I've been knitting...

I know it's been a while since yarn appeared here, but I have been knitting! With this past weekend being Comfest (our first one, and yes, it lived up to the hype), I fit in a little bit of knitting time in the park.

This is my third pair of Pomatomus socks, in Fleece Artist Nova sock yarn, which you have seen before (I have been ultra indecisive about what pattern to knit and kept ripping it out - it's been a few inches of Monkeys, Jaywalkers...) Finally, it was Pomatomus again..I just love this pattern! It's so fun to and interesting to knit. It looks complicated, but it's actually fairly easy to memorize big chunks of the pattern so you can keep knitting without referring back to the chart all the time. Hmm. Now that I think of it, I probably chose this pattern unconsciously to prove to myself that I wasn't really chart-dumb.

Let me tell you about Elspeth. She is a pretty little shrug by Rowan, and would have looked lovely worn with summer dresses, and so...a perfect vacation project. Little did I know what a beast of a knit this was. Turns out, I couldn't even get past the third row, and row 1 & 2 were just stockinette! I was always a stitch short, no matter how many times I cast on and carefully counted. I had to abandon it, glaring at it a few times a week, knowing that it was just sitting there in my suitcase. When I returned, a google search revealed that zillions of other knitters have also had major problems with Elspeth. Hah! Not so dumb after all. But, most people seem to have gotten at least past row 3. So, until I feel motivated enough to conquer this little monster, it's going to go back to the stash.

Aside from Comfesting this past weekend, I went craft shopping with Z.Knits and picked up some cute quilting fabric for a secret project, and some keychain rings for doodads I'm making in jewelry class. We did a little shopping at Trader Joe's and bought these pretty pink peonies. Then, just for fun, we re-arranged the whole living room. I like it better than the old set up, and have been spending more time sitting by the window. Gatsby is now fighting me for the best spot in the room.

Today I spent most of the afternoon standing by the stove, poaching these little gnocchi guys. I've been cooking quite a bit this week - roast chicken, stock-making, gnocchi-making. Originally, I borrowed the Thomas Keller Bouchon cookbook from the library just to admire the pretty pictures, but decided I felt brave enough to try cooking a few things from it. The simple roast chicken (very, very good) was made with just salt, pepper, and oil. Then today I made the herbed gnocchi recipe, which resulted in a shocking 320 pieces (that's 180 pieces more than the recipe stated - something clearly went wrong) of fluffy gnocchi that will probably be feeding us into the winter. They were very tasty, especially after you brown them in butter and serve them with fresh herbs and sauteed veggies.

What's in store this week: Watching more Michael Palin. Making keychains. Doing pottery. Helping with my first wedding cake. Cooking out of the Bouchon cookbook. And celebrating my first fourth of July.