hello, gorgeous

Thanks to the Pocket Linguist's heroic efforts, this little darling was waiting for me when I returned from NEFFA. It's a two-year-old, third-hand Kromski Sonata, bought off Ravelry from a woman in waaay upstate New York. Not pictured: the jumbo flyer, jumbo bobbin, fast flyer, three more regular bobbins, carrying bag (excellent turtle disguise), or the pound and a half of fiber Marjorie sent along with the wheel.

Verdict so far? It's amazing, and I don't regret buying it without having spun on a Sonata before. (I had tried a Minstrel and felt kind of enh about it.) It's comfortably tall so I don't hunch over, but folds up plenty small– the carrying case is needlessly large, I think, but conveniently so if you want to stuff extras in with the wheel. I do need to get some oil for it, as the bobbins got quite noisy and the treadles a bit squeaky after a while.

I spun up a bit of test yarn out of domestic wool roving (chain plying: harder than you think!), then managed ~3 oz Ashland Bay 50/50 merino/silk in Sea Mist (shown) and 4 oz Squoosh 70/30 superwash merino/alpaca in Eire before moving out. Until September, it's back to spindles, knitting needles, basket reed, and my loom... I guess I might be able to keep myself occupied.

when life gives you lemons...

...a whole whack of them (technical unit of measure), organic, for $3...



make lemon tart!

I used Dorie Greenspan's recipe in Baking: from my home to yours, which is virtually indistinguishable from the one posted by smitten kitchen here. The differences are these: Dorie calls for two egg yolks, not one, and substitutes 1/2 c heavy cream for 1/4 c of the butter. That quarter cup more liquid may have been responsible for the overflow I experienced; I had to siphon off some of the filling to use just as lemon curd (oh, the tragedy).

My father's sister has a dedication to lemons that encompasses more than their bright taste and cheering scent. She has a lemon-printed jacket and lemon-themed tote bags, lemon soap dishes and – somewhat impractically – lemon-shaped soap. Last summer I made lemon-blueberry pound cake when we visited her. And always, every time we traipse up North or she flits down South, we make Loukie Werle's lemon pasta. She generally squeezes on a bit more lemon.

separation anxiety

Will somebody tell me that this is madness? Exhibit one:

(L-R: Two skeins of Colinette Jitterbug, Dream in Color Smooshy, two skeins of Malabrigo Sock, and some handspun superwash BFL lurking at the bottom)

That is enough sock yarn for six pairs of socks, only two of which are intended to be plain old-plain old – and of those two, one pair is slated to be weirdly constructed and requiring of squinting at computer screens. I am absolutely not capable of knitting six pairs of socks in four months, people, and yet I am sorely tempted to cram all of that into my suitcase. Yes, in addition to a pair of socks in progress, two pairs of fingerless gloves in progress, a sweater that has been in progress twice so far (stupid gauge), two pairs of fingerless gloves-to-be, and a spinning project. I have classes! And more sock yarn already at school! Alack, alas, how can I choose?

(Lest you think that is the extent of my madness, allow me to assure you that my sock yarn stash is rather larger than that – remember, sock yarn doesn't count. The photo represents only that yarn which I felt most compelled to pack, least rationally.)