Welcome to Euniverse

that there are ch-ch-changes. for various reasons, i'm moving and posting to a new blog.

see you there. (and yes, this blog will be up for a while until i figure out a way to pack it up and transfer files :)

this pretty much describes my year in 2007. there was a lot of screaming, well, not really. but there certainly was a lot of moving involved! and a lot of changes that are not really scream-and-tear-your-hair worthy, but still a pain.

but also many many good things that also make me jump in excitement. like new friends. meeting old chums again. very random coincidences. tandem bike. being in the right place. and i'm armed for the new year with a very nice new camera. and a new weaving loom (my fiber arts-fu is increasing rapidly these days...)

and to make up for my disappearing act during the holidaze, i've got an embarassing plethora of pictures to show you. you can find them in the holidays2007 collection, with two sets:new york and richmond.

also, i'm starting off the new year by joining the 365days flickr group for two reasons: 1) to be more comfortable photographed (i love taking pictures of everyone and everything except myself) and 2) to be more in the moment everyday, which i want to keep practicing. here's a start:


and of course, it wouldn't be new year's without a picture of cori (which is how I started joining flickr and appreciating photography):

have a very happy new year everyone!

and some beauty for the new year:

if i ran a holiday bakery, that would be name of it. because that's all i made.

witness this pile of doggie treats heaven:


homemade garlic cheese biscuits, fortified with some nutritional yeast. thinly rolled and baked to perfection for maximum crunchiness. guaranteed to sate even the most fincky gormutt.

because if i don't, i get the dog equivalent of a coal in a stocking. which usually means a filthy wet milk-bone on my pillow, usually just before i go to sleep.

the lone solstice decoration visible from outside our house: ombre ninja stars, pinwheels, crochet snowflakes...

1. TIS THE SEASON roving, 2. Bicycle Christmas lights, 3. snowflakes, 4. trees, 5. Nirvana, 6. gingerbread tree

i get a quote every time i make a mosaic. this one seemed apt for this group :)
"Nonsense and beauty have close connections." — E. M. Forster

...objects found on a walk. it was a nice day today, though a bit gusty at end...and it rained softly for 5 minutes. ah well.

my sewing machine is finally out of its box. and has been used. again and again.

sadly not by me. mr. yum originally used it to repair patches to his now defunct pants and on a recent bookstore trip, he picked up a copy of lotta jansdotter's simple sewing and got inspired to create his own tool roll (no pattern needed. improvisation only.)

we had an old canvas rocker cover that had a small but bad hole and with the help of a seam ripper and scissors, he turned it into a tool roll. complete with ties made from old hiking boot shoelaces.

not bad for a first serious sewing endeavor, don't you think?

i'm one of those people that hates having a christmas tree or any cut holiday tree. basically those are dead trees and i hate killing trees. that's not to say i don't enjoy ornaments or lights (i love lights. the more the merrier) or the decorating of the greens but i don't see the point of having a dead tree in your house and then having a sligtly deader tree in your driveway sadly waiting to be picked up by the yard waste folks. it's just depressing and not a pretty sight for the new year.

i could get an artificial tree but i'm not too crazy about them either. something about the plastic bothers me. so this year i splurged a bit on a Zents candle called Winter Wonderland, remniscient of a sleigh ride through the evergreens and snow and jingle bells and warm breaths in the cold air and twinkling stars...initially, when you smell it up close, it smells very strongly of pine sap. but when it burns, it smells like all the smells you associate with christmas trees and pines, plus something a little more, like winter magic.

and how badly we need winter magic here in durham, under a severe drought and record high temperatures (still not ready to put away summer clothes).snow, rain, even ice. any watery precipitation will do. the record high temperatures these days are definitely not helping.

