I was heading down to Charleston, South Carolina, last weekend for the graduation festivities for my cousin Meaghan. I’m closest to Meaghan of all my cousins, despite the age difference, so I wanted something a little special. Since she went to College of Charleston, right there near the beach (college? at the beach?! oh how different our experiences were), the fish-scaly qualities of Pomatomus seemed all too fitting. Also, her mother’s side of her family generates ginormous feet, so there was no way I’d have time or energy to knit socks.

My friend Gina Wilde outdoes herself whenever she takes dye to yarn, but I can’t tell you how much I love this colorway—Koi Pond—in this yarn—Alchemy Yarns of Transfomation Bamboo. The sheen of bamboo coupled with the ruby reds and fiery oranges, all married together with the twisted ribs? A veritable orgy of perfection.

Details after the jump.

Nereid Fingerless Mitts (or a variation on the Mermaid Gloves) (or, really, just a variation on Pomatomus, because I only rudimentarily used the guidance of the Nereids)

Yarn: Alchemy Yarns of Transformation Bamboo, colorway Koi Pond
Skeins: 1 (with very little leftover!)
Needles: Addi Turbo US size 3
Started: Sunday, May 5
Finished: Tuesday, May 7
Notes: Like I said, it was only a loose following of the patterns, mostly because my yarn was a larger gauge than sock yarn. I used size 3 needles and only had 4 pattern repeats around the mitts for an average-sized glove. They fit me, they fit the recipient, they fit her mom . . . pretty much any woman who tried them on was able to wear them fine (I was a little worried about the thumbhole, but no one would admit that it was tight when I asked). And now they’re all requesting pairs for themselves.

My thumb gussets aren’t exactly what any of the patterns give, but they’re close (a thumb gusset is a thumb gusset, really) and as you can see they maintain the twisted rib. I just increased until I had what seemed like a good number of stitches. (With this yarn and this gauge, that number was 12. When I picked up stitches to knit the thumb I added 4 to close the gap at the top.)

No other fancy variations.

I adore them, and am pretty sad to see them go. It’s my only skein of that yarn, and I’m pretty lucky one skein of bamboo can make one whole pair of mitts. Though bamboo won’t make her hands overly warm, they’ll be perfect for a chilly office setting. My cousin heads into the Real World starting this fall, so this is a big welcome to the world of over-airconditioned offices and droning computer work! Ah, to be a grownup at last.

Photos taken on the beach at Isle of Palms, South Carolina. Ahhhh, a weekend at the beach was so nice.

There was also another secret project, and I can tell you guys about it now, but it’s not directly knitting so it will wait.

Happily, I was working on some secret knitting that I can now share.

The pattern is my own—and is not what I’d originally intended. The legs of the socks were supposed to be an intricate, elaborate, jaw-dropping design of interlocking cables. I’d charted dozens of variations, settled on my favorite, and knit it up. But the dang things wouldn’t fit over my heel—even though I’d added stitches in order to accommodate that! I do know how physics works!—and so I had to simplify, or else I never would have hit the sock swap deadline.

As they are, the cable is Hartshorn from Barbara Walker vol II, and I may yet write these up for public consumption. It was fiddly to get the dang things to work, so you may well need some guidance. My tentative name, already dubbed on Ravelry, is Spidey Sense. I’ll of course let you all know when I’ve worked out the buggers for various sizes—these are quite tailored to the recipient’s feet (luckily, the same size as mine).

The yarn is Neighborhood Fiber Company. The color here is not as vibrant or “green” as it was on the skein—when I washed them, blue dye started pouring out and didn’t really ever stop. In fact, it stained the drain on my bathroom sink bright blue and even left blue stains on the towel that I set them out to dry on. Perhaps if you’re using this brand of yarn, a vinegar rinse would be in order. Also, at the center of the skein (I knit the two semi-simultaneously from opposite ends of the ball) there were a lot of jagged spots in the yarn—areas with little bits hanging off that looked as if the yarn had been broken and felted back together or something. I don’t know what that was about. In some cases I skipped ahead in order to avoid the questionable parts, weaving in additional ends, and in others I just knit on, tucking the stray bits to the inside. I hope that wasn’t a foolish decision.

