The beginning of March may herald college basketball playoffs for some, but for many sock knitters it marks the start of Sock Madness, the springtime sock knitting competition.
The first pattern, Smock Madness, dropped on Sunday and I began knitting Monday evening. (I’m not feeling overly competitive right now.) The first round will end in ten days on the 17th, by which point I hope to have a complete pair of socks that will enable me to move forward into the next round. Yesterday evening, I knit for a bit next to the outdoor fireplace at Glen’s, which is what you see above. I’m a little further along now.
On the reading front, I have nothing new to report. I’m still working on Geekerella and Early Riser. I picked up Marlon James’ Black Leopard, Red Wolf at the member sale over the weekend at Rudi’s request. He’d heard an interview with the author on NPR while driving home one weekend and was really excited by it. I’d put a hold on it at the library, but since we both want to read it, it made sense to buy a copy.
Head over to As Kat Knits for more knitting and reading posts.
Today was Mardi Gras, the final celebration before the Lenten season of self-deprivation and self-improvement begins. Historically, because people wanted to use up their stores of things they were going to give up starting on Ash Wednesday, it is traditionally a day of consuming baked goods, particularly deep-fried ones, like doughnuts.
In the United Kingdom, it’s pancakes that get celebrated, and Rudi and I decided we like that tradition. I’m only meh about traditional pancakes (except during blueberry season, when I’m all in), but really like crepes, so that’s traditionally our Mardi Gras meal of choice. We opted for spinach and cheese this year.
I mentioned over the weekend that my folks had given me an aebleskiver pan for Christmas, which I had yet to christen, and this seemed like a good time to do so.
Aebleskiver are poofy Danish pancakes that are cooked in a cast iron skillet with indentations for frying up Munchkin-like pancakes, often filled with fruit or jam (or served alongside it).
The dough, which calls for separated eggs, took me a while to make, in part because we’d already used a bunch of dishes to make the crepes. But I got it made (whipping egg whites with my mixer is so much faster than by hand!)
The recipe I was using said to put a tablespoon of dough into each indentation, add jam, and then top with a second tablespoon. “Scant” is probably a word I’ll add to that, because the first batch, which went to Rudi were even more overflowing than mine:
The instructions also said you should use two skewers to pull up the pancakes and flip them over in their little nests. I didn’t have skewers, so I used fondue forks, which were fine. Chopsticks also probably would have worked. Primarily, I forgot the first rule of pancake flipping, which is to wait for those little bubbles at the edge to indicate it’s time to avoid a big mess. And then I didn’t recognize that it was going to be a little messy regardless, and just to sort of poke any extra bits into the indentation to let them cook into the poofs. And maybe to turn them again 90 degrees to account for any dough not quite done because of that.
Rudi doesn’t love raspberry seeds, so his were filled with strawberry rhubarb jam. Mine had raspberry rose jam, which made mine smell heavenly. I’m excited to experiment with some other fillings in future batches. I have some thick chocolate raspberry sauce in the fridge that could work. The other recipe that came with the pan suggests you can put pieces of apple in instead of jam, so that should be fun, too.
Top with powdered sugar and enjoy while warm. I think when we cook up the rest of them (because we don’t actually participate in Lenten abstentions), I’ll make some sipping hot chocolate to enjoy with them. I think that will be perfect.
A kind Ravelrer, Chomp, saw my post seeking to buy leftover yarn to finish my shawl and sent me a message on the site earlier today. She had a smidge under 10 grams left from a project and would be happy to send the yarn my way. She then followed up to say that her husband had mailed the envelope. It is coming from across the country, so it might not arrive until next week, but it’s coming!
I am so delighted. I’m knitting my Sock Madness qualifier sock right now, so I will just let the shawl hang out in its project bag until her package arrives. Then I’ll lay out the five mini balls of yarn (her two, plus my three) to make the color changes between them work as well as possible.
I’m so excited that I’m going to get to finish the shawl the way I wanted to.