...and seventy-three degrees farenheit. i'm in my t-shirt and shorts. i nearly got a sunstroke jogging this evening because it was still that hot.

i don't get it. and it feels so very wrong. and i can't lie and say i'm not enjoying it.

some weekend favorites:
*riding the tandem in sunshine
*fading tulips
*best american nonrequired reading (read the first entry and be prepared to laugh out loud in public). seriously, an excellent collection of often funny and often random bits.
*31st anniversary party at your local bookshop + free wine + chocolate cake
*organizing and clearing closets in the house
*unseasonably warm days (it is weird, but at the same time...not entirely unpleasant) and sitting outside a cafe finishing up a crossword
*watching spiderman 3 and pirates of the carribean 3 (i heart johnny depp)
*helping mr. yum bake oatmeal raisin cookies (from a mix, but not too bad)
*tamarind & passionfruit juices
*indian tacos (it's like a taco but with curry on the bottom)

uhm. i have a confession. i love malabrigo. i always have, from the first time i saw and touched it. but that's not the confession. the confession is, my local yarn shop sells malabrigo, but always runs out, so the owner maintains a malabrigo phone list. that is, when a new shipment comes in, she calls you.

and so one day after my local crack yarn dealer called, i went over to the shop, finding her loosening tightly packed oodles and oodles of malabrigo. i was in heaven. i was also organizing my solstice knitting, and this was perfect. if i'm going to knit someone something for the holidays, i better enjoy it, and what better than the soft, almost buttery, warm, heavenly texture of malabrigo?

mmmm malabrigo. mmm. and no, i have no idea how they get it that soft. yes, it is 100% wool. i have two pieces made entirely out of malabrigo and i adore them and would wear them all the time if not for the fact that it is 63F today. no kidding.

so what am i planning for solstice knitting? well, for most part it's going to be very relaxed. there are only two rules, 1) that I enjoy myself and 2) that it be something i want to knit. and probably 3) it doesn't have to be there in time for the 22nd (solstice) or 25th. The only required knitting is my mom's socks-- she picked out the yarn at Purl Soho last year and I'd really like to give her a pair of socks. The rest of the knitting will most likely be either hats or wristwarmers made from that newly acquired stash of malabrigo, but it's not necessary. It helps that winter is being fairly wacky in the south and that i have lovely backup presents in case there isn't a knitted item. And it helps reminds me that this holiday, it's the presence and thoughts of others that are much more important than the gifts.

time to start a pair of socks...or a hat.

1. Joie de Vivre flies away, 2. mom can we go outside now???, 3. getting goofy at the end - Bazaar Bizarre Boston 2007, 4. advent garland, 5. I've eaten five clementines today..., 6. Aspens Minus Snow, 7. walking through the snow, 8. Whitetail in Snow, 9. morning, 10. Whitney's Gift Ideas for Yarn Lovers

that was fun.

as you may have suspected, i'm blogging as a way of keeping 'advent' for solstice, but it's harder than i thought. part of it is due to me working out again, new puppies at the shelter (we recently took in 30 or so from a puppy mill in VA), some part of it is just me trying to go to bed early so as not to miss any bits of light...

there are times when i don't really want to get out of bed. it's already late, the light will be gone soon (until I realized that finland has only 3 hours of light, and even then, that's under gray skies of snow/rain/fog). one of the things that makes my day easier is watching birds eat at their birdfeeer. it's a simple thing, but it just makes me smile to watch them fly and fight over their food. it doesn't even upset me that much when the squirrels come by and chew their way through oh, say, 5 birdfeeders so far? (piece of advice: don't go for the plastic ones).

in the morning, when i'm eating breakfast or checking email, i can tell when the birds are coming to eat, because they create playful shadows on the dining table. i look up and smile and decide then that if the birds are having this much fun despite it being a cold day, i can too.

korknisse*, looking out

Today I walked outside to walk the dog and saw something so unusual that I blinked. Then I looked around again.

It was snowing flurries. I saw maybe only 10 very sparse flurries, and it lasted all of 30 seconds. But it was snowing, I like to think, for me.

