Our little guy is now nearly 19 months old, and he’s making all kinds of strides, physically and developmentally. He’s still a string bean—55th percentile for height and head circumference, 3rd percentile for weight—and so active I’m thinking we’re never going to get him fattened up now. We finally got him used to his stiff tennis shoes (he used to stand stock still and cry when we put them on, and then walked very slowly like Frankenstein, clinging to everything). While the weather held up, we went for loads of trips to the park and just walks outside; Nolan can walk around on the sidewalk for a good 90 minutes without letting up (or making much forward progress for that matter—I’d love to know what that kid is thinking sometimes when he’s wandering around).

Here he wouldn’t hold still long enough for me to finish getting his jammies on. It’s hard to tell from a still photo, but he was running through the house at top speed, holding a shoe, and squealing with delight at his escape.

Another top-speed photo, this time fully dressed. Note that the 18-mo pants, which I had to belt onto him over his cloth diapers, are still making their way down.

A rare still moment, courtesy of a new toy. Nolan seems to be very mechanically inclined, and loves figuring out how things work and come apart. This latch board was right up his alley, but he loves anything with moving parts or pieces that come apart and fit together. He actually figured out how to take a pen apart a few weeks ago, the ball-point sort that screws together in the middle.

I keep missing the money shot with the dog. Nolan loves his Freyja-dog so much: he’s always chasing her around, throwing toys for her to fetch, trying to feed her kibble, and cuddling with her. She is about as patient, gentle and aware of his presence as she could be, so much so that he can reach into her mouth and pull out her favorite toy with absolutely no resistance on her part. She does sometimes try to escape to another room when he smothers her with too much attention, however.

One of the biggest developments of the past month or two has been kisses. Nolan started giving us big bear-hugs first, and now he gives kisses constantly: Mom and Dad, Freyja, the knees of visitors, the phone, and most of his toys, all accompanied with a very clear “mmmwaaa” smacking sound. He’s also suddenly become very attached to his stuffed animals, and insists on having one or more to cuddle first thing in the morning—his monkey gets a kiss before I do. We’re still waiting for Nolan to really start talking, but he clearly demonstrates comprehension all the time. Here I asked him to give his monkey a kiss for the camera and he was happy to oblige.

One last note: I finally knitted something since the baby was born! (Blame it on our broken iMac.) Nolan had grown out of most of his socks, so I knitted him a new pair of cute little orange ones with a bit of a swashbuckler cuff, based on a pattern from Cat Bordhi’s book.

June 19, 1999

Progress is definitely being made, but I’ve still got at least a month to go…

Also of potential interest, our registry information (work in progress that it is) can be found here.

I was one of the lucky 2,000 who made it into the 2007 Rockin’ Sock Club from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. We received our first yarn pack at the beginning of March, and the club got off to a good start.

The yarn, STR Medium Weight in the custom colorway Monsoon, was absolutely gorgeous. I had been wanting to make some socks in a green colorway, and the greens, browns, and grays in this yarn were perfectly suited to the end of an Oregon winter. I liked the pattern a lot also, a reversible cable cuff with ribbed insteps and short-row garter toes and heels, knit toe-up.

The problem, though, was the fit. I started off knitting this pair of socks on #0s, thinking I’d make the pair for myself. However, it quickly became clear that they were coming out too large for my tiny feet, and the suggested to go down a needle size on the foot was complicated by the fact that I don’t want to have to use 8″ long #00 DPNs. Why in the world don’t they make shorter laceweight (00, 000, etc.) DPNs? At any rate, I decided to just go with the flow and gift these beautiful Monsoon socks to someone who’ll fit into them.

My second problem came when I started knitting the cabled cuffs of the socks. After 3 false starts for various reasons, I finally made it through the top of the cuff on my fourth attempt, and tried the sock on. I could get it on, but it felt awfully snug, and I hated the way the large cables made my ankles all lumpy and bumpy. I can’t even imagine how they’d feel if I wanted to wear them with boots that come up over the ankle. So I ripped out attempt #4 to the heel and did the socks with a half-sized cable instead. I still like how they look, though they sacrificed some reversibility, and the ankle is much less lumpy and tight, knit on #1 needles. I also added some ribbing for balance before casting off.

Our second kit was the gorgeous, and brand-new, Socks that Rock Silkie in the Walking on the Wild Tide colorway. The yarn is fantastically soft, and I was excited to make the pattern, a pair of lace knee-highs, to wear with skirts in the spring. Pretty soon, though, reports began coming in about sagging socks, and I got discouraged. I really want to do this yarn justice both pattern-wise and texture-wise, and I really was enamored of the lace knee-high idea, so I’ve been kicking around some ideas and not really making any decisions about what to do.