If I can set aside what I wanted them to be and take them for what they are, I have to admit, I totally love them! I hope Sukyong, who unfortunately couldn’t be at the sock swap party to receive them in person, does too. They went in the mail yesterday!

Solid orange Koigu, y’all. Be still my beating heart. I didn’t even express my distaste for variegateds in the survey, but she saw straight to my true nature. The pattern, 9 to 5, is by Nicole Hindes and the pair fit me perfectly. Thanks again so very much, Annmarie! I’m also happy that by happenstance I sat next to you and we got to chat.

Other socks given showed really amazing work—Chante could “only” get through 1 intensely argyled knee sock, so the girl knit a whole other pair for Carolyn. Jane hand-spun and hand-painted the yarn she used for Virginia’s socks. I was duly impressed with all the socks—and I think my love for knitting has been totally reinvigorated.

We all gathered ’round for a group feet shot. Because I don’t have a wider angle lens (sigh . . .) there was no possible way to get all the feet in at once for me (unless I’d been up on some kind of crane, which I did not have on hand, and even then my foot wouldn’t have been in, unless it was the focus and everyone else was in bokeh . . . but I digress). You can see the whole group in the shot Anne-Marie took here. But what I was able to capture—and which definitely makes up for the lack of a circle of feet—is how closely we were jammed up against each other, and also how much fun we had!

I’ll tell you about the socks I knit soon—I just put mine in the mail today, because my pal couldn’t be at the party.

Who wants to help me finance the purchase of one? :)

Time to knit this skirt: 2 weeks.

Time to weave in the (many) ends: 2.5 hours.

Time between finishing the knitting and finishing the finishing: 4 months.

When I left for Singapore for Christmas, I brought my skeins of Tess Designer Yarns Superwash Merino, my size 8 needles, and a photocopy of the pattern. My goal was to finish it while on vacation. As it turne dout, I finished up the knitting while on my flights back, and I even went so far as to block it in a jet-lagged hazed at 3:45 the morning I returned home.

I chalked it up to a success, because I had finished the hard part! But then it sat. In truth, it sat in a crumpled heap at the bottom of my closet. But finally, this past weekend, I got my act together and wove in all the ends. Unfortunately, I was about 4 days too late to have Lolly photograph the FO, which really would have been awesome—if only because exactly one year ago I finished my Shocking Skirt and she photographed it for me. We were on a photo-taking rampage last week anyway! Oh well, I made do by myself in the subway.

Snapping Turtle Skirt
Knitting Nature, by Norah Gaughan
Yarn: Tess Designer Yarns Superwash Merino
Skeins: 1.25
Size: 34″
Modifications: Rather than the zipper, which I think would have been ultimately nonfunctional, I attached each successive row of hexagons continuously so there would be no seam, and then instead of the little rolled waistband, I knit for 9 rows and made a casing for some 1/2-inch elastic.

More skirts are in my future—hopefully more than once a year!

I definitely love the skirt, though it hugs every curve. Luckily, I like my curves.

Since finishing my batch of brownies, I’ve been woefully devoid of breakfast foods here. Muffins—the perfect straddler of the dessert/breakfast food worlds—seemed a good choice, so I turned to my trusty muffin cookbook, which I swear no one else in the world owns, but which I got as a gift and consistently turns out reliably good muffins, Mad About Muffins, and looked to see what I might be able to make without leaving the apartment.

I was lucky that the Asparagus Wild Mushroom Bread Pudding had called for milk and that it was still good, because otherwise I really never have milk in the house, and I wouldn’t have been able to throw these together so quickly. And it’s true that the recipe actually calls for chopped dates and I didn’t have any, so I just upped the quantity of raisins and used the dried apricots I had on hand. (Dates may well make this muffin moister, so I’d like to try it with them.)

