an ent knits

Yesterday afternoon was lovely, so I stopped in the garden on the way back from lunch to take these pictures.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

I really wanted to do some baking the other day, so I pulled out a recipe I’d been meaning to try for quite a while: Caramel-Oatmeal Brownies.

I used turbinado sugar instead of regular brown sugar, and I added slices of pear between the layers, but otherwise I followed the recipe as closely as I ever follow recipes. The oatmeal cookie layer is resistant to cutting, but the brownies are really tasty. (Oh, how I love chocolate and pear together. Lots of fruits, really, but I don’t often eat pears for texture reasons, so they’re more exciting in baked goods.)

If you have oats that are slightly more processed (quick oats or something; I think even regular commercial oats are often flatter than the ones I buy in bulk from my local co-op), they might work better.  If I’m using these again, I might scant the oats a smidge or use a little bit more liquid in the cookie layer.

(No, that’s not a giant brownie–it’s on a saucer.)

Although it’s not like I had a dearth of spinning projects before Rhinebeck, I couldn’t resist starting one of my brand new fibers when I got home.  All of my spinning time for the last week went into this ball of singles.

I told DivineBird Jenny that I picked this fiber because it was the only one that wasn’t in any wrapping.  There’s some truth in that, but it didn’t hurt that it was absolutely wonderful fiber: 50/50 baby camel/tussah silk, from Spirit Trail Fiberworks.  I had a wonderful time spinning it into fine singles.  (But it’s sort of a shock, how much time can go into spinning a little over 2 ounces…)  I’m going to spin some other stuff first, but I’m really looking forward to seeing how it looks when it’s plied and skeined.

This is a lot of why I wanted to go to Rhinebeck: these pictures are from the campsite where I stayed, taken on Sunday morning. I love living in a city, but I really miss woods and mountains.

There were definitely some snags to my weekend, and things that went somewhat wrong (drive up taking an extra two hours, for example), but I had a wonderful time overall.

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I learned, among other things, that camping in 30º weather is kinda fun, as long as one is appropriately prepared.  (I felt much better about the huge pile of stuff I packed–particularly the extra sleeping bag as supplemental sleeping pad–when I woke up on Saturday morning, all toasty and warm.)   And I’m also happy, yet again, that my circulatory system is highly functional–if most of me is warm, my extremities do pretty well, too, so I never quite got to the point of putting on socks.

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When I parked my carshare car at the festival yesterday morning, the woman who parked next to me seemed really surprised that I’d travelled so far to get there.  It was totally worth it.

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(I have what I hope are better foliage pictures. They should show up on Friday.)

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I love campfires. It was great to hang out with the Third Street Ravelers on Saturday night, when the people I was supposed to be camping with fled to places with heating. (I approve, quite heartily, of my friends not freezing.)

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The festival was mobbed. This was on Sunday, which was much less populated than Saturday, but there were still lots of people everywhere.

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I wasn’t expecting to see fiber-related cars after passing the I-87/84 exchange, but I saw this car on rt. 206 in New Jersey.

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It was dark by the time I got home and settled, so pictures of all of the stuff I bought will have to wait.

I’ve been busily working on science and on my swallowtail shawl. In case I don’t have time to post again before Rhinebeck, let me just say now that y’all should say hi if you see me there. I’ll be carrying a Vermont Public Radio shoulder bag and wearing one of these things.

The photo is from last week, on my way to work.

There are a few other trees with a couple of color-changing leaves, but it’s the dogwoods that are in full autumn mode right now. (This is a dogwood branch against a sycamore trunk.)

I love fall.

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I’m into the nupps on the swallowtail shawl.  They’re not as bad as I’d feared, but I’m sort of cheating on the p5tog part.  I’m concentrating on knitting in hopes of finishing it for Rhinebeck, but my optimism is fading.

It’s really feeling like Fall! I love this weather. Today was the first day I wore a scarf on my walk to work. But this is half of my August Spunky Club fiber (Thermograph), spun up as 10-12wpi and a little over 100 yards. I think it’s going to grow up to be a toy of some kind.

I continue to be busy with work and other life stuff, but I’ve been spinning home-carded batts to relax at night. These are the (as yet unfinished) results:

Soon, these will be washed, fulled a bit, and thwacked.