Herdliament??

A group of cows is called a herd.  A group of owls is called a parliament.  Is a group of cowls called a herdliament?  Whatever it is called, I am creating one.

Yesterday I took a class on Tunisian crochet at Knitting Temptations.  It is a 2-part class with the second class in 2 weeks.  We are making a cowl using three of the Tunisian stitches:  Tunisian simple stitch, Tunisian purl stitch and Tunisian full stitch.  I am really loving how the piece is working up.  The bottom edge of the piece is a combination of simple stitch and purl stitch, creating a honeycomb pattern.  The center is solid full stitch.  The top edge will repeat the honeycomb pattern.

After this project is done, I'd like to make more projects with this technique, however the instructor mentioned that there really isn't much in the way of patterns for Tunisian crochet.  She wants to write some patterns to fill the void.  As I'm making the cowl I can imagine a jacket in Tunisian crochet.  The fabric is thick but has more stretch than regular crochet.  It would be something classic looking, like this Karl Lagerfeld jacket.  Maybe I should design my own.  Hmmm....

I'm making progress on the Fall Run cowl.  I passed the halfway point on the pattern.  I really love the way the colors are working up.  As much as I love it, though, I think this will be gifted at Christmas.

Another cowl is on the needles.  This is the Gift of Thistle 1 cowl from Knitty.  I plan to make two of these, one for each of my girls.  I am practicing the Portuguese knitting technique that I learned earlier this year.  The first couple rows were fiddly but I am getting the hang of it.

Got My Goetta

The batch of goetta was a success.  Blake came home for the weekend and has been eating it every morning for breakfast.  Trisha is eating hers after she exercises for a blast of protein.  Kristin is very disappointed that she can't have any yet.  There is a chance some of her friends will be going to visit her next week.  If so, I'll send some up to her along with some other things around the house that she needs.

Several months ago I signed up for Knit Purl Hunter's sock knit along.  I bought this lovely skein of Stone Washed Zauberball.  As you can see I haven't cast on yet.  To be honest, I totally forgot about the event until I a mention of it in a newsletter from my LYS.  I'll have to put this on the "On Deck Circle" until I finish the socks I have in progress.

The Bat****Crazy socks have arisen from hibernation.  Once these are done, I will cast on the Zauberball.

I want to make mention that I am using Knitter's Pride Cubics for these socks.  I wasn't sure I would like the square cross section, but I have to admit I love them.  It might be my imagination but I think they grab the yarn a wee bit better than round needles.  I haven't had an issue of the needles sliding out of the stitches when the project is set aside.

I bought myself a couple new books.  I love Amy Herzog so I had to get her latest book.  I'll admit the second book was added to get the free shipping from Amazon (I know, don't tell me how spending $20 more to save $8 isn't really a savings!) but I'm glad I got it.  It has some really cute projects that look quick to knit up.  There is a pair of mittens that I think are going to be part of Kristin's Christmas presents 

Speaking of Christmas presents, I've started on one.  This is the Fall Run cowl from Destination Yarn.  This isn't the advertised colorway.  I'm making it in Sea and Shark Infested Waters.  I bought the yarn and pattern back in the summer when Jeanne was doing a trunk show at a LYS.

I have a few more projects I want to cast on, but I'll have to practise some restraint.  Patience.

Travels

We had our 27th wedding anniversary this year.  To celebrate we took a trip to Savannah for a long weekend in September.  The weather was warm, but not too warm.  We stayed across the river from the city.  Whenever we wanted to go downtown, we took a ferry to River St.  We also had a rental car that permitted us to venture a little farther away.

We drove out to Tybee Island one afternoon.  We climbed the lighthouse, grabbed some lunch and then visited the beach.  We didn't bring our swimsuits with us so a stroll along the sand was all we did.

We also visited Bonaventure Cemetery.  It is a beautiful, old cemetery.  It was a cloudy day, so the colors are not as vibrant.  This is one of my favorite tombstones.  I was hoping to find the iconic bird girl from the novel "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" but we learned that it has been relocated to a museum to protect it.

We spent one evening at the Savannah Smiles Dueling Piano bar.  This establishment is co-owned by some people from my hometown, so I knew we needed to stop in for a visit.  It was a lot of fun.  We go there just as the doors opened and of course the place was a bit empty, but as the evening went on more groups showed up.  Around 11 we called it a night so that we could catch a ferry back to our hotel.

It was our first visit to Savannah and won't be our last.  We fell in love with the place.  I hope the town didn't suffer too much damage from Hurricane Matthew this past weekend.   I'd like to go back and explore more of the parks and historic districts.

The week after we were home, we attended the charter initiation ceremony for the Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society at Trisha's college.  She was inducted as a charter member.  We are very proud of her.

Then the next weekend we went to Cincinnati to visit Blake for Parents' Weekend at University of Cincinnati.  He took us on a tour around campus and showed us his skills on the rock climbing wall.  We had to cut the visit short, though, because I had a terrible head cold and wasn't energetic enough for too much activity.

I took advantage of feeling sluggish to finish up Blake's Gradient Blanket.  He'll be home next weekend for a mid-semester break so he'll get to take it back to school with him.  I need to send it on a trip through the washer first so that he doesn't also take back some of the germs I had.

Vine Street Vest was my take-along project for the Savannah trip.  I am probably a third of the way through.  I'm anxious to get this done to wear over some long sleeved tops.  There is starting to be a little chill in the air.  This is perfect for those crisp fall days.

Fall weather also means it is time to make a batch of goetta.  Goetta was a staple of my childhood and my children have adopted a love for the dish. My mom made her own from scratch, but there are commercial varieties available.  Cooking up a batch is a 4-5 hour process, so it is a good activity for a cool, fall weekend.  A big batch will last us several months since it can be portioned and frozen.  The traditional recipe calls for beef and pork, which is the way my mom made hers. I make mine with beef and ground turkey.  Kristin says mine isn't quite as good as Mammaw's, which is probably the difference of the meats.  Maybe this year, to honor my mom, I'll use pork.  In fact, I think I will.

All this talk about goetta is getting me hungry.  I better get it started or else I'll be up late waiting for it to cook.  Time to goetta to it!