spice

Here's a photo-heavy post of the goings-on here. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, I am trying hard to get all my knitting designs up at Ravelry, but what's this database like?
The professor went on a butterfly collecting jaunt. He went to a biological preserve nearby. He was in a field, and fell into a 3 foot deep sinkhole. He is ok. That is a real sinkhole, but Ravelry is a metaphoric one! You could fall in and never get out. If you've wandered over here from Ravelry, say hello in the comments, by the way!

This is some handspun I've worked up recently. The turquoise is lofty worsted weight Romney-cross (?I think? or Cotswold?)--250 yards and the burgundy and blue is fingering to sportsweight Cotswold. I offer the close ups so that those of us who need a little yarn fix can check it out!

I spun the first full skein of Finn lamb wool, roughly sportsweight. I talked about this in a post in August. It's good that I'm teasing each lock of wool--there are some bits of lamb fleece that are tippy. This means they break off and could cause pilling. By teasing each lock, I pull off any tippy bits and make this come alive. I was hoping to knit this into Selbuvotter mittens but now I'm wondering if the texture will look good in that complicated a pattern. I'm not giving up the texture of this, it's luminous.

On the knitting front, Thermal is cruising along and is very enjoyable. I love the yarn--it's a machine-washable fingering weight yarn called Merino Bambino, and I bought it in Australia in 2004. It's made by Cleckheaton, but sadly not imported to the USA. I had to mail order 5 extra skeins from Oz to be sure I had enough. I may have to adjust the bust area of the pattern an inch or two--I think I sadly underestimated, uhh, those parts. I'd knitted several inches before I took out the tape measure (this design fits very snugly) and remembered my actual measurements. Oops. No way I'm ripping out that many stitches. I like knitting...but not that much.

What makes life interesting? Lots of spice...tangibly good touches, smells and tastes. We've still got very warm temperatures here, and I may have to wait until we start going to fiber festivals again in October to see and smell the spiciness of Autumn leaves. In the meanwhile, a dinner guest brought us these zinnias, and I couldn't resist shooting a still life of dining room autumn shades. (nope, still haven't framed my sister-in-law's painting, but I still love it!)

In the real spices department, I depend on mail order and Kalustyans for the things I just can't get here. This is: Ras El Hanout (Morrocan spice mixture that is great for tagines and couscous), Za'atar (thyme, sesame seeds and other spices, perfect for salad dressings, roast chicken or homemade breads)-I like the Lebanese kind, but there are many different blends, Aleppo Pepper (not as spicy as cayenne) and Sumac. (lemony astringent red powder, great for fattoush or other salads.)

Oddly, this place also sells my favorite soap. This is dense, pure olive oil soap that doesn't cause my sensitive skin to have any allergic reactions. I bought it the first time when I was at college and 13+ years later? This is still the only soap that never causes me problems. Plus? $6.99 for a kilo. You can't beat the price, and it smells good.

I think it's little things that make life good...and spicy, right?!