Y'see, I've missed snow. It hasn't snowed in this part of NC for pretty much two years, and last time it snowed I had just learned how to knit and was working on my first scarf, which was a whie ago. It doesn't really snow here; and if we get any solid precipitation (if we get any precipitation at all -- we're still under a severe drought right now), it's usually in form of ice. Slick, dangerous, heavy, not so pretty ice involving all numbers of accidents. And I spent most of my time in New England, so it's hard to imagine winter without snow. Snow is a relief from gray, empty landscapes, where everything gets filled with white and therefore promises you that yes, it can be all beautiful again. Snow is bright, because it reflects light, and completely transforms a landscape. In short, it's the best winter decoration mother nature could give.

(Hush, you there in the corner muttering about slushes and dirty puddles and wet cold mittens.)

So for y'all there who have snow, have some fun for me. I'll just keep knitting korknisse.

*pattern available here.
For a truly amusing picture of my dog meeting a cork-elf for the first time...go here.

sunset on my way home.

tonight I went to the local bookstore to see the woman behind Southern Cakes. She even brought four cakes to sample: coconut-lemon cake, celestial chocolate cake, bourbon cake (oh wow was it potent), apple cake. I'd first heard about her from sampling cakes at Crook's Corner -- tomato soup cake (yes it involves a can of campbell's tomato soup), brownstone cake (not in the book but baked in the same spirit). I have a mixed relationship with cakes because so many of them I've had are not really of the home cook variety (think cakes from the supermarket) and so many of the ingredients are not really natural (that bag of artificial coconut flakes? yeeech). But those are serious cakes, with equally serious frosting (none of that sugared air thing), and I highly recommend it to any serious baker. oh, and bill smith, the chef at Crook's Corner, has a blog now.

so uhm, book report. long overdue, because my last one was august 14, and i've certainly read more since then.
#51: The Thrall's Tale, by Judith Linderbergh
A tale about the Vikings from three female points of view-- a sorceress, a slave (thrall), and daughter of the said thrall. If you're interested in Viking history and customs, this is the book for you. The only thing is that I felt that while Linderbergh is obviously a talented historian, the novel dragged on a bit in the middle.

#52: Evening, by Susan Minot
Beautifully written, heartbreaking, romantic. this novel is all about living for the moment, taking chances when you can, and having that particular memory to last you all your life. A keeper.

#53: The Reincarnationist, by M. J. Rose
This is a very fun, fast-paced read about a modern-day reporter who suddenly inheirts an ancient Roman priest's memories and attempts to find out more. This novel reminded me a bit of Kate Mosse's Labyrinth, because both are about finding out what really happened in the past using memories of their past lives, while facing modern day dangers. The only bad thing was that I wished the book was longer, mostly because I love being engrossed in a long, absorbing novel.

#54: Heat, by Bill Buford
This is a book that serious foodies will appreciate. This is how I learned really good pasta is made with one egg and "enough flour to cover." While some of the book is about working in stressful NYC kitchens (especially Mario Batali's), it's also about exploring the roots of Italian cooking, from the earliest cookbooks to apprenticing under a Dante-quoting butcher. If you've read The Omnivore's Dilemma but wanted to know more about how food was made (especially butchering of meat, which seems to be a mysterious art), this is the book. The commercial meat industry could definitely benefit from a lesson with the Maestro.

#56: A Pig in Provence, by Georgeanne Brennan
Another foodie book, but this time in Provence. Brennan talks about eating locally, eating as part of the community, using every bit of food, including pig's blood and in general enjoying life as much as possible. What I liked about this book was that even though the book is basically about sustainability and local food, it wasn't written with that intention in mind, so it doesn't feel quite as forced. Rather, there is an easy casualness, that people did these things because they could and it always produced good results each time.There are even recipes, so you can replicate a bit of Provence in your own home.

#57: The Looking Glass Wars, by Frank Beddor
Re-read in anticipation for the second book in the Looking Glass Wars Trilogy. It's about the real story of Alice in Wonderland, told by Alyss Heart, and involves a good dose of White Imagination and humor to withstand the terrible puns. And it's got a great badass hero: Hatter Madigan, whose main weapon is his hat.

