weekend in pictures

The biggest thing: I finished the knitting (well, except for the neckband, but really, that's *finishing*) of the Hagrid sweater, and late last evening laid it out to wet-block:



Yeah, not the best week for wetblocking as we've already had heavy downpours today (more humid) and it's supposed to rain every day this week.

I wound up stacking the sleeves because of a shortage of room, but also to be sure they're at the same dimensions.

Next step, once this dries, is to sew the shoulder seams, work a short (8 rounds) twisted-rib neckband, and then put the sleeves in and sew the side seams. I bought a skein of pink floss on Friday that will match this because while I have plenty of the yarn (one ball I have not breached and probably won't have to - so I don't know whether to pop it back into the stash or to scan the "ISO" boards on Ravelry (this is a discontinued color of City Tweed heavy-worsted).  If someone needs it to finish a project I'd be happy to trade with them because I know what a nightmare it can be to run short on yarn.

I'm happy the knitting is done on this - I *think* I've been working on this since 2013, so it's high time I finished it.

It's cables, which means it's more complex knitting, so I couldn't use it as an invigilating-knitting project, and also, it wasn't so great when I was tired because I didn't want to miscross a cable.

Here's an "extreme night vision" (long exposure) shot taken so the cables show up without flash washing them out. Yes, they look a little wonky but that's because this isn't my best job of pinning out ever, they will settle down once I sew up the sweater:



I think my next "try to finish" is going to be the Grasse Matinee sweater, though I might try to work on a couple smaller projects, too.

I want to finish at least one more thing before starting anything new, but I think my next new project will be the Augusta Cardigan (just a classic, cabled cardigan sweater) from New England Knits. I've had a honey-brown K1C2 yarn in the stash for it for a number of years, and I feel a desire to start that. (Bonus: parts of that will be simple enough to work as reading-knitting or invigilating knitting once classes start)


I also want to start another Harry Potter-inspired sweater soon - I have yarn for the Heliopath Vest in my stash from a several-years'-ago trip to Stitches N Stuff.

Both of these require buttons....but that's part of the fun of making things like these, hunting around for just the right buttons. (The Heliopath Vest, I could almost see using mismatched but coordinating buttons in keeping with the general Luna Lovegood-ness of it).



And this came out a little dark (forgot I had flash off) but I did make those "no bake" cookies I linked to the other day:



I used dried montmorency cherries instead of raisins and that was a good substitution. (The cookies would be good without any add-ins, also, I think). They were very good - almond butter, although expensive, is delicious and it works well in here because of how it blends with the other flavors.

I think you could equally use puffed rice (instead of oats) in these and that would be good if crunchier. In general, this seems like a very flexible recipe: you probably could use butter instead of coconut oil, and you could use other grains in it, or add in nuts, or chocolate chips, or flaked coconut (that would probably be good - or do them with no cinnamon, no raisins, but flaked coconut, and then dip in chocolate and they would be like German chocolate cake).

And they're super fast, they take like 1/4 the time of regular cookies and you don't heat up the oven.

I'm sure they're not lo-cal, with almond butter and coconut oil in them, but they are made of all nutritious ingredients (oats and dried fruit and almond butter....) and so I dare say they're NOT "empty calories" (though I kind of hate that term, because even "empty" calories do give you energy, and in some cases they may provide other, more psychological, benefits).

But these WOULD be good long-distance-hiking snacks, because of the whole "energy-packed" thing and the fact that they have protein from the nut butter.

They remind me of a cross between the British-style "flapjack" and those "ragged robin"/"preachers" cookies that people make a lot around here. (I think many of you know those - the ones with chocolate and oats and peanut butter and you do them on top of the stove? I was told they were called "preachers" by some because they were quick enough that if your preacher* called you up and said s/he was coming by for a visit, you could have them ready by his/her arrival)

(*I also remember an African-American fellow student of mine - who had relatives in the ministry - insisting to me that you don't call the person a "preacher," you call them a "pastor" because, and I quote: "A 'preacher' is a pastor who doesn't have a church position." No idea how widespread that usage is, but she was quite insistent)