two months

I'm remembering the last post in Alabama and it seems like far longer than two months ago. A new year has begun with its attendant frenzy, and we've now settled into a routine that will last through May. I've yet to set foot into the garden this fall; the summer perennials are so leggy they're about to walk out of their pots (the ones that survived, that is!).

I've been wearing the two sweaters I finally finished. Love them both, but especially the Nantucket Jacket. It's so soft and warm, and the cables are awesome.

 

The empire waist cardigan is pretty cool, too.

After a morning of football yesterday, I hit three yarn stores looking for a new project, but came home empty-handed. That didn't last long. Now I'm waiting for this pattern and yarn to arrive. It's a chunky yarn knit on really big needles, so I'm hopeful that I'll finish it in time to wear this winter!

lazy days

It seems fitting to spend our annual week on the Alabama coast working on a skirt from the Alabama Stitch Book. My first foray into hand stitching, and love it. I cut the panels and stenciled them before leaving home. Now I spend lazy days on the back porch stitching around the stenciled designs and cutting out the shapes.

On the horizon, tugs pull barges back and forth. Sometimes they go in circles. We suspect they're skimming for oil.

Until today, the beaches have been clean; the sand white and powdery, the water clear and warm. Today we're getting a film of oil stirred up by the storm brewing in the gulf. Each day we see workers on the beach. They collect early in the morning a couple of miles down West Beach and take off in pairs driving dune buggies up and down the beach, sometimes scouring an area on foot. None of this has kept us from the water.

seven

Seven years old. Her birth seems like yesterday and yet a lifetime ago. How she has grown in those seven years. Today, we celebrated with new skirts (which necessitated a quick trip to City Craft), bottlecap jewelry and her favorite red velvet cupcakes.

May her joy for life never grow old. Happy birthday, sweet girl.

homemade french dressing

A long time ago, I spent several months in France. Twice I flew to England and took a combination of buses, ferry (way before the chunnel!) and trains to Lisieux, in Normandy, and later Tours, in the Loire valley. I was in college at the time and was an extraordinarily picky eater. But those months spent eating seasonal fruit, meat from the semi-weekly market and delicious bread cured every last food aversion I had.

One such aversion was to salad dressing. On the rare occasions that I would eat a salad, I topped it with nothing but salt. During my second trip, which was to Tours, I lived with a family. Dinner each night ended with a simple green salad and cheeses from the week's market trips. Those salads were always the same and always delicious.

To make the dressing, start with shallow bowl. Add a small teaspoon of brown mustard, a clove of chopped garlic, salt and pepper. Mix with a soup spoon of red wine vinegar. Add three to four soup spoons of canola oil one at a time. Mix very well after each addition so the dressing emulsifies properly.

 

It's also good with tomatoes. You'll want a loaf of crusty bread to sop up every last bit from the plate.

everything's better with knitting!

Or is it the other way around? :)  I have a new sweater on the needles. This one is the empire waist cardigan made with classic elite provence. I saw it on a friend to knit with last summer and started it not long afterward. It was eclipsed, though, by the cabled sweater (which is now sitting -- half-put-together -- in the basket from which I rescued the empire waist cardigan).

This is perfect, sit-by-the-pool knitting. The sleeves and back are knit sideways, starting at the end of one sleeve and knitting across to the end of the other sleeve. Then you pick up stitches along one edge and knit in the other direction to make the skirt (peplum?). Off to sit by the pool, knitting in hand...