All in all, I’m pretty pleased. They definitely tend toward the dry side, but when served warm with some butter, they’ve got that kind of scone/muffin quality that’s really nice. They’re nothing like the cream scones I made a few weeks ago, which were heavy and moist and absolutely decadent. These are the type that’s dry but studded with flavorful dried fruit, sliced almonds, and the key ingredient, coconut flake. I had only unsweetened coconut flake on hand (the recipe doesn’t specify), so the flavor is light—and because I’m not overly into sweet things (despite what posts here might indicate to the contrary!), I didn’t add any additional sugar. But if you make them, know that they are not very sweet. Some other suggestions for upping moisture and adding flavor include: soaking the raisins in rum beforehand to plump further; using cream instead of milk; using packaged shredded coconut rather than dry coconut flake.

There are definitely better recipes in this cookbook, which perhaps I’ll share with you the next time I cook from it, but these were great, if only because I made them without having to leave the house—and now I have breakfast for the next 11 days!

Coconut Muffins

1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sliced almonds
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons coconut
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped dates (Note: I used diced dried apricots)
1 egg
1/2 cup milk (Note: I would use cream in the future—or—ooh!—coconut milk!)
1/4 cup plus 2 teaspoons firmly packed brown sugar
5 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Heat oven to 375. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the 1/2 cup almonds, 1 cup coconut, raisins, and dates. In another bowl, beat the egg, milk, 1/4 cup brown sugar, and 3 tablespoons of the melted butter. Stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture until just moistened.

Spoon the batter into greased muffin tins. Sprinkle with a mixture consisting of 2 tablespoons almonds, 2 tablespoons coconut, 2 tablespoons melted butter, 2 teaspoons brown sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon. (Note: I would recommend more of this, and pressing it into the muffins before baking, otherwise it all falls off.) Bake for 25 minutes (Note: I would go only 20) or until a tester comes out clean. Makes one dozen muffins.

Since it’s spring, asparagus is on the brain, and the Asparagus and Wild Mushroom Bread Pudding seemed to leap off the page at me. I had to drop everything and make it as soon as I could. It sounded like a perfect brunch/light supper/room temp entree. I would make this for any pot luck in the future.

Usually I say that everything I make or cook is easy (this is no exception—nothing was hard), but it’s worth noting that there are a lot of steps and you dirty a ton of tools, as you steep the milk, blanch the asparagus, saute the mushrooms and shallots, and then mix it all together in something big before putting it in the baking dish. It’s a great improvising dish, so you can easily make it your own.

But I don’t want to get ahead of myself. You start with the bread.

Now, I don’t know where the flour, sesame seeds, and whatnot are from, but the loaf was baked at a bakery around the corner. It was so good and smelled so heavenly, I slathered the ends in butter and snacked on them while preparing the rest of this meal. It’s best stale, but this was freshly made that morning, so I sliced it up thick and lightly toasted it in the oven before tearing it up and soaking it in the garlic-steeped milk. The recipe calls for a head of green garlic, but I just smashed 3 cloves of garlic.

The asparagus was marked “local,” and the mushrooms are from Kennett Square (as they should be), which, while not truly local, is only 2 hours away.

After cooking the veggies, everything gets mixed together with grated fontina cheese and 4 farm fresh eggs. I shamefacedly admit that the cheese was imported. (Baby steps!) Damn was that cheese tasty. I definitely consumed quite a bit while grating it up. I don’t think I’d ever had straight fontina—somehow, in all my cheese eating, I’d overlooked this more basic cheese. It gets melty and gooey and brought all the flavors together into a savory masterpiece.

So go ahead, organize a pot luck party, and I’ll bake this up, walk over with it, demand that you recycle the aluminum foil I wrap it in, and will generally be that girl at the party who won’t shut her yap about the environment. But if making a meal like this—or anything else from that cookbook, for that matter—is considered doing my part for Earth? Well, let’s all go green!