Date Nut Bread

….or oatmeal bread with a cinnamon swirl? The first is a quick bread. The second involves rising yeast. Date Nut Bread recipe is here, in the Silver Palate Cookbook. The cinnamon oatmeal one is in the index box full of slightly faded favorites (with slightly suspect directions from my Grandmother, who always guarded the _real_ ingredients in her recipes). However, I have lots and lots and lots of walnuts in the refrigerator that are making me dream of baking date nut bread or date nut bars. So, for the holidays, which would you hope to have on the table?

The socks are almost finished. The Cairo Diary is almost finished too. Hopefully tomorrow I will have light to photograph the socks (with their somewhat ingenious heel flap design) and time to talk about my final thoughts on Mont-Saint-Michel, 2005 and Cairo, 1928. It’s been an interesting read.

Sock Market II

I’m well past the leg and heel turn on the second Amazonian sock. If I’m lucky, I’ll get the whole sock done tomorrow and there will be sun for photos. No info on actual stocks or politics here, so if you’re looking for that, you should move along.

We’re all about the frivolous here at WordTapestry. And unless you step on a needle or use a metal one as self-defense on the el, sock knitting isn’t exactly a blood sport. If I can coerce the camera to behave when I get the toes kitchenered up, I’ll put up pictures of the finished pair.

Gone Loopy

Well, feh. The Amazonian sock-in-progress did not like all the air travel back and forth to Kentucky. Loops have fallen off the needle(s!) like leaves from an autumn tree. Lets look at this a little closer.*

Look to the right. See those loopy things that look like part of a noose? (Hey, it was just Halloween… I’m still on ghoulish overload.) Each of those little loops were supposed to be traveling along, happily, on the needle while in transit in my little knitting sack within my backpack. (No knitting happened on either part of the airplane ride, because I was sandwiched like a sardine in the middle seat, and didn’t want to run the risk of poking anyone with an elbow.)

This was the dispiriting sight I saw in the early hours of Wednesday morning (I was hoping to work on the sock at lunchtime). That said, the cold weather is really motivating me to finish this sock. I did get the little loops back on the needles, and I only had a few moments of stress when I had to take two of the loops back off the needles and switch them (they’d gotten twisted out of order).

So, if anyone out there has any hobbies they’d like to share… what are the setbacks you’ve met while “enjoying” your hobby? I’ve done evil things with decopage (one headless cupid applied to a box), ripped an edge on a stencil when I was halfway through with stenciling a repeat around the top of a room, sewn my finger with a sewing machine in Home-ec (still have the gingham apron they made me make), and split a  woodblock in printing class. How about you?

*I figure there has to be something that isn’t focused on the USA election out on the Web (besides all the wonderful ex-US blogs that talk about everyday life and their regional politics). In the case of this blog, it’s dropped stitches.

The Sock Market

…. brought to you by recent events.

Sock accrues interest

Like everyone else, I’m watching the news media closely. Every time I hear the term “Stock Market” I think “Sock Market” since it’s Socktoberfest. I’m working onsite for a client who requires that I take an hour lunch every day (bringing along work for my other clients is obviously a no-no, so I’ve brought my knitting). I ripped back the first Amazonian sock and added length on the foot and finished the toe, then started the second sock immediately. This has been very restful for my eyes, and also kind of restful in a work environment where everyone else is talking about their stocks. Spending a good bit of time wondering if the color is more like a copper-bronze color than forests and water keeps me going through that sort of discussion.

I realize I’m doing my best to avoid a Bare Market, where there aren’t any socks. (Note the bare toe — the second sock is past the cuff already. These socks are definitely engaging my interest more as I work with them.) Sock market and stock market aren’t that distant — As a knitter, I acquire yarn, and then I let it age for a while, waiting until a project comes up. I have a stash of yarn that may grow up to be something else. However, I don’t need to take out loans to acquire this capital, so that’s where the analogy fails. Well, that and the frivolity of the analogy.

So, hopefully more of my yarn will migrate into FOs in time for me to reinvest in my sock yarn (replenishing my stocks, as it were). Next project is a secret one, so I won’t be posting photos of that till it’s safely in the hands of the recipient. But after that, it’s on to birthday sock yarn from last year and choosing a pattern from the Cat Bordhi book.

Yeah, I’m in a punny mood. So, any mishearings of the media amusing you lately?