an ent knits

reminder: this blog has moved

I haven't finished moving all of the pictures, but the last few weeks of blogging have been at my new address.

random wednesday

I've been reading and working and rereading, without much fibery happening, so you get pictures of other things today.

These are cranberry-spice muffins that I made last night, after discovering that I didn't have enough nuts for granola.  (Approximate recipe in the extended entry.)

And these are flowers from along my walk to work.  (I think they're dahlias.  Please correct me if you know they're not.)

two belated wrap-ups

First: I tracked my running and walking as part of the second round of Run-a-gogo!  I didn't get in as much running as I'd've liked, but my total distance moved on foot (mostly walking, plus running and hiking) was about 230 miles from April 1st to July 1st.  That's a bit shy of my goal of 250 miles, but I'm still pretty happy with it.  I stopped tracking my mileage after that, but my new goal is to walk faster.  (Especially to and from work.)

Second:  Although I responded to the participant survey, I never got around to posting my summary of costs for the Penny-Wise Eat Local Challenge.  As I said earlier, I went a bit over my budget goal of $45, but I was well under the average single-person weekly food budget of $68.  There's a table of things I bought and things I used in the extended entry.

(The rose of sharon is just there to be pretty.)

camera woes

My camera crashed yesterday morning. 

That's such a ridiculous thing to have to say--my "real" camera is something like 40 years old and still works fine despite having somewhat literally crashed (dropped onto the street from 3 or 4 feet), but my 4-year-old digital camera is not happy with me.  I think the camera will work again, once I have time to try to appease it, but I've lost a number of pictures, some of which I can't just re-shoot. 

Anyway, that's why I don't have pictures of the spinning and knitting I've finished in the last several days.  My blanket has grown, though, and I've finished a scarf that I don't think I ever blogged, and I plied up the rest of the green superwash merino, wound off a couple hundred yards of silk singles, and spun a couple of sample-y bits. 

I hope to have pictures in a few days, but here's a non-fiber picture just because.

(These colors will probably reappear pretty soon.)

maryland, in brief

Oh, my goodness--such a great weekend.  I love Philly, but it's wonderful to escape now and then. 

I want to be spinning five different things and also knitting and designing and flipping through patterns, all right now.  Except I also know I'm going to crash soon.  (Camping is fun, but sleeping on the ground does not compare to sleeping in a real bed.)

More later.

For now, because I can't bear to post without a photo, here's something we saw on the trip down:

(I'm sure it's not that interesting to anyone familiar with construction equipment, but I thought the mobile concrete-pump truck looked pretty cool.)

field guide, review, and a picture

It's almost time for MDSW!  I'm really relieved that the weather forecasts are promising, since I'll be camping...  Anyway, I don't know whether I'll make it to either of the blogger meetups, but say hi if you see me.  I'll be wearing at least one of the following: 

           

[The shawl on the left is my flowerbasket shawl, which I've actually been wearing a lot lately; the one on the right is my diamond fantasy shawl.  The finger puppets are just things I sometimes wear in my hair.]

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I don't think I mentioned it here, but I went to New York on Sunday, in large part to see the Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting exhibit at the Museum of Art and Design.  Over all, I loved it.  There were/are some awesome pieces in it.  (Particular things I liked in the extended entry.)  There were also some things that completely failed to move me, but those were sufficiently few that I was very happy with the exhibit.  I thought it was good, though, that they explicitly explained at the beginning that they were really stretching the terms 'lace' and 'knitting', such that the latter included all forms of producing fabric from a continuous thread and the former included pretty much all ways of getting "fabric" of some kind that was full of holes.

I also went to the Met for the first time in far, far too long, but I stuck mostly to special exhibits, and so the only fiber/textile things I remember seeing were carpets in the Venice and the Muslim World exhibit and a kimono-style jacket that was beaded all over except for where there were frogs embroidered in the Studio Craft Movement room.

(I didn't set out to plan a day of museuming alone, but I had plans to meet up with my cousins and didn't want to overbook myself.  I also anticipate seeing knitbloggers at Maryland.)

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And, lastly, I was in a really lousy mood this morning until I saw this on my way to work:

Wisteria is so pretty.  Someday, I'd love to have lots of giant wisteria vines like the ones in The Ordinary Princess.

progress, in three parts

Part 1: Run-a-gogo!

