swatches and other surprises

Remember all the swatches I mentioned I would be knitting, earlier in the month? Well, no reason why I can't talk up these new yarns here, that I know of, so here's the first installment.

I was so enthusiastic about Lorna's Lace's new organic Merino wool that I knit these pixie mittens. One will go to the TNNA Convention for all the yarn shops to touch and admire. (My mitten will serve as a swatch...)

The other will be sent off to the Lorna's Laces folks, to thank them for letting me use their yarns, and maybe help me make a new contact? Hence, my image here is a bit obscure, but the knitting was fab. Worsted weight yarn, roughly 4 sts to the inch on an 8, and a nice bloom to this yarn once it goes for its little blocking bath. It does bleed a bit--I hope they'll iron that one out before it goes on sale to everybody. No links yet--this yarn is brand new. Next post, I'll tell you about another new yarn. (got to draw out the suspense, huh?)



Almost immediately after going off my antibiotic, I felt like eating again. Here's a peach and apple bread pudding, dotted with brown sugar and pecans. Complete list of ingredients? frozen peaches, two apples, leftover challah cut into chunks, 3 eggs, 1 cup of vanilla soy milk (we were eating this with meat), margarine, some relevant spices (baking spices, including cinnamon) and those pecans and brown sugar. Mmmh good...tasted better than it looks, I think.

Still running a bit of a low fever and feeling hazy, but not much worse either. I guess I just wait now and see if my body heals up, while I enjoy eating again...

My friend Jan sent me a fun present--she's from the upper Midwest, so sent me both a Lewish and Clark cookbook and some authentic wild rice. She's doing research in Hawaii, so the box itself, and the macadamia nuts with chocolate came from there! Here's Harry, sniffing the loot before I moved it to a dog-safe location...


I'm off to dinner. The professor cooked, so I could write to y'all. Thanks for all your warm well-wishes!! I hope all of you who observe that holiday on Dec. 25th have a meaningful one!