New books and music, courtesy of my brother and his partner and our 2018 member rewards
Pizza from my favorite local pizzeria, thanks to my folks
Phone calls with my parents and both Karen and Grey Kitten
Chores — laundry and vacuuming and floor mopping and kitchen tidying and sheet changing and shopping at the farmers market
Sitting outside next to a happy baby
Lots of hot chocolate
Cookies left over from my birthday
Hearing that my volleyball league got enough players to move forward this week
A trip to the library to pick up The Hate U Give dvd
Listening to my new cds — loudly
Knitting while watching tv
Reading — both on paper and on audio
My nails remain their same chippy selves, so I’ll probably just leave them until next weekend, when it’s closer to St. Patrick’s Day. I didn’t start my Sock Madness sock, although I’ve narrowed down my yarn choices to two skeins. I also didn’t block the shawl. (Both of those things are on tap for tomorrow, as is some baking, since Rudi is back home now. And I pretty much know where the tax forms are, so mostly now it’s just a matter of filling out the forms.
Sorry for the late post. I dozed off in the midst of writing last night and forgot to hit publish…
This evening I hit up the member sale at Politics and Prose, one of our local indie bookstores. In addition to having an extensive book selection, they are the best place in D.C. to buy cds, with a dedicated music buyer who curates their collection. I’m always bound to find interesting things in his suggestions, and I’m usually willing to take chances on what he recommends. Tonight, I came home with a British artist, Yola, who just released her debut album, Walk Through Fire. This is the second track, “Ride Out in the Country”:
I’m looking forward to listening to the rest of the album tomorrow.
Category: arts. There is/are Comments Off on new music: yola, ride out in the country.
Rudi is away and the weather is crummy and I’m PMSing, so I need to come up with a game plan for getting through this weekend — a mix of fun and accomplishment and self-care. Here’s what I’m thinking:
Bake. I picked up buttermilk to give the aebelskiver pan my folks gave me for Christmas a try. And, as you can see, I have some Hubbard squash to play with. This was a medium-small one, coming in at less than 8 pounds and giving around 8 cups of baked squash to do something with. (The internet suggested I was going to have a problem getting into the squash, but I put it in the sink to give me the height leverage I needed and used Rudi’s big chef’s knife. I’m almost disappointed I didn’t have to resort to the tip I saw on more than one site, which was to throw it, with some force, on the kitchen floor to crack it. (I was going to put it in a bag first so as not to cover my entire kitchen with pumpkin.) I did use an ice cream scoop to empty out the cooked shells, an easy tip, which I pass along to any of you who have brought home gigantic squash.) I didn’t season it at all, so I’m free to use it for sweet or savory recipes, but it is naturally quite sweet, so I’m leaning toward the former.
Paint my nails. I’m thinking Mardi Gras colors.
Do laundry — sheets and underwear, not together.
Partake of the member sale at the bookstore.
Take myself out for pizza. Well, courtesy of Mum and Dad.
Get outside tomorrow, when there’s hope for some sun, or, at least, a lack of precipitation.
Pull together my tax documents so I can do a preliminary evaluation this coming week. My severance package was already going to make things interesting, but I’m even more nervous after hearing friends’ bill amounts this year. I’m hopeful that since the government deems nothing I own to be of value, it won’t be thousands more than last year, like some people I know.
Mop (swiffer) the bathroom and kitchen floors.
Play music loudly. My usual songs weren’t doing it for me earlier this week, but I’m thinking it’s because my phone wasn’t turned up enough. Note to self: Charge the speakers before going to bed.
Block my shawl. (Kat asked what the yarn was earlier this week. It’s Crazy Zauberball in 1564 Frische Fische. So far, my query for leftovers on Ravelry has come up empty, although someone came close earlier tonight.) It’s modular garter stitch, so I don’t want to block it too vigorously, or it’ll lose all its nice squish, but I’m hopeful it could get a little deeper without affecting its texture.
Get to the farmers market early enough for milk.
Start my Sock Madness sock (once the pattern becomes available.