The June kit was less in my color palette, but that’s partly why I joined the club, right? STR lightweight in the Firebird colorway, lots of reds, oranges, yellows and pinks. The club pattern didn’t really do it for me either, but I’ve recently started a pair of socks using this yarn and the Fawkes pattern at Socktopia. Several other people in the club did so also, and I liked the results; plus, the colorway and pattern seem meant to go together.

It was the August kit, though, received just over a week ago, that really got me wanting to knit again. I’ve laid off almost entirely over the summer, in part because of the puppy, but when I saw this month’s kit, I pulled out the needles right away. The yarn is STR lightweight in a colorway called Flower Power, and the pattern, Summer of Love Lace, is an anklet with a cute little lace cuff.

I got the yarn on a Friday and had the first sock finished by Sunday evening, the second sock by mid-weed. Of course, it’s way too warm out here for me to cover my feet in wool. Even cotton socks are a bit much at the moment. But they’ll be darn cute a bit later in the fall and next spring.

I made the small size and didn’t need to make any adjustments at all for a perfect fit. My kind of pattern! In fact, I was so pleased with the outcome that I will definitely consider knitting this pattern again (and again).

Two more kits to go!

This is just a heads-up for those of you who are interested in cooking or food in general. I’ve been collecting recipes that we particularly like for some time, mostly for my own benefit and future reference. Recently, though, I’ve starting adding photos and narrative to the recipes, and posting more frequently, and lo and behold, I seem to be writing a food blog.

So come check out The Persnickety Palate from time to time to see what we’ve been eating and why (also when, how, and whence). We’ve also added a link to it from here, in the Links box at the right. A taste for you: Last night we had wild sockeye salmon, broiled and served with a roasted red pepper sauce and sauteed snow peas, and homemade cheesecake ice cream for dessert.

The photo doesn’t do them justice: They were perfect fresh from the skillet (crisp outside and succulently moist inside), tasted just as good at room temperature, and held up admirably in the form of reheated leftovers, warmed in a 350F oven for 15-20 minutes. I served them with a mound of sauteed spinach and the Greek roasted potatoes here (which also reheated nicely in the oven).

Since my recipe was an adaptation of several different meatball recipes, I’ve written it out for you. We’ll definitely be making them again soon.

The reason I chose the yarn for the first pair of socks will be immediately apparent to anyone with Ohio ties: it’s Claudia sock yarn in the Buckeye colorway. This was my first experience with Claudia yarns, and I must say it was a pleasant one. The yarn was very soft and beautifully dyed. The skeins are a little on the skimpy side, however, so I took the precaution of knitting this pair of RPM socks toe-up. Other specs, mostly for my own benefit: I used the Easy Toe from Sensational Knitted Socks, starting with 12 sts, short-row heels; knit on #0 needles over 63 sts for the foot; worked the spirals in opposite directions for a matched pair.

The second pair of socks was knit because Heather is a big Harry Potter fan; of course she needed to have a pair of Gryffindor socks! I decided to do a stripe more along the lines of the scarves from later movies for this pair, and carried the yarn inside to avoid weaving in a bazillion ends. I used more of my lovely Lang Jawoll yarn for this, and I couldn’t be happier with the colors. Since I knew I had plenty of yarn, I knit these top down. And some specs: #0 needles, 64 sts cast on, modified long-tail CO from Nancy Bush; 2” of 2/2 ribbing for the cuff in red; traveling jogless jog; stripe pattern: 5 rounds yellow, 3 red, 5 yellow, 11 red; short-row heels and standard toes in red.

Enjoy them, Heather, and stay warm!

When our guests left, I got started on Jeremy’s birthday cake: German chocolate, naturally! I got the cake in the oven and discovered that there was less coconut than expected in the cupboard, so I made a quick dash over to Safeway for that, and ended up lugging home a bunch of inordinately heavy stuff: short ribs, sunchokes, potatoes, rice, and so on. Thank goodness we had enough flour and sugar. Good exercise, though, I suppose. Jeremy got in some painting while I was gone… hopefully he’ll post updated photos of what he’s working on before too long.

Anyway, while the frosting finished up (this recipe involved making dulce de leche in the oven, a lengthy process), Jeremy helped me with dinner, which was masaman curry. Jeremy loves curry, but I don’t care for it, so I would probably not have considered making it if it weren’t for Curry Simple. Their Thai tea syrup was recommended on one of the food blogs I read, and when I saw their packets of masaman curry sauce, I knew Jeremy would appreciate it for a special occasion like his birthday. Everything arrived really quickly after I ordered it, and dinner was as easy as sauteeing chicken and then vegetables while I boiled some new potatoes, and mixing everything together with the sauce packet. We served it over jasmine rice with Thai iced tea to drink, and the surprising bit was that I actually thought it was pretty good, not too spicy. I ate a small plateful, Jeremy had two huge helpings, and we still had plenty of leftovers, so I think it was an all-around success. Good thing too, because I ordered some pad thai sauce at the same time. So we’ll probably continue ordering sauces from Curry Simple from time to time.

