Category: Photos

My Pretty Dahlia

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When I first saw the pattern for Dahlia I knew I had to knit it. It’s such a beautiful design with a fun construction, not to mention very wearable. I found it while searching for something to knit for my sister. I knew from the beginning that it wasn’t necessarily her style, but I wanted to knit it so badly that I convinced her it was.  I picked up some Mission Falls 136 at Knitting Addiction while visiting the Outer Banks with my family (vacationing on the Outer Banks is one of the perks of having family living in NC). I cast on as soon as I got home. and did manage to get gauge, but wasn’t completely thrilled with how it was knitting up. I finished the lace panel and made it through the whole body before I realized I was going to run out of yarn… yarn that had been discontinued. In the end I ripped it out and knit Jen a Lady Kina instead, which is much more her style anyway.

Then, at The Loop‘s Boxing Day sale (can you tell I bought way too much yarn that day?) I picked up enough Pear Tree 4-Ply for 50% off to knit a Dahlia for myself. This yarn was absolutely perfect for it. I started the sweater anew and soon I was wearing my Dahlia everywhere. I wish that I had knit the front panels longer as I’d like to be able to overlap them and/or tuck one into the collar, but it’s still beautiful when worn with a shawl pin. I can see myself making another of these someday.

Jennifer Boot Cuffs

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And here we go! My very first published knitting pattern! It is a very simple design, but my own nonetheless! You can click on the Buy Now button below to go to the pattern page on Ravelry where you can purchase the pattern if your heart desires! Thank you to Eleanor Dixon for technical editing and Ryan Barr for photography! I am only using exclamation points to punctuate this post!

 

My ‘Cited!

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This is what A used to say instead of “I’m excited.” I miss that little mispronunciation, it was a good one.
Although I am sad summer is gone for another year, I must say “my ‘cited” about getting to wear my Spatterdashes again.

I knit these little fingerless mitts at the end of last winter and didn’t get to wear them much before the weather warmed up. I used a skein of Posh Yarn Lucia (Sock) in Hothouse that I got 1/2 price at The Loop‘s Boxing Day sale last year. I am a sucker for rainbow-y variegated yarn so this stuff was right up my alley, and this pattern from Knitty was the perfect match. It’s such a great pattern, just interesting enough, but not so much so that it’s not still TV knitting. The construction was very tidy with no seaming in the end. I managed to find 28 of the most perfect buttons at Suzy Q’s, my little secret button place in Inglewood. BUT, hot-damn! It’s really annoying sewing on 28 perfect little buttons. The finished product was well worth it, but I won’t be taking on this project again without taking a good hard look at how bad I really wanted them.

Tomato Noodles…

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…is the really classy name we use at our house for the pasta dish I made for dinner tonight. A more suitable name might be “Versatile Noodles” since they are very easy and inexpensive to make, kid friendly, yet classy enough to serve to company. I started making the Penne Arrabbiata recipe from the Williams Sonoma Pasta cookbook, but they offered a variation on the recipe to turn it into Puttanesca instead. While I liked the idea of adding capers and olives, there was no way I was even going to think of adding anchovies. So what I make is somewhere in between the two recipes, but cannot really be called either. So we call them Tomato Noodles, and we eat them once a week.

Tomato Noodles

Note: I tend to switch things up every time I make this, depending on what I have on hand. Sometimes I’ll add a splash of red wine if I have an open bottle that hasn’t, for some strange reason, been finished. Sometimes I’ll add basil paste if I don’t have any fresh. Tonight I added parsley out of the garden because I had a lot of it.

Ingredients:

1/4 C olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

Generous pinch of red pepper flakes (I tend to cut back so the kids don’t scream)

1 (35 oz) can of plum tomatoes, chopped with juice

salt & pepper (if adding capers I tend to not add any extra salt)

12 fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped

Generous pinch of dried oregano

Splash of balsamic vinegar (optional, but I find it really brightens up the flavor)

1/2 C olives, halved and pitted (I just add whatever olives I have on hand)

1/4 C capers

1 lb pasta (I usually use penne or fusilli)

Yummy!

Directions:

Put large pot of water on to boil and cook noodles until tender

Meanwhile, add olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes to large skillet and heat over medium heat, being careful not to burn garlic

Add tomatoes and raise heat to medium-high

Simmer for 5 minutes or so

Add salt, pepper, basil, oregano, balsamic vinegar, olives and capers

Simmer until pasta is done, but do not let it reduce too much (if it gets dry you can add some of the pasta water)

When pasta is done, drain and add to sauce. Mix, serve with parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!

Picky-eater approved!