#58: Seeing Redd, by Frank Beddor
Continuation of the trilogy: we learn more about Alyss Heart and Dodge Anders, her love, as well as the background of the ever morose and mysterious Hatter Madigan. I have to admit the novelty of the story wears off a little and that it does get rather cliched at the end (hello Hallmark movie channel?).

#59: Travels in Scriptorium, by Paul Auster
The thing with Paul Auster is that his writing style and plot is very very distinctive. It's always a closed loop, though you can never be quite sure. In this case it's about a man in a room, with no memory of who he is or what he's done, and he's trying to figure out his identity and those of people who visit him. You never really know in the end who he is, just what he might have been, or what he might have done. Fascinating read.

#60: Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician, by Daniel Wallace
Oh, this is another wonderful book to savor. Daniel Wallace is a master storyteller, and he deftly peels layer after layer the story of Henry Walker, the Negro Magician. Along the way, we meet a strongman, the Devil himself (maybe), a detective, a showman (one of many), a ghost, and several other colorful characters i can't remember. You will never get bored reading this book.

#61: I feel bad about my Neck and Other Thoughts on Being a Woman, by Nora Ephron
Nora Ephron is the real chicken soup for the soul. Really. She's now in her sixties, so she's not talking about dating or finding a man, or getting along with your sister, but rather, about how to age gracefully (if you can) and making fun of aging.

#62: Peony in Love, by Lisa See
This is one of the books that at first sounds predictable and a tad bit melodramatic-- and it is predictable at first, and oh, very, very melodramatic. But you can't help reading it, not because of the melodrama, but because somehow, even after death, one can still grow up. It's a unique take on a bildungsroman-type story: a girl of marriagable age tragically dies before she can marry her true love, so she becomes a ghost and haunts her family and family-to-be. Along the way, she learns about regret, loss, selflessness, feminism (not a easy task in ancient chinese dynasties), and in the end, becomes practically immortal. I know it sounds unbelievable, but if you're interested in Chinese history and emerging women writers and something just a little different, this is the book for you. Just add a hot pot of jasmine tea to complete the experience.

#63: The Friday Night Knitting Club, by Kate Jacobs
This isn't a hard read, and it's pretty much chick lit where knitting saves the day. I pretty much read it wondering who would play the characters in the upcoming movie (the rights were bought by Julia Roberts, an avid knitter herself). Good book if you want some warmfuzzies.

#64: The Knitting Circle, by Ann Hood
Another similiar chick lit, but it's about how a woman's loss leads her to a knitting shop, where she learns how to deal with her grief. She joins a knitting circle in which she learns about the stories of others. Again, knitting saves the day. Not as warmfuzzy as the one above, though.

#65: Coal Black Horse, by Robert Olmsted
Beautifully written for a novel about the bleakness of Civil War. 14 years old Robey is sent on a dangerous journey to the battlefields to find his dying father and bring him back home. On his way, he encounters the coal black horse, who becomes his wise and constant companion in a world that no longer makes any sense.

Ok, if you read this far, thanks :) I've definitely exceeded my goal of reading a book a week, even if they were graphic novels or re-readings. Now, if only I could apply this to my knitting...

previous book reports:
february 1: #1-8
february 8: #9-11
march 29: #12-20
june 5: #21-29
july 17: #30-43
august 14: #44-50

ever have one of those days where you felt like you had to do a million things, were pushed in so many different directions by those million things? and the fact that daylight seems to be shorter and shorter doesn't help, because for some reason, i feel like things need to be done before the sun goes down. whhich is of course, impossible to do in winter.

that was my day. not exactly enjoyable, but not exactly horrid either. and in the end, i was thankful for this amazing brussel sprouts pasta dish and a glass of red wine. this was extra special because mr. yum and i adore brussel sprouts, and it seems to be a southern thing to actually like or appreciate brussel sprouts (see gone with the wind). when i went to farmers' market two days before thanksgiving, there were like maybe 12 brussel sprouts left when I got there and I'd missed them and I had run out of cash. Dang. So I was extra happy when I found them at farmers' market the previous weekend, sold by the same farmer. And they were eaten with delish in all their glory. so warm, comforting, and tasty. just what one needed after a busy day.

