I Couldn’t Help It

If you’re a knitter, you’ll understand what I mean when I tell you that a specific skein of yarn spoke to me this weekend. If you don’t knit, you may think I’ve lost it; trust me, I haven’t. Yarn speaks to knitters all the time.

A number of years ago, I ordered some yarn online. I wound one of the skeins into a ball and tried several times to knit with it, but every time I did, the pattern and yarn just did not play well together. This past weekend, I was reading one of the forums on Ravelry and the Haruni shawl came up; being unfamiliar with it, I looked it up. Well, it turns out that it’s a free pattern and as soon as I saw it, I could hear the yarn calling, telling me that this was the ONE.

My Haruni will be knit on much finer needles than I’ve used for shawl knitting so far; I’m using a 2.5 mm Addi Lace circular. That means this shawl will not be a quick knit. So far, though (not quite one repeat in), I’m liking the look and feel of it and it’s an easy pattern to memorize.

The yarn is Handmaiden Fine Yarns Silk Floss, 100% lace weight silk yarn. There are 500 m/50 grams and I have two skeins of this lovely yarn. The colourway I’m using is called Moss Garden, and that really is what it reminds me of.

The pattern, as I’ve already written, is a free pattern that can be found on Ravelry. If you’re a Ravelry member, check it out. If you knit and you’re not on Ravelry, get over there and join; it’s an invaluable resource for anyone who knits or crochets!

In other things, because yesterday was Canada Day and today is Friday, and likely a very quiet day at work, I took the day off, giving me a four day weekend. I can’t remember the last time I had that much time off in a row; it feels good! Yesterday, we did very little but I did make granola (which didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped) and Yorkshire puddings to go with the roast John made for dinner (again, they didn’t turn out as well as they have in the past; I think this oven is hotter than the last one).

This morning, I’ve been busy with laundry, cleaning and cooking/baking. While browsing over at the Tasty Kitchen, I found a recipe for hush puppies that sounded really good. I made them and they ARE really good! I’ve never had hush puppies before, but I’ll definitely be making them again. I may even add a thing or two to the recipe, like hot sauce. Just a thought.

I also made a batch of dinner buns. Again, it’s a recipe I found over at the Tasty Kitchen. They’re my go-to dinner bun recipe. I definitely have to get used to this oven, though. The buns didn’t turn out quite as well as they have when I made them at the apartment. The bottom crust is a little thick and almost a touch burned, even though I turned the oven down by 25 degrees. Perhaps it would be a good idea to invest in an oven thermometer, just to see how much it really is out.

They still taste good, though. And, really, that’s what counts, doesn’t it?