Once Jeremy had time to digest his dinner, we tried out the cake, and it came out really well also. It was actually the inside-out German chocolate cake from Epicurious, but I don’t have any way of storing layer cakes, so I converted it to a sheet cake and left off the ganache layer because it seemed plenty sweet and rich as it was. It was very tasty, and perhaps even better the second day, after a stint in the fridge.

As I mentioned previously, these socks are knit from Socks that Rock Lightweight, in the Downpour colorway, perfect for a wet Oregon winter. They came out nicely, and this is definitely a pattern I’ll use again, not least because they needed no adjustment to fit my tiny feet. As for the yarn, I love the colors and the way they striped without too much flashing; the wool is warm and squishy without being too itchy.

Next I whipped out a very quick little pair of anklets from a leftover skein of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in Vera. I tried out several different pattens with this yarn and ended up doing a simple checkerboard/basketweave pattern. I think the came out really cute, and will make good spring socks.

While making the anklets, I also started (and finished) a pair of Chain Link Socks. This pattern was from the SixSox Knitalong, and I used my leftover Trekking #67 and some white Lang Jawoll, and didn’t come close to using up either one. A visually interesting pattern, but verrrry simple to knit, and I was shocked to note that the stripes in the Trekking came *this* close to matching up, without any intentions on my part.

Finally, I finished my first pair of Trekking knee socks, to be worn with skirts and/or boots. I used a traveling clock pattern from Folk Knitting in Estonia for some visual interest on the sides, and did them plain otherwise. They were knit toe-up so that I could make the most effective use of the yarn, and I ended up with a tiny bit leftover, so I think I did pretty well.

Over the weekend, I started a new pair of socks for Jeremy, still pending his approval. No pics yet. They are Spey Valley Socks in Trekking XXL #90, which is coming out much more green and gray than brown, oddly. I like how they look, though, and because Jeremy said the last pair, also made from Trekking, felt bumpy under his feet, I’m doing these with a reverse stockinette sole.

1. Animal watching

We had great fun watching the flocks of sparrows, house finches and juncos swarming over the bird feeder out the back windows. They persisted in coming throughout both of the storms, and after the first few hours of the first blizzard, my mom went outside to refill the feeder and put out a new one (read: old perch of my parrot, Pogo’s) so even more birds could get in on the fun. You can see some of them in most of Jeremy’s bird feeder photos. We also had visits from several blue jays on several occasions, always readily apparent because they shrieked out warning calls to the little birds to get out of their way just prior to arrival. After the second blizzard, there were flickers hanging out both in the backyard ash tree and on the feeder, and even a little downy woodpecker, who incited a lot of photographic action in the house.

The other stars of the backyard show were the squirrels. We watched them in fascination, as, every time it stopped snowing, they would forge a path through the snow in a brave effort to reach the feeders. We think they were staying in the big evergreen tree in the back corner of the yard, and would virtually swim at top speed through the surface of the snow to the ash tree, after which they had a big decision to make: drop down from the branches of the tree to the roof of the feeder or wade through more snow and climb up? We saw them go both routes, though the former was more entertaining, especially with several feet of snow on the feeder’s roof. It took us a while to realize what had caused the big hole in the middle of that pile of snow.

And I can’t talk about animal watching without mentioning my parents’ cats, Addie and TooCute. They were just as fascinated by the birds and squirrels as we were, and when there was a lull in the wildlife activity, we entertained the cats. TooCute really hated Jeremy and me, and would hiss at us and strike at us whenever we tried to pet her, but she was also constantly hanging around and sometimes even rubbing up against our legs, strangely. The most we could do with her was dangle a gold string in front of her to play, but that was good for hours of entertainment for both cats. I guess we were all easily amused.

