Embossed Leaves Socks

{ Tuesday, October 16, 2007 }

Embossed Leaves Socks
Originally uploaded by Kraftykay

Purple leaves to (not quite) match the gold and yellow ones starting to drop from the trees.

The pattern is Embossed leaves socks by Mona Schmidt from the Winter 2005 issue of Interweave Knits. I knit these on US 1 Clover DPNs out of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn in a color which I believe is called Grapevine.

When I started planning this project, I decided that I would knit these socks toe up, allowing me to try them on as I went, thus avoiding the need to knit a gauge swatch. I really like the way the leaves are oriented; however, so I planned to alter the lace pattern to have the leaves point the same way even even I knit them in the opposite direction. It seemed simple enough, but after three tries, I had to admit defeat! What was coming off my needles bore no resemblences whatsoever to either the picture in the magazine or the chart in the pattern. I'm certain that this is doable, but its going to take a bit more than just knitting the chart from top to bottom rather than bottom to top. Maybe I'll still work on that with some scrap yarn, but I wanted to move forward with this project.

In the end, I knit the pattern exactly as written--top down with no modifications. They fit wonderfully and I'm very happy with how they turned out. (And I'm pleased with my decision to hold off on the photo shoot until I had some natural lighting--you can actually see the leaves in the picture!) I knit a good portion of these socks during the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival over the summer and they bring a smile to my face when I remember knitting them and camping at the festival with my sweetie.

The arrival of fall also has me yearning to be in the kitchen. I love to wake up early on a brisk day, get out the pots and pans, and cook the day away! Lately, I've been trying to master Indian food--specifically Palak Paneer, one of my favorite dishes. Since the first of the year, I've been eating a vegetarian and mostly vegan diet and I'm determined to make a vegan version of this dish indistinguishable from the classic one.

The recipe itself is simple enough--cook up spinach, tomato, green chilies and some spices until wilted, then process until smooth. Using clarified butter, fry up onions with more spices, then add spinach mixture along with fried paneer (Indian cheese). Tofu sustitutes easily for the cheese, which doesn't melt and has a similar texture to tofu, and I've been substituting oil for the butter, but the whole thing turns out a little flat. A posting on fatfreevegan.com suggests that the butter adds a richness which may be what I'm missing. The author substitutes soy yogurt, but reports that the results still aren't quite right. I'm thinking I'll try her version and maybe add a little vegan margarine for good measure. Hopefully, that will do the trick!

About Me

{ Tuesday, October 09, 2007 }
I'm a 30-something lesbian who has finally learned to embrace her femme identity (but that doesn't mean I don't know how to use power tools!). I love to knit, cook, decorate and am always up for any kind of crafty endeavor. I'm a vegetarian, treehugging liberal.

About three years ago, I landed my dream job and moved to southern Connecticut. Shortly thereafter, I met the love of my life. Not wanting to waste any time, we quickly got married and our first child (the bean) arrived in June, 2009. Motherhood has changed me in ways I could never have imagined and I'm loving every minute of it. I now work part-time outside the home and am a part-time stay-at-home mom.

My partner (referred to around here as "the boy" or "the sweetie") defies gender categorization.

A gradual descent into a life you never meant

{ Wednesday, October 03, 2007 }
This is one of my favorite lines from this song. It always makes me think about how easily you can let your life get off track and become something or someone that you never intended. This is what happened to me. I woke up one day and realized I wasn't happy and that sitting around complaining about it wasn't making me feel any better.

Most everything in my life has changed in one way or the other over the past year and I've learned so much from the transformation. I am incredibly happy. I feel like I am back to being myself and my life is back to how I want it to be. I am seeing someone (who I alternately refer to as my "sweetie" and "the boy") who has brought so much love and compassion into my life. I'm learning that change is not always a bad thing!

Beginning again

{ Sunday, September 23, 2007 }
I've debated for a long time about what to do with this space. I first abandoned it because my life became too hectic for me to keep up with posting. Then, literally everything in my life changed within the span of a few short months and it was all too much for me to get my head around. I wasn't crafting or knitting and the events of my personal life just seemed too surreal to talk about. Now that the figurative dust has settled, I'm a completely different person (or maybe I'm the person I used to be) and it seems like re-introductions are in order, but I honestly wouldn't know where to begin.

So . . . I've chosen to just dive right back in. My hiatus (from crafting and cooking and blogging about it) is over and I have a lot of exciting things to talk about. I am expanding my culinary horizons and plan to spend the winter making Asian foods--starting first with Indian and Thai.

Of course, this weekend, its hard to imagine that winter is nearly upon us. The last few weeks, I've felt the first snowfall lurking around the corner and I'm convinced that the past few days have been the very last of the nice weather days, at least for this year. Unfortunately, a back injury has kept me shut in the house, lying flat on my back for the entire weekend. While this has been perfect for getting caught up on reading and knitting, I had hoped to be outside enjoying the sun! Thankfully, ice and rest have improved my situation and I'm able to at least get out of bed and walk down the hall without being reduced to tears. Hopefully by tomorrow, I'll be able to explore the world outside these four walls, at which time I will block and photograph the lovely new socks I just cast off my needles. Until then, its back to sweater knitting (because in a few weeks, winter WILL be upon us) and menu planning and maybe I'll have some pictures to show as well!