and i swear, i'm going to try to grow brussel sprouts if i can. and broccoli. and cauliflower. and big fat heads of cabbage. and...drat, have the gardening catalogs reared their ugly (actually, rather tempting) heads again? sweet green things, hold your uhmm... roots. it ain't solstice yet.

in the meantime...

there is a new yarn cabinet to decorate. yes, you heard right. a yarn cabinet. which was actually a old chemistry lab cabinet from UNC-Chapel Hill. But it was only $15. and dinged up only in a few places; nothing sandpaper and a little woodstain wouldn't fix. except i ditched the woodstain part and went a little blind in the paint aisle of home despot. something to do with lime pop + ultra pure white + disney blue leftover paint from the door. have your sunglasses ready? here we go...

bright colorful yarn cabinet for the existing, frightfully large, yarn stash and the handspun yarn stash to-be

the paint has duped us more than once into thinking it's dry, when it was actually still damp and messy, so it'll be a while before it gets filled up and has its obligatory blogworthy shoot.

i also just looked at 10 best books of the year on nytimes. that reminds me, i owe you a very overdue book report...tomorrow.

(best viewed large). greetings from a cloudy day.

there were new and old holiday rituals done this weekend.

new:
-a holiday parade put on by city of Durham. I love marching bands. and as much as I hate to admit it, I do like antique cars (there were these cutest beetles cruising around) despite them being a major gas guzzler.

-hot buttered panettone (thanks shari for this tip). must get another one to try panettone french toast.

old:
-made holiday travel plans. it looks like i'll be in nyc for third week of dec, richmond, va for the 4th week. looking forward to seeing family and friends, old and new. and just in time: hot chocolate hotspots in nyc.

-making my gift list. looks like i might have to invest in this card. or that one. Actually, i'm having entirely too much fun shopping around handmade markets-- there's no shortage of gift suggestions. the other place i shop is localharvest-- csa memberships make great gifts. then there's the baking. biscotti has been requested and a certain little girl has been whining for her favorite garlic-cheese dog biscuits.

some fun links:
make your own gingerbread house without all the calories and mess.

hygge house explains Danish advent.

days are getting shorter and darker. shadows lengthen (or maybe it is just me). sunlight becomes appreciated as a source of warmth and brightness.

and it is december. the month where i look forward to the solstice (really, just about every holiday in this month is a form of celebrating solstice). the day that is the shortest. because after the shortest day, we have longer days. the darkest days will be behind us.

at least, that's the plan. :)

to start off, i thought i'd share one of my favorite easy-peasy soup recipes. it's so irish, because it involves nothing but cabbage, leeks, and potatoes (and some butter). but trust me, it's not bland. because there's a surprise on the top: gorgonzola.

Cabbage Potato soup (from Deborah Madison's Vegetable Soups, an excellent cookbook)
1 head cabbage, preferrably savoy
3 medium potatoes, preferrably yukon gold, cubed
3-4 leeks, white parts only, sliced
2 tb butter
2 tsp salt
toast of your choice
gorgonzola

cut cabbage in half and in quarters. blanch for a minute in boiling water (enough to cover the cabbage). reserve the cabbage water for soup (your plants will like leftovers). in a new pot, add butter, let it melt, then add leek and potatoes. let cook for a minute or two, then add cabbage and cabbage-water and salt. let it boil and simmer for 20 minutes or so, until potatoes are tender. add salt and pepper to taste.

in the meantime, prepare toast -- hard crusted bread is great for this -- and put toast in bowls. ladle soup over toast and crumble gorgonzola on top.

have a good one, my american friends. thank you for reading and commenting.

now for some favorites:

1. imprisoned, 2. commute into work one November morning, 3. back of the clean machine, 4. for all the marbles, 5. two for the shop, two for the fair, 6. Saturday afternoon

Better late than never. Not to mention in nc, fall arrives very late for us. We might get the first flowers and peas of spring but we're last in line when it comes to fall. My drive today was gorgeous because the cloudy sky provided a brilliant contrast to the red, orange, yellow, and purple leaves.