2. Knitting

I got in some knitting time over the course of the two weeks we were in Littleton. I was knitting myself a pair of socks from STR Lightweight in the lovely Downpour colorway, using the famous Conwy pattern from Nancy Bush’s Knitting on the Road. The first night there I started the cuff of my second Conwy sock, but after that I concentrated on Christmas knitting. I had ordered a skein of STR Lightweight in Petrified Wood to make socks for my dad (and maybe a skein of the Meteorite colorway for myself, down the line), and it arrived just before we flew out. So I wound up the skein and set myself to knit those socks in the week before Christmas. I didn’t bring any sock knitting books with me due to space constraints, but I had been happy with how Jeremy’s Gentleman’s Fancy Socks came out, so I decided to go with that. The pattern was fairly easy to remember, aside from calf shaping, which I made up to no detriment. I used #1 needles and started with 84 stitches, eventually decreasing to 72 to accommodate my dad’s petite ankles. The colorway received fatherly approval and held up beautifully against the texture pattern and the changes in circumference with no flashing. I used a short row heel and a standard toe, and used up virtually every scrap of the skein, down to the last yard. It was a little nervewracking there at the end, but they came out perfectly, and seem to fit Dad well. I finished them up by the Friday before Christmas, no sweat.

While doing some of our Christmas shopping the Tuesday before the first storm, we just happened to go in a yarn store in downtown Littleton, A Knitted Peace. My mom got a pattern and some needles to make hats, and a little kit for me to knit her a pretty scarf, along with a bagful of Rowan Silk & Wool DK in a gorgeous silver color they call clay, earmarked for the Ogee Tunic in Norah Gaughan’s Knitting Nature. I worked up the scarf, which uses a strand of Kid Silk Haze and a strand of Katia Sevilla held together and worked in a simple garter/drop stitch pattern, after I finished my dad’s socks. That took all of a few hours to polish off in an evening. Then I went back to my Conwy socks, and got the second one finished off the night before we left for Oregon. Not a bad way to bookend the trip, though I had a skein of purple Trekking all lined up to (hopefully) do a pair of knee socks for myself. I’m working on those now with #0 needles and a simple clock pattern from Folk Knitting in Estonia for some visual interest.

3. Cooking and eating

We made some lovely meals over the course of the trip, including both old standbys and some new recipes on the menu. I didn’t write everything down, but here are a few mentionables:

• Our favorite pork loin with leeks from Cooking Light: We’ve made this many times and it came out great, as always.
• Braised lamb shanks with porcini: This was a meal just for me and Jeremy, as my parents had a Christmas party to attend.
• Zinfandel-braised pot roast with glazed carrots from All About Braising: The meat was very tasty but the carrots were awesome and we didn’t make nearly enough of them (this coming from someone who doesn’t care for cooked carrots under normal circumstances).
• Rice-asparagus soup with pancetta and pepper from Zuni Café Cookbook: This was a light, tasty soup that we served with a grating of parmesan and slices of fresh bread.
• Vietnamese braised scallops from All About Braising, served with a whole grain asparagus salad with soy-ginger vinaigrette from Once Upon a Tart: I’ve made the scallops once before, and made them here at my dad’s request. My fish-wary mom bravely ate a scallop and didn’t think it was too bad. The barley-wild rice salad with asparagus went well as a side for the scallops, though the amount of dressing called for was excessive, in my opinion. This was our Christmas Eve meal.
• Leg of lamb stuffed with feta and chard: This was our Christmas dinner. It came out so well the first time we made it that Jeremy and I both really wanted my parents to try it, and I think it was a success. We had a beautiful fresh piece of lamb, and leftovers for days. We kept the sides simple and went with mashed potatoes, fresh steamed broccoli, and the red wine jus from the lamb.

We also did quite a bit of baking, though we had planned to do more, and got cut short a bit by the abruptness of our flight on Saturday. Mostly we did Christmas cookies, but a few other items as well:

• Chocolate chip cookies: I used my favorite recipe, which tweaks David Lebovitz’s fantastic cookies with the addition of toffee bits for a subtle extra hit of flavor. These didn’t last long.
• Sugar cookies: These came from a can, but sugar cookies are really just a vehicle for frosting anyway, right?
• Pumpkin cookies: These are one of my favorite cookies of all time, and we made them partly because we had a partial can of pumpkin left from a batch of pumpkin waffles (very tasty, served with maple pecan syrup). They have chocolate chips and almonds in them, and an almost cakey texture from the moistness of the pumpkin.
• Buckwheat cookies: I’ve made these a bunch of times at home, and they are one of my favorites with tea. This was the first time I’ve made them with a mixer instead of a food processor, though.
• Harvest squash bread: My mom had a butternut squash on the counter when we arrived, waiting to be made into bread. We tried it out with this recipe from Macrina Bakery and Cafe Cookbook, and it came out well, after burning a batch of walnuts and pecans based on the amount of time indicated in the book for toasting them. If I made this again, I’d used hulled pepitas instead of the whole pumpkinseeds we had on hand, as the hulls were not the greatest eating, though a good source of fiber, I’m sure.