Saturday, July 27, 2013

A Gas (or Is That a Garlic?) Emergency

The renovation next door continues. Temporarily, our two basements are not as well sealed off as they eventually will be, so some noises and cooking smells pass through. Last week, I decided to make a lentil salad. This involved cooking up a quantity of lentils along with quite a bit of garlic. While the onions, lentils, and garlic cooled, I went out to take care of a few errands. Maybe the garlic scent transformed itself into something more sinister on its passage through the basement wall, but somehow, the workmen next door thought they smelled a gas leak!!! They called the gas company, which in short order sent out someone to take readings. Surprise--no gas. What they should have had was a garlic-o-meter. Consider it revenge (unplanned) for the shattered artwork.
While I'm waiting to begin the Harriet's Jacket KAL next week, I'm working on some proofreading of a pattern for an upcoming fall issue of an online magazine and auditioning some yarns for a version of Zora for myself. I found these at my LYS yesterday and brought home one ball of each to play with.


Sublime's Cashmere Merino Silk Aran
Grignasco's Loden

I'm told that Grignasco is going out of business, so there won't be any more of this lovely stuff--as if I need an excuse to stock up. I knitted up a little swatch before breakfast this morning, gave it a dunk in a bowl of water, and laid it by the front window to dry.
                                                                                                                                                                         

You're right if you think that this doesn't have the "swirliness" of the Zora double wave cables. In the process of switching from one yarn to the other, I forgot to work the two straight rows in the middle of the piece, thus ending up with a diamond rather than an oval. I think I'm going to go with the tweedy look. The Grignasco has better yardage too. What do you think?
We're in high summer mode here in Kingston with a slew of perfect low humidity days in the mid-20s C (mid-70s F). The grape vines in our garden are producing like crazy,


the downtown is swamped with tourists,


 the boatslips are full,


and the gardens are in full bloom.



Looks like it's going to be a great weekend, barring further gas garlic emergencies. 
P.S. Would I be an evil person if I decided to make curry tonight?