Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Its March already?!

Once a month blogging... so much for my plan to start blogging more frequently this year!

This past weekend Darcy and I headed out to Abbotsford for our now annual visit to FibresWest, a two-day event for knitters, weavers, and other fibre artists.  There were more exhibitors this year compared to last year, but since many of them were selling roving of various types**, I was able to be very reserved with my purchases.  SO reserved, in fact, that this was all I bought:
Two 900-yard cones of Harrisville Shetland 4-ply yarn.  I got this stuff on a great deal because as I was looking at one cone, I noticed that it had a small hole in it - the kind it gets from being stabbed by a pointy box-opener.  I showed it to the stall owner, and after determining that it only went through about half the cone, she agreed to sell it to me for half price - which meant I was able to buy 1800 yards of wool for only $36 - YAY!  (I have such a weakness for yarn on cones... I think I really need to get my hands on a knitting machine soon!).  I have yet to decide if I'll knit this all single strand (after spit joining together all the pieces of that one cone, of course!) or if I'll hold it double.  There are some very pretty 4-ply weight jumpers out there, and it seems about the right weight of a sweater to get me through Vancouver's chilly spring.

Not a lot else going on here these days.  I made my favourite veggie lasagna for dinner yesterday, and had every intention of photographing the process to post it here... but this is the only photo I got: 
baked eggplant and a mix of sauteed mushrooms and onions, each of which become their own layer in the lasagna pan.  I use those oven-ready noodles now, which makes life so much easier (I always remember my mom making lasagna with boiled noodles, struggling to keep the noodles from breaking, while also not burning herself!), but I can't help but think that the extra tomato sauce they require ends up overpowering the whole dish.  Yes, lasagna is supposed to be tomato-y, but I think it ends up covering up the veggie flavours (and there's the fact that I don't really love tomatos or their sauce).  Maybe next time I'll try using the fresh pasta sheets instead.  (For my UK friends, I don't make lasagna with white sauce... I think that's a British thing, because I'd never seen that till I moved to Newcastle!).

I think I'm on a bit of a food thing this week.  After watching my co-worker crochet a very pretty silk baby hat, I decided it was time I did a little more crocheting.  And what did I decide to make?  Food!  

A sandwich...

Some chicken dinner...
And now I'm on to a side salad.  Except I think I'm a little over-zealous with my crocheting - after spending Saturday and Sunday evenings working on it, I woke up yesterday with aching hands and forearms!  I think today I will have to look up how to do pre- and post-knitting/crocheting exercises, to try and keep my arm muscles from becoming relaxed...  when I was a kid I used to get a "Nintendo-controller claw" from playing too many video games - now its crochet claw!  :)


**For those not in the know, roving is unspun fibre that has yet to be spun into yarn.  I am officially forbidden to bring home a spinning wheel, so all that fibre remains off-limits for me!  :)


PS: I just downloaded the Blogger Mobile App... maybe that will help me to start posting more often!

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