This is going to be an unusual pattern because the motif I've used is from a knitting book, Loop-d-Loop, by Teva Durham. I've emailed her, only to get a bounced mail. I've also emailed the publisher and got no answer. So as to respect copyrights, I'm not going to publish the motif here. But you are free to get the book, either at the bookstore, or at the library. It's the motif for the lace leaf pullover.

These fingerless mitts were originally designed for a fall swap hosted by Andrea. Using our crafty talents, we were supposed to come up with something that was fall themed, and I already had the idea of fingerless mitts because they are perfect and quite practical for that not-quite-cold-but-not-quite-warm fall weather. And I had a pair of fingerless mitts with a criss-cross lace motif on them and I thought a leaf motif might work. And I remembered Teva Durham's book because of the popularity of lace leaf pullover (see, all that reading of 2 million or so knitting blogs will get you somewhere. :)

I was also inspired by the yarn because it matched the changing colors of fall so perfectly, from the bright greens of summer now past to the gradual changes in between to the apple reds of autumn. It would be like wearing leaves, a memento of a beautiful (and possibly favorite) season. Also, they knit up quickly-- definitely a weekend or a lazy day project.

Pattern for Fingerless Mitts

Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted Weight, Col China colorway, 1 skein
Needles: US size 8 or 5.0mm DPNs
Gauge: 5 sts/inch

CO 36 sts, divide them among 3 needles.
K2, P2 until cuff measures 3", stop at beginning of next round.
Continue in stockinette stitch for 5 rounds.
Redistribute stitches such that the first needle (for the beginning of the round) contains 16 stitches for the leaf motif.
**Read before starting, and make sure you have the pattern for the leaf motif.**
Start the pattern for the leaf motif (this will take 18 rounds) on the first needle. On every even round, knit all the way to the end. On the 9th round, you will use waste yarn to create an opening for thumb.

For left mitt: on round 9, knit according to motif pattern and knit rest of the stitches until there are 11 stitches left in the round. Using waste yarn, knit 7 stitches; slip these stitches back to left needle and knit them again using working yarn. Knit the next 4 stitches to the end of round.

For right mitt: on round 9, after the motif pattern repeat, knit 4 stitches. Using waste yarn, knit the next 7 stitches; slip these stitches back to left needle and knit them again using working yarn. Knit to the end of round.
**
Continue in stockinette stitch for 5 rounds.
K2, P2 for 5 rounds.
BO loosely.

Work on thumb (from Fetching, another fun fingerless mitt pattern):
Carefully remove waste yarn and place resulting live stitches on two double-point needles; there will be 7 sts below the opening and 6 sts above. Attach yarn and knit the 7 sts on lower needle; using a second needle, pick up and knit 2 sts in space between upper and lower needle, knit first 3 sts from upper needle; using a third needle, knit remaining 3 sts from upper needle and pick up and knit 2 sts in space between this needle and lower needle. You should have 17 sts total.
K 7 rounds. BO loosely.

Weave in all ends.


Some notes:
The motif in the book uses two leaves that differ in terms of height placement. I created a mirror image of the motif for the other mitt so that when the mitts are placed together it would look like a group of leaves, two on the outer at a taller height, two in the inner at a lower height. It took me a while to figure out the mirror image and if you'd like help, leave a comment here. I might be able to save you a lot of ripping.

You could also substitute a lace or cable pattern and replace the leaf motif. You could also omit the ribbing at top and use a picot edge instead. This pattern is pretty versatile so feel free to use it for other projects. Just let me know because I'd love to see what you make.

I also retested this pattern for a contest at the yarn museum, using my own handspun, a nice tweedy orange with some reds from Three Waters Farm. It's my first handspun knit and I'm proud of it because this is a more or less original item in terms of pattern and yarn.