Rhubarb Cobbler & Crazy Pie

Now that it's really and truly spring I've been feeling so rejuvenated. I feel happier and more energetic, more like my old self. And I have to admit that I've been having certain... cravings. Fruit cravings. I noticed that rhubarb was on sale at the grocery, and I still have some raspberries in the freezer from last summer so yesterday I made a raspberry-rhubarb cobbler.



It's my first cobbler but it turned out pretty good. Cobbler is, to me, sort of mythical and intimidating partly because I didn't really grow up eating it and partly because it requires making a dough. And that makes me think of pie dough, which is fussy and time consuming and sort of, well, formal. In the world of down-home baked goods nothing is more formal than a pie. But cobblers, oh! I am now a cobbler convert. Not only is the dough much faster and easier to make but it was also tastier. And the fruit part was simple too. All in all it took less than an hour. And it's F'ing delicious. Cobbler > Pie. And more fun to say.

I've managed to do a little gardening this week. I planted half my cilantro and basil seeds, and I planted the two Cascade hops rhizomes I ordered. Everything got lots of rain yesterday and it's all getting plenty of sun today, so that's a great start. When the night time temperatures get a little warmer I'll plant some chiles and tomatoes from the farmer's market. I can't wait. Anyone else gardening?

Now, the crazy pie. Yes, I've been partaking of the crazy pie recently. It helped me make this:




Yes, folks, that's a whole bunch of yarn that I spun and plied on a drop spindle. For those of you keeping track at home, drop spindles are ancient tools and they are slow. And that's a lotta yarn. But that's how I did it. And I've started spinning even more yarn on the drop spindle. More crazy pie? Yes, please.

Something Sunday

I've been a bad yarn blogger. What can I say? I had stuff to do this week.

YARN. OF. THE. DAY.


Another yarn procured from the Yarn Garage in Rosemount, MN. I have no idea, anymore, who made this yarn or how many yards it is. I have no idea what I'm going to make with it, or when. And I don't much care. It's pink and it's handspun and it's a little crazy, and that's enough for me. I'm a sucker when it comes to handspun.

It does remind me, a little, of the Elephant Bugbite yarn that I used last year to make a nice soft scarf for Chiara. Now THAT was a good yarn! It was gray (the elephant), with similar pinks here and there (the bugbites), and it was spun really unevenly so it had a lot of mismatched texture when I knit it up. This yarn isn't quite as soft as that one was, but it has the same kind of chunky bumpy handspun aesthetic.

Today it is raining raining raining, and it has been for hours and hours. It's raining hard too, none of this "light misting" you hear about up here. Nico and I are wrapped in blankets, huddled in front of space heaters to keep warm. There's hot coffee and books to read. There's a chicken brining in the fridge, and tonight I will stuff and roast it. I have to admit that, aside from the current lack of nice furniture and the throbbing infection on my foot, this is pretty much how I imagined domestic life after school would be.

And the lack of nice furniture thing won't be an issue forever. Why, just this week I bought a nice couch from a place here in town. Of course, now they have to order the couch from LaZBoy, and it will take 2 months to get here, but it's on its way. And it's red.

Ew, it's all sticky!

Yes, so I missed a day with the whole yarn-of-the-day idea. Oh well.



Today's yarn is three hanks of Sheep Shop Yarn in the G148 colorway. Pretty exciting, huh? I got this last weekend when Nico and I went and spent a day in Portland. We wandered up and down Alberta St. and of course I discovered Close Knit. I think Nico got a little bored waiting for me to finish drooling over all the yarn. Eventually, though, I did decide on these three skeins plus a fourth skein of the same stuff but in bright orange. The plan is to use this yarn to make myself a nice, big, warm scratchy wool scarf. With an autumn leaves theme. t first I thought the brown would be like branches and the orange I would knit and felt in leaves, which I would then stitch to the scarf. I'm not so sure now.

At the yarn shop I also bought three little plastic buttons that are shaped and painted like gophers in mid-dash. I've never seen dashing-gopher-buttons before. I love them. And I bought a little Lantern Moon sweater keychain as an extra for an upcoming yarn swap.

At this point I'm sure you're asking yourself, what's all sticky?

OK. Yesterday at the library a patron came up holding one of the plastic magazine binders (with a fresh copy of Redbook inside), and complained that it "had something on it." Not only did it have something on it, but it was also kind of wet. Why was it wet? It wasn't raining outside, and even if it was that magazine shouldn't have left the building. So why was it wet? It is a mystery.

Now, a quick note about the difference between being a librarian and working at a used book store, ahem, Bookman's. At Bookman's if a customer had come up to us with a sticky book or magazine, we would have shrugged, grimaced, and thrown it away. At the library, we actually have to clean the damn thing off. So I took it in the back and tried 409'ing it. That didn't work, becase yes, it was sticky. So I rubbed some Goo Gone on it, and then 409'ed it again for goot measure.

They don't tell you about this shit in library school. And why would they? "There's something sticky... @ the library!" doesn't sound too appealing.

Black Alpaca

Today's yarn:



4 skeins of black alpaca, purchased from the owners of the alpaca herself at the last Estrella. They told a sad tale of how this particular lady alpaca was unable to bear baby alpacas, and since alpacas are shorn for their wool only once a year this made her more expensive than she was worth. The couple said they donated her to Washington University and that this was some of the last of her wool. I had, and still have, the intention of making Nico a nice soft pair of fingerless mitts with this yarn. This is some of the yarn that will be lucky enough to be used this year. In fact, it's the next knitting project on my list.

I had the opportunity at the beginning of the summer to explain to one of my nieces what an alpaca is. She knew what a llama was, and so I told her that an alpaca is like a llama, only smaller and with softer fur. She seemed pretty impressed.

Today's Yarn

Two skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the Icehouse colorway. I got these while visiting MN over Christmas last year, from the Yarn Garage (!) in Rosemount. At the time I had only completed a single sock but I was beginning to appreciate the beauty of sock yarn, and I had big plans. I was also beguiled by the name of the colorway and the general magic of being in a colder climate. Bev offered to buy them for me and I tried to imagine the finished socks on my feet, in a drawer, or posing on top of a pile of huge iceblocks while a pleasantly muscled man, an icehouse worker, labors and sweats nearby.

Today the Icehouse yarn waits patiently in the center of the stash. It's not the oldest sock yarn I have, and certainly not the youngest. Someday I will sit down and make a bunch of socks just for me, and I imagine that this yarn will be first on the list.