What Was Inside

A visit to Ryan always includes a trip to The Loopy Ewe. I don't know how I was lucky enough to have Ryan attend grad. school in the same city as this incredible yarn (and fabric) store, but I'm very grateful that he does. (Especially because TLE began in St. Louis, but moved to Fort Collins just a year and a half before Ryan did!) I've been very careful not to buy too much yarn on previous visits because the skeins needed to fit in my carry on luggage. This time was a little different. So what was in those packages?

I wind all my skeins by hand so I'm almost always knitting from a ball. I've debated a yarn bowl for several years, but when I found this beautifully glazed one from Pawley Studios, I had to get it.

My hands were also full of several skeins of Tumbleweed Yarn Aurora in Lariat. The striping sequence is lovely, and it includes the best bright blue I've ever knit with.

Then there was the Wollmeise. The Loopy Ewe used to arrange their yarn in cubbies, but they've recently switched over many of them to wall display hooks. There is simply no resisting when you see the multitude of colorful skeins as soon as you walk in the door.

Part of the reason I love having Ryan shop for yarn with me is that he almost always spots something I might never have considered otherwise. That was the case with these skeins of Wollmeise Pure in Spice Schwammerl. These are not my usual colors, but I was drawn to them as soon as he pointed them out.

I kept a skein of the Tumbleweed Yarns and the Wollmeise to knit with on the way home, and with Loopy Elf Anne B's careful packing (and several skeins for further cushioning), my yarn bowl arrived safely in NJ before I did.

But wait, there's more! Overcome by yarn fumes, I hadn't thought much about what I was actually going to knit with this yarn. Ryan had requested fingerless mitts with the Aurora, but that Wollmeise deserved to be more than another Hitchhiker. Clearly my only choice was to go back and look for yarn that would work with the Wollmeise. I found the perfect match with Leading Men Fiber Arts Show Stopper in Copper Cloud. I think these will be a Match and Move, but for now I'm happy to just admire them together while I finish a few other projects.

Ryan also requested a hat in this gorgeous Wollmeise Pure in Single Malt, and this one last skein of Berry Colorful Yarnings in Happy Life was a must to add to the second yarn shipment. It will probably become fingerless mitts to remind us of hope and happier times with Obama. So there you have it. Loads of yarn, (some might even say too much), but it all makes me incredible happy and I'm looking forward to the knitting.

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Tomorrow is November 1st, and that means NaBloPoMo. Do you ever wake up on Saturday or Sunday, grateful for the weekend, but still wishing that the blogs you read would provide you with posts every single day, even weekends?  Well, it's going to happen, starting tomorrow! I can't promise mine will be good posts, but for November it may be quantity over quality!

The L Word

I noticed there were lots of L words in my weekend.

Leaves

Laundry

Loads of shoppers at Costco

Lasagna

The appearance of lure (doe-in-rut buck lure, I'll spare you any more details) in my refrigerator

A little, adorable great-nephew

And luckily for me, a laugh-filled, and lovely visit from Justin!

Hope your weekend was similarly filled with lots of love and luminous moments!

En(joy)

I'll share my Loopy treasures as soon as I catch up on laundry, grocery shopping, bill-paying, and work, but for today I want to share some joy from Fort Collins. Ryan and I have lots of favorite places to eat in Fort Collins, and The Welsh Rabbit is among the top ones on our list. They have a cheese shop on one side, and next door is a cheese bistro where you order, taste, and enjoy a variety of cheeses, meats, small bites, beer, and wine. As a meat and potatoes kind of guy, John finds it a little pretentious and unsatisfying, but Ryan and I love it and always make sure we go when I'm visiting by myself.

My photos can't convey how delicious our choices were or what a wonderful time we had, and I so wish I could share these incredible flavors with you. Their Honey Chèvre is the best I've ever had, Powerful Welsh is an amazing cheddar, and Sottocenere (truffle-infused and aged in a coat of nutmeg, coriander, cinnamon, licorice, cloves, and fennel) and Moliterno al Vino (an Italian sheep's milk cheese aged in wine) have the most delicious rinds.

Ryan and I both had cherry cider and it was the perfect accompaniment, complete with beautiful reflections from the sun streaming through the window.

We don't have anything like this nearby in NJ, but I am so grateful that such a place exists in Fort Collins and I was able to enjoy a long afternoon there, full of new and delicious cheese and the stellar company of my oldest son.

Three on Thursday

Joining Kat and Carole for Three on Thursday.

1.  I really, really love The Loopy Ewe.

2.  I may have visited twice in three days and gotten some wonderful things.

3.  I especially appreciate that they happily and quickly shipped my purchases and they arrived here at home before I did! 

Head on over here to read more Three on Thursday posts.

Three on Thursday

Joining Kat and Carole for Three on Thursday.

1.  As you read this, I am winging my way to Denver to visit Ryan in Fort Collins.

2.  We have big plans for things to do, hikes to take, places to eat, beer to drink, and maybe even a distillery to visit.

3. And yes, a visit to The Loopy Ewe is definitely on the list! 
    I'll be back here sometime next week. 

Head on over here to read more Three on Thursday posts.

Unraveled Wednesday

Joining Kat and friends for Unraveled Wednesday.

This week looks a lot like last week, but if you squint just the right way, you might see some small, subtle changes. I think the gradient is very slowly beginning to show in my Hitchhiker! I had it on my lap, and in the right light, the cast on at the point is obviously darker than what I am knitting with now. It's hard to see in the photo above, but after taking about 30 photos in different light on different backgrounds, this is the best I could come up with:

I think you can see the difference here, but even if I can't convince you, the yarn that I am knitting with now is obviously lighter than at the start. I don't have a scale so I can't tell how much I've knit with and how much I have left, but my plan is to just knit until I run out of yarn. (It's possible this may end up as the world's longest Hitchhiker.)

