an ent knits

I made chocolate chip cookies again. I wanted to tweak that last recipe into something I’d really like (chewier cookies), and it can’t exactly hurt to take cookies to lab meeting when I’m presenting. So I added more flour, doubled what had been half a recipe, used less vanilla…and got perfect cookies.*

Except that the dough was a bit oily, or maybe I just added too many chocolate chips, ’cause I had a handful of chocolate chips in the bottom of my mixing bowl when I ran out of cookie dough. I didn’t want to try to improvise a miniature batch of cookie dough to surround them, and I didn’t want to throw them out. (And, with my sensitivity to raw animal protein, I didn’t want to eat them raw, either.) So I decided to improvise something puddingy, and I got this:

It’s kind of a cross between pudding and soufflé (bearing in mind that it’s been years since I’ve had soufflé, so I may be misremembering it). And it is so good. I may have to make something like this for the next dinner party I have. Mmmm…

Although the leftover cookie dough isn’t a terribly reproducible ingredient, here’s what I did:

1 egg, beaten
1/4 c nonfat vanilla yogurt (stonyfield farm)
1 T flour
maybe 1/4 c chocolate chips with oats and doughy bits

baked in a 16-oz corningware dish at about 300º for about 30′, aka until the top wasn’t jiggly

It fell, but it’s still really tasty.

*If you’re interested: take the recipe I posted before, double it, and bump the flour up to about 2.25c. And cut the oil to 3/4 c.

I did it! I finished my Olympic Spirit-Trail Socks a few hours ago, while watching dvds of the Muppet Show at Ella‘s.

Look!

It’s kinda impressive, how much knitting can be accomplished with two separate knitting events in one day… First was the PhillyKnitters gathering, where I knit about half the cuff, and then there was time to stop at home for the Lorna’s Worsted before heading off to Ella’s and knitting the rest.

Hurrah! Socks! Modelled pics sometime in the next few days. (I have not completed my committee meeting yet, despite the fact that it was listed as part of my event–faculty schedule conflicts delayed it until March 7th. I’m reasonably on schedule for it, though. And if you’re really curious, e-mail me, and I’ll describe my project.)

Oh, it’s so nice to be able to start knitting something else. And pick up my spindles again… But, really, I need to knit something with cables or interesting lace.

Specs on the socks:
size 5 circs (one inox, one misc aluminum)
spirit trail superwash wool, 100g/200yd
maybe 10 yards of Lorna’s Laces Worsted in Carrot
48-stitch circumference with short row heels, one short row toe and one figure-8 toe

I promise there will be some post titles without exclamation points coming up. Really.

I spent my evening hanging out with my downstairs neighbors (hurrah for socializing without leaving the building!) and watching the Olympics. Despite putting down the knitting for such things as eating dinner and watching the men’s 500m speed skating, I made quite a bit of progress:

(As of Saturday morning, I had about a third to half of the foot of the second sock.)

So, will I finish tomorrow (later today)? I’ve got two knitting events to attend, so I just might. Even if I don’t, though, this is amazing progress for me.

this week’s Thursday picture on Saturday, with a nod to my labwork

Now that I’ve been tagged for this meme/quiz twice, by Cyn and Emily, maybe I’ll post my answers.

(Fours meme in the extended entry.)

(more…)

I have continued to knit away at the OK socks. Astonishingly enough, the ~100 yards of half skein actually did make a decent length of sock. I added a touch of Lorna’s Worsted in Carrot, just for the heck of it, and was highly amused to discover that it’s a perfect match for one of the intermediate colors in the Spirit Trails yarn.

I also started the second sock, for my first short-row toe ever. (No, I don’t care that the socks won’t match. They won’t be glaringly different under sandals, and that’s all that matters.)

That’s a finished sock, a short-row toe, and the provisional cast-on I had to pick out of the toe. I am not good at the provisional cast-ons. I can actually manage the crochet bit okay, but there’s something about picking up from the crochet chain that I haven’t figured out. Eh, well, I have a toe-hat anyway.

In the same color scheme, I picked up these when I went grocery shopping on Sunday:

Some time soon, when I have a few hours to spare, I’m going to wind off a third of the A-93 that I bought in September, and dye it up in red with yellow and orange. Or maybe just red with some splashes of orange. My hope is that it’ll be nice enough to use for the Lotus Blossom Shawl.

Yes, I’m getting kind of antsy with this one project for two weeks thing. But soon! Soon, I’ll have a finished pair of socks!

(You know, I think my color preferences are getting a bit…obvious? stereotyped? boring, except that they really are my favorite colors?, what with the sock yarn, the kool-aid colors, the blog color scheme…the dyed roving I got from Amy… But maybe I should look harder for green and brown, my other favorite colors.)

I know, this is the second post within a few days with an exclamation point in the title, but I’ve been craving chocolate chip cookies.

Recipe and discussion in the extended entry.

(more…)

While watching men’s moguls and women’s downhill and women’s curling, I got my sock to here:

We have a heel! I referred last night to my “yarnucopia”, since I keep thinking I’m going to run out of yarn and then not actually doing so. Well, all magical yarn-extension aside, I doubt this half-skein will produce the height of sock I really prefer (tall enough for my boots). We shall see…I’ve got a few different options for how to finish.

both from Sunday

I watched television* last night, and I plan to do so again tonight. And maybe also Thursday.

It is the Olympics for more than knitting, after all…and my downstairs neighbors were watching speed skating when I got home last night. So I stopped in to join them, and we watched some skating races and some figure skating and some of the men’s combined Alpine, after which point I had this:

I’m about to start the heel.

And I now also have this:

It’s roving that I bought from Amy Boogie. I know I’m not “supposed” to be buying fiber until Maryland, but I wanted to have something both nice and basic for when I get to play on a wheel next month. This is 12oz.–I figure that if I haven’t gotten the hang of a wheel (you know, more or less; just to at least approach my current spindle skill) by the time I spin that much, I just need to go ahead and get lessons.

*Note: I don’t own a television. I probably won’t get one until I find the equivalent of rabbit ears for my laptop.

Well, I started my Olympic Knitting (OK, as Anj likes to call it) socks on Friday evening. Here’s what I’ve got so far.

I’m enjoying the knitting so far. The yarn is wonderfully soft and springy. But I’m getting pretty worried that I’m going to run out of yarn. So…I’m thinking I’ll get a skein of Artyarns Supermerino to supplement. We shall see.

In other news, yes, Philly has finally gotten a real snowfall this season. It’s been very nice to watch from indoors, and it’ll be a good excuse to wear lots of nice, warm clothing when I leave in a bit. And, at least if you avoid looking at the streets, it’s very pretty.

Quercus borealis, a.k.a. red oak

This week’s Thursday picture is a day late because it took longer than anticipated for my film (yes, film!) to be processed. Oh, my goodness, I missed my real camera. Someday, I will have the cheap multiple pictures and instant gratification of digital with the complete control of my manual SLR. Someday. But this year’s big purchase is a spinning wheel.

I have been to New York five times since the beginning of this academic year. I’ve visited for my uncle’s wedding, for his funeral, for Thanksgiving, for a day of wandering around and meeting Cassie, and, yesterday, for the funeral of my uncle’s widow. I spent six hours on trains yesterday, with my dad (who was and is again in Philly for meetings), and never once pulled out my knitting. (We did do a couple of crosswords and a sudoku, though.) Hey, world? I know that people get old and die, and I can deal with that. But could I have at least six months to recover from this year so far before anything else scary happens to my family (or friends)?

So that this post won’t be entirely depressing, here’s a picture of a sign we found amusing, on the way from dinner to the train home.