordered by 2 purls on either side instead of a 6-stitch cable bordered by 5 purls on either side.  If I can get the decreases to work the way I think I can, it should be better.  And maybe even finished soon-ish.

The other new project is a hat (yes, I’m hat-obsessive lately…) that I’ve been thinking about for a while.  See, Carrie has this really cute slouchy grey beret that I’ve been wanting to recreate.  So, last night at dinner, I grabbed my notebook and charted out the lace pattern.  Of course, she told me that she thought it was the same pattern as Wooly Wormhead used on the Meret (Mystery Beret).  And yeah, it mostly is.  But that pattern wasn’t quite what I wanted mine to be, so I am using the lace stitch in my own pattern – tubular cast-on, ribbing, and then the lace.  I think I’ve got it mostly planned out.

If it keeps moving this quickly (I’m on the third repeat of the lace already), it should be done soon, too.  Might make a cowl or mitts or something to go with it, since I’ve got three skeins of this color.

I’ve got lots of yarn left, so now I just need to decide how long to make them. Still entirely in love with them, though!

And if you are wondering, those are my fabulous dragonfly sock blockers made by Cristi. I realized when I put the socks on them that I never remembered to blog about them.

Aren’t they cool?  And I love the little firefly she added to the one heel for me.  They have a special place on the wall in my craft room so I can see them.

OK, back to knitting on the socks – I’m hoping to finish them before the weekend so I can get some FO shots in Vegas.

The color isn’t very accurate in that shot, because I took it indoors at night, but you can see the pattern. It’s awesome. The KAL on Ravelry is lots of fun, too – all those colorways!

Artsy-fartsy closeup!

I also finished up a SUPER quick project yesterday – the Om Eye Pillow.  I spotted it on Glitty Knitty Kitty on Friday, and I knew I needed to make one for my uber-fabulous yoga teacher Joan.  We start back to class this Thursday for the winter session, so I’ll give it to her then.

Unstuffed:

Stuffed (I made an inner pillow of cotton and filled it with flax seeds):

I used Patons Organic Cotton in “Hemp”, and I really liked working with it.  The label calls for US7′s, but I used US3′s, and it came out as a nice soft fabric with plenty of drape for the pillow.  I hope she likes it!

In other news, I finished up the mittens yesterday morning while we were waiting for Mindy to recover from Saturday night. I won’t go into detail, but let’s just say it’s probably not a wise move to make the statement that one has never played a drinking game when in the presence of one’s husband and friends. The marathon game of Asshole ended around 3AM. She was mostly vertical by, oh, noon-ish.

Anyway, the stitches are still a bit uneven, because I haven’t blocked them yet. I LOVE them. They fit perfectly, and I think the pattern is just too cute.

I tweaked the pattern a little from the original, in that I only used three colors (the designer used a fourth for that solid stripe between the ribbing and the hand), and I added an additional repeat of the motif so that the mitts were a little longer.

So, what am I working on now? Well, when you’ve got kick-ass mittens, you need a hat to match them, right?

I adapted the chart from the back of the hand, and I think it’s going to work well for the hat. We shall see!

And I didn’t even do the “pick a few favorite colors to use as a tiebreaker” at the end of the quiz, either.  Guess I come by my favorite color pretty honestly, eh?

I finished up the first Dragonfly mitten (take two), and this one fits perfectly.  I’m about halfway through the second now, and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get it done in the next day or so.  One thing I’ve learned from it, though, is that superwash was NOT a wise choice for stranded knitting.  I couldn’t keep the tension as even as I’d have liked because the yarn was just a little too slippery.  I’m hoping I can even some of that out in the blocking, though.

Looking forward to this weekend – Mindy and Steve are coming down tomorrow because tomorrow night is an engagement party for JMac and Mary Beth, so we get to see them and go party.  Mindy’s one request was that we go to breakfast somewhere on Sunday that does NOT involve her sharing her food with a kid or cutting up someone else’s food.  I think someone is looking forward to a grown-ups weekend away from the kids, don’t you? 

Speaking of kids, if you don’t read Steve’s blog, you missed the news that N got his casts off on Monday!  It looks like the surgery worked, and his feet are able to stay perpendicular to his legs now.  He’s still got some physical therapy ahead of him, but yay!!

Dragonflies on the back of the hand:

Flowers on the palm side, which will become stripes above the thumb (the white crochet thread is waste yarn for the thumb.

I’m using some Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Solids I picked up from DBNY eons ago.  The colors are Bark, Turquoise, and Loden.  The original pattern calls for a fourth color as the solid stripe between the cuff and the patterning, but I opted to use the Turquoise and keep it at three colors.

It’s an easy pattern, and it’s fun!  I’m hoping they won’t take me much longer, and then I’ll have fun new dragonfly mittens to wear.

I’m also spinning the next chunk of fiber – some gorgeous merino-silk tussah top that Morgsarah sent me last year when we did a fiber fest swap – I bought for her at MDS&W, she bought for me at Taos.

Plus, I’ve got to have something to keep me busy – the author is hard at work finishing up NaNoWriMo!

(And yes, he IS wearing his new sweater again.  )

ETA:  The mitten is in time out.  I finished it up, started the thumb, and tried it on.  It’s too small.  Dammit.  So, I frogged it back to the blue stripe above the cuff (the cuff fits fine) and will be re-starting with US4 needles instead of US5′s.  I may also be adding an additional repeat of the pattern so that they are a little bit longer, depending on how much of a gauge difference I get.