Knit With The TV On

Thanks for all of the nice comments about my B. I told Stinkerbelle that you all thought that her Broccoli Pasta sounded good and it made her day.(It doesn't take much sometimes) She was so happy that she did a little fist pumping "Whoop!"

As Carole said yesterday, secret knitting projects like Sock madness test-knitting don't really make for great blog fodder. I'll post more about this and other test knits over on the Sock Madness blog soon but I really love this sock so I thought I'd share an itty bitty sneak peek.

Other stuff I'm working on if either a surprise for someone or not quite ready for public viewing. On the postitive side, many of these projects are nearing completion so I suspect that there will be a parade of finished objects at some point.

One of the things that if helping me maintain steady progress on all of my active projects are the shows I've been watching. I haven't been affected by the writers strike as much as I thought I would. Project Runway is still fun. I thought that I liked Rami at first but now I'm not so sure. L&O has finally started a new season and in an unexpected but pleasant twist, Dexter, which appears on a pay channel that I don't get, is going to be shown on network tv starting on February 17th. Yay!

There is one new tv obsession that is kind of unexpected. Masterpiece! As a kid, my parents would watch it and I dismissed it as an adult show. No thank you! Someone mentioned recently that they are showing The Complete Jane Austen so I settled in to watch it a few weeks ago and, to my surprise, DQ joined me. She asked what it was and, as I explained the types of stories J.A wrote - young women searching for love - I realized that they are perfect for the tween set. DQ loves it so much that she demanded that I not watch without her and she is taking the books out of the library. It's so nice to share it with her.

B is for...

Big, as in the size of this post. Really, it could've been for lot's of things. Bathroom for example. I could've been showing you the second bathroom at long last except, all these months later, it's not quite done yet. There are 2 key details missing and who knows when they'll be completed because my friend who's been doing the work is busy with his daughter's Bat Mitzvah. Actually Bat Mitzvah could be the perfect B because DQ's is just a year away and very much on my mind.

B could also stand for books like these from the library I manage. These may look familiar because they are the case reporters that are used as a backdrop for so many legal shows and commercials for lawyers. They are what librarians refer to as a space hog, taking up lot's of room and not getting much use since most cases these days are pulled from an online vendor. I'd like to see most of these gone.

I feel much more affection for my collection of knitting books or any of the other books in my house. And you probably thought that all I stashed was yarn. Not even close! I have countless books that I've bought because I just had to read it right away and then I didn't. I don't stash books intentionally but I will admit that I've had a totally irrational fear since childhood that I would run out of stuff to read. Yes, it's crazy but true.

As you can see, I had lot's of inspiration for B but, believe it or not, B is for Broccoli. I have loved it since I was very little and today, it's the only veggie that everyone in my house will eat. They might not all eat the whole thing - DQ likes the stalks and Stinky likes the flowers but makes a great big deal about how she eats the whole thing now - but they all eat it so it makes the shopping list every single week. Often we just steam it but frequently it gets special treatment and becomes one of Stinkerbelle's favorite meals... Broccoli Pasta! She requests it at least once a week and loves to help me make it. Grating the cheese is her favorite job. When she was younger, she would pick out the sun dried tomatoes but recently she's developed a taste for them and now she adds them to other things she eats. Wanna make some yourself?

Broccoli Pasta

One bunch of broccoli (2 if you love it as much as we do) cut up into roughly 1-2 inch pieces
One block of Parmesan Cheese (enough to produce about 1 to 1.5 cups grated)
One package of penne pasta
Minced garlic
Sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil (julienned)
A pinch of salt

Here's the rough instructions on how it's made.

Boil a large pot of water with a little bit of salt. When it comes to a boil, add the pasta.

Put the sun dried tomatoes (about 1/4 cup depending on your taste) in a large pan with a bit of the oil they were packed in and the equivalent of a few cloves of garlic. I use about 4. Move it around the pan to coat the bottom. The oil will keep things from sticking and help to spread the flavor of the sun-dried tomatoes.

Grate the parmesan cheese while you watch the pasta. When it's not quite al dente, add the broccoli to the pot. It will only be in there about 2-3 minutes. At this point start a low flame under the pan to heat up the sun-dried tomatoes and garlic. You can add just a little bit of parmesan to the pan too.

Scoop the broccoli out of the pot and move it to the heated pan with the sun-dried tomatoes etc. It tends to stay on the top of the pot of boiling water so it's easy to scoop it out using a bamboo handled strainer like this. Mix it with the contents of the pan to coat well before adding the pasta. Keep folding it over and mixing it up while adding pinches of cheese periodically until the edges of the pasta start to be a little golden and most of the cheese is melted.

Serve with a sprinkle of cheese on top and enjoy!

Over Committed

I feel a little like one of those poor, over-programmed kids right now. You know what I mean, the kids with a different activity every day of the week plus five on Saturday. So overwhelmed and yet unable to take a breath and stop for fear of falling behind.

I had such plans for all that I was going to do in January and now it's almost over and I can see exactly how overly ambitious my plans really were. I was going to make a Sahara for myself in time to wear it this weekend. Thankfully I have a closet full og clothes because Sahara isn't ready yet. I'm just starting the waist increases and, as hubbo noted the other night, I haven't made the sleeves yet. Maybe it will be ready to wear to the next event which is 2 weeks away.

Most of what's occupying my time is secret. The mystery hat is moving along but nowhere near ready. I'd love to have it and another pair of gift slippers ready for Valentine's day. That could work. The other secret knitting is test knitting patterns for Sock Madness 2. We wound up with 12 patterns to consider and I've tried out 2 of them so far. Another 5 have been, or are being, tested by Carole, Felicia and volunteers. Of course other aspects of SM2 are occupying my time too. It takes so much to get it all assembled and running smoothly.

The little red baby sweater is making slow progress. It would be nice to get it to the baby while it still fits and since I'm making the 12 month size for a baby that's only about 3 weeks old this seems doable. I love this pattern. Look at the little leaves in the ribbing. Details like that are what makes a pattern really fabulous. I'll need to find the perfect buttons to do it justice.

What I haven't done at all this month is spin. I really want to but right now all I can do is gaze longingly at Charlotte while I sit and knit. One of these nights I'm going to flip out and dive into my fiber stash. It'll probably scare the family when it happens. I'm sure that it'll feel really good though.