I'm reading Reservoir 13 as a real book that I was lucky enough to win on goodreads. It's interesting, but the plot is moving along slowly, so my reading is also. In the "never say never" department, I'm listening to Turtles All the Way Down. I swore that I was too old for John Green's YA fiction and would never read any more after I was disappointed by The Fault in Our Stars, but a title I love, and a couple of quotes from the book convinced me to give this one a try. 

     Worrying is the correct worldview. Life is worrisome.

     Anybody can look at you. It's quite rare to find someone who sees the same world you see.

So far, it's excellent.

What are you making and reading?

Just Visiting

The population in my tiny little town recently grew by several temporary residents. They've just been hanging around quietly, not bothering anyone. I decided to take a look, up close and personal. 

I think I showed you "disgruntled shopper" before (Her real title is "Holding Out"). She is located across from the post office, and I stopped on my way to mail Ryan's birthday present. If possible, she looked even unhappier when I added my Priority box to her packages. I may ask her to model my Hitchhiker in progress if I can get it done before she leaves.

These two look like Biff and Buddy to me, but their title is "Yuck, Go Fetch". I'm not sure why Biff doesn't like Buddy licking his face, but if Buddy was my dog, I'd go in to Barkley's Gourmet Marketplace and get him a treat or two.

I found Mary Jane with her hula hoop ("Attic Trophy") in the garden at the library, a perfect location for her fun. I was fascinated by how real her denim jumper looks, but it's painted bronze.

I tried to tell these two that the train station where they were waiting is really a bank now, but it was almost like their ears were painted on. Don and Pete look like Mad Men, but the sculptor has called them "Frequent Flyers".

Poor "Weekend Painter" seems to have forgotten what he was painting. He has paint on his glasses, pants, and shoe, but no sign of the fence or porch that he might have been working on. I invited him to come to my house and paint, but he just ignored me.

Our visitors are all the work of  J. Seward Johnson, a sculptor and New Jersey native. His work is exhibited all over the world, but he's probably best known for his permanent collection at Grounds for Sculpture. I know several of you have visited and can attest to what an interesting, fun, and beautiful place it is. 

These pieces by Johnson were brought here as a short-term exhibit "to create maximum enjoyment of the sculptures and to drive foot traffic to our businesses.” The sculptures are enjoyable, but for me there is also the issue of what this is costing the town -- $20,000 for two and a half months. That seems like a fairly steep price to pay in a town that has some of the highest property taxes in NJ, and also has trouble finding money for a new fire truck, library books, and has to somehow fund a new $4.5 million water tower. There is much to be said for bringing art to where people live and work; I just wish it was at a more reasonable price. 

Weekending

Some random scenes from my weekend:

I ate what is probably my last homegrown tomato and mayonnaise sandwich of the season. Sad, but delicious.

I went to the farm stand for apples and was treated to some beauty in the form of zinnia bouquets and a field still full of zinnias. It's fall, with fresh-pressed cider and pumpkins, but it was also a very summer-like 80 degrees.

I made a prime rib roast on Sunday. I've been making a concerted effort to use what's in the freezer and I found this forgotten at the bottom. I think I intended to make it as a special welcome home meal when Justin came back from Texas. His girlfriend (at the time) was going to join us, but she decided that she didn't really want an in-person relationship and dumped him a few days after he got back, so the celebratory dinner didn't happen. I decided that John and I should eat it before it got any more freezer-burned, and it was delicious.

And look at my crazy Christmas cactus, blooming in mid-October! I do have others, so I hope some of them save their blossoms until it's a bit closer to Christmas.

Adventures in Sourdough

I read Sourdough about a month ago, and it made me miss the days back in the 70s and 80s when I used to bake a lot of bread. Good sourdough is hard to come by in NJ (much of it is artificially soured with citric acid instead of a good starter), so I mixed up some of my own sourdough starter, let it sit and ferment, and then made some bread.

John's mother called in the middle of the process and needed some help, so I put my rising dough in the refrigerator, covered it with plastic wrap, and hoped I wouldn't be gone too long.

It had risen vigorously and was overflowing the bread pan by the time I got home. I just punched it down, let it rise again,
and was back on track.

The loaf smelled delicious while it baked and didn't look too bad. I did wonder why the top was a lovely golden-brown and the
rest of the loaf was so pale, but it looked and felt done, so I let it cool before cutting my first slice.

I excitedly cut into the loaf, anticipating the delicious taste of warm sourdough bread, but was greeted by something different  -
an oozing tunnel of unbaked dough in the middle.

The bread had been out of the oven and cooling for 15 minutes, but all I could think to do was put it back in the oven to bake some more.
It certainly couldn't get any worse!

I ended up with a distinctively odd loaf with a slightly different texture than normal, but it tasted great. I've made another loaf since then and it turned out perfectly; so good, in fact, that it got eaten before I remembered to take any pictures.

Now I just have to remember to feed my starter, use some of my starter, and keep it happy so I can enjoy sourdough bread
(the kind that is not half-baked).

Three on Thursday

Joining Kat and Carole for Three on Thursday.

Even though not a lot of leaves have changed here (really just one maple in our yard), leaves are falling because it's dry, so leaf-sucking season has begun for me.

1.  Before:

2.  After:

3.  And a (slightly disgusting but honest) leaf-sucking selfie:

It's a dirty job, but somebody has to do it!

Head on over here to read more Three on Thursday posts.