I'm not sure I mentioned it here, but I'm participating in the second round of Runagogo! (April 1st-July 1st).  My goal is to have walked/run somewhere between 200 and 250 miles; I'm at 56.9 right now.

Part 2: PELC

I'm on day 5 of the challenge, since I started on Sunday.  So far, I've made quiche, broccoli/mushroom/potato stew (not photographed 'cause it's just not pretty, but it's tasty), and a supposed-to-be-salad-but-turned-into-stirfry of bok choy, kale, tofu, and alfalfa sprouts.  (Lunch yesterday was a giant Cameo apple, and I've been eating breakfasts of cheese or asian pear butter on toast of bread that's locally made and sold at the farmers' market, although probably not from local ingredients.  Dessert has been strawberry yogurt from Pequea Farms.)  What I am missing the most is rice noodles and whole grains (quinoa and millet, mostly), plus things like beans and lentils and peanut butter.  I'd be doing better on the grain front, at least, if I'd managed to bake anything; I knew on Tuesday that I should cook or bake something, but I spent the evening knitting.  Maybe tonight; I want to make something cornbread-like with that cornmeal I bought last Saturday.

Part 3: Festival fiber usage

I set out quite a list of stuff I wanted to have done by Maryland.  I have abandoned all hope of knitting that orange mohair-blend shawl, especially because I haven't finished spinning the yarn for it.  I doubt very much that I'll finish the pair of Tess's Yarn socks, but I should get at least a decent start on the second sock (after I finish the first one).  I also have no chance of finishing the spinning of either the silk cap or the wool/mohair locks, and I'm not going to knit those wristwarmers in the next week, either.  Still, I am happy with my fiber productivity of the last several months.  The one thing I want to make sure I do before I leave for Maryland is sample that ramboullet, so I can add another variety of wool to my repertoire.  (Sort of, at least.)

And here's a picture, just because:

tuesday randomness

This is just because I can't bring myself to post without including a picture.

I picked up a copy of Stephanie's new book last Friday, and I also spent a pleasant twenty minutes looking at other books I've been thinking of buying.  Victorian Lace Today has moved up on my list, as has No Sheep For You.  I'm wondering, though--would it be awful in some way for me to buy No Sheep For You and knit some of the designs in wool?  Is there a compelling reason not to do so?  (I really like Morrigan, Jenna Wilson's fine-ish gauge aran-style sweater.)

I also want to share two of my recent music discoveries:

1.  The Rosebuds:  my Crafty Lab-Neighbor handed me their album Birds Make Good Neighbors and told me to listen to it.  As she predicted, I really like it.  It's on the poppy side of my taste in indie rock (but definitely within the range of stuff that I like), possibly comparable to Death Cab for Cutie or recent Magnetic Fields.

2.  Let's Go Sailing: Phillyist.com posted about their then-upcoming show, included a link to an mp3, and advertised a shirt/totebag/cd/ticket giveaway.  I listened to the mp3, entered the giveaway, and won.  I was, alas, unable to attend the concert (last-minute work stuff plus exhaustion), but the cd, The Chaos in Order, is quite good.  It will soon find its way into my indie playlists.

what I saw on my spring vacation

I have returned from the South, for a second round of earlyish spring.  There will be lots of pictures after I get my film (yes, film!) developed and digitized, but, for now, here's a picture of the yarn store I passed.

It was closed, or I would've at least gone in to investigate further, but it looked more like a cheesy ceramics store than a yarn store from the windows.  Still, it's a great sign. 

electronics

I am not doing well with electronics right now.  My computer is at the shop, hopefully to return soon with its ability to recharge restored.  (My phone is having intermittent problems that resemble the logic board issues that my old computer had, my kitchen light isn't working (not electronic, maybe, but electrical), my iPod is mostly okay but slowly wearing out of battery, such that it quits fairly quickly in the cold....) 

At least my knitting needles and spinning wheel are still being nice to me.  I've been doing a bit more spinning, I've added a bit to my freeform blanket, and I'm halfway through the first chart in the Peacock Feathers Shawl.  (The Diamond Fantasy Shawl is stalled as I try to decide how much bigger I want to make it and what to use as a supplement for the original four ounces of bfl if I need such a supplement.)

And I did get to wake up to snow and no public-radio fundraising this morning, even if the snow is already slushy and icky.