Garbage soup
That’s what my husband’s family used to call the end-of-the-week, use-up-the-leftovers soup his mother would make. And that’s the kind of post this is going to be. With the official Blue Garter photographer out of town, I have no new documentation of the vest or the armwarmers–we’ll try later this week if the gloomy light of a rainy Portland March permits. It was a busy week of evening meetings and extra choir performances for Ash Wednesday, but I did squeeze in knitting time. Want to see what happens when you let a riot of only-possibly-complementary colors loose on a swatch cap?
This might be the ugliest thing I’ve ever knitted, or it might not. I can’t decide. Sometimes I look at it and have to look away; other times I think it might be kind of awesome. I think it’s the chartreuse green causing the conflict. If I’d gone with a soft salmon pink, a paler cousin of the first background color in the OXO motif, the whole thing would have been more harmonious. But I like those peerie bands in hellebore colors in isolation. Ah well, it’s a swatch cap, and I don’t believe these colors have a future on a sweater of mine, but the hat kept my head warm when Lark and I went out on a singularly blustery walk with Katherine and her husband and their Sheltie, Merlin, this afternoon. Which is the point of a hat, right?
It was a wet and wild day out at the Sandy River delta, made more memorable by the presence of a number of dead fish cast up on the shore. One was quite a ways from the river and rather fresh; the doggies examined it with interest but refrained from eating it on command. I picked it up with a poo bag and lodged it in the crotch of a tree (Daniel took a cell-phone picture) because I didn’t want anyone else’s dog snarfing it down–there are nasty and even lethal parasites to be got by the consumption of rotting fish. Then there were more fish on the river bank, but Lark was busy doing her high-speed wave-herding and swimming after sticks and Merlin was intrigued enough by Lark’s behavior that we avoided them.
Once home it was time for a big mug of cocoa and Sense and Sensibility on Masterpiece Theatre. And a Tomten sweater! I cast on for the March Tomten KAL that’s kicking off among the Zimmermaniacs on Ravelry. I have a giant bag of inherited Cleckheaton Country Naturals 8-Ply, the yarn I used for Asa’s Twisted Tree Pullover (see Patterns tab), in a soft and manly blue tweed that wasn’t earmarked for any particular project, so I dove in. It’s a DK rather than an Aran, so I’ve altered the numbers a bit, but I think it will turn out well. And that’s not the only thing I started this weekend. I began to mess about with my big stash of Raumagarn and Hifa 3, experimenting for the 1920’s-style Fair Isle pullover I want to knit. But this startitis was balanced by virtuous completion of the Manlified February Sweater for my getting-himself-born-any-minute nephew (okay, it still needs buttons and a couple of ends woven in, but I’m close) and further work on that languishing Baby Bog Jacket I started last summer. It’s EZ Central around here!
For the literal aspect of the post title, I did make Garbage Soup for supper. After a scan of the refrigerator, I settled on parsnips, potatoes, and leeks, then added garlic cloves, a nubbin of ginger, bay leaves, a chili pepper, a pinch of saffron, a splash of milk that needed using up, and salt and pepper. Let it all simmer away while Marianne was pining for Willoughby, and then when OPB took a pledge break I gave it a squiz with the Soup Squizzer (which isn’t really called that except by me). But you know, it’s a sort of electric bowling pin with a wee blade at the business end, and you plug it in and stick it right in the soup pot and it squizzes away and purees your soup without any sloppy transfers of one portion and then another into the blender. Genius. This one is rather ancient and came from my grandmother’s house, but it works just fine. It’s my new favorite kitchen implement. I had a bowl of soup and heel of bread ready for supper by the time Edward was free to declare himself to Elinor. (I love this story. And I must say the Masterpiece Edward is superior to Hugh Grant’s interpretation in the Ang Lee version. That movie is great, but Hugh Grant was miscast. I like the two Colonel Brandons equally.)
That does it for Garbage Soup. Wish me sunlight so I can bring you details of the newly finished and newly begun projects!
Posted: March 1st, 2009 at 9:02 pm
I think your hat is pretty =)
Posted: March 2nd, 2009 at 4:53 am
I like the hat! Like you, I’ve knitted a horrible fair isle but in my case I am convinced it is really ugly and not wearable…
Posted: March 2nd, 2009 at 7:29 am
In my family, it was Refrigerator Soup! I like the hat.
Posted: March 2nd, 2009 at 8:15 am
The hat is great. It’s got personality!
Posted: March 2nd, 2009 at 9:00 am
I actually really like the hat and the color combo. That’s strange for me since I can’t stand greens of any kind. I’d certainly wear it.
Posted: March 2nd, 2009 at 9:52 am
I love the swatch cap and its multitude of colors! I can see wearing it while walking across the moors.
Jane Austen + hot cocoa + EZ knitting = perfection
Posted: March 2nd, 2009 at 10:37 am
I think the hat is fabulous. I really love it.
I have garbage (we can it “everything”) soup all of the time. AND I have a soup squizzer, but I use it for more than just soup, it’s great.
I think you might have just gotten me hauled into another KAL. I’ve been wanting to make a totem for a while…
Posted: March 2nd, 2009 at 12:00 pm
the soup squizzer is my favorite modern kitchen implement too. i think i will adopt that name formally when i refer to it.
i like the hat, it is unexpected. and very nicely done.
tomten KAL huh? just what i needed for knittine impetus
Posted: March 2nd, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Unless the color is really representing differently on my monitor than in real life, that hat is gorgeous! I love the colors. Beautiful. I don’t think anything but chartreuse would give it spark and bring it to life like you did. I love the naiveté and authenticity of more unexpected colors in handknits — much like the way I prefer an actual scrap quilt to an overly planned and matched one.
Posted: March 2nd, 2009 at 1:39 pm
i don’t like the hat, i love it and i am infatuated with it head over heels. i don’t think the hat and ugly are words that corresponds at all.
you knit well, you write well, you cook well. hey.
Posted: March 2nd, 2009 at 1:40 pm
ooh and it might be tomten time for me too soon, again. the abfabest baby garment of them all. unfortunately alba developed a wool allergy and bronchitis but there is a little girl on her way this minute…
Posted: March 2nd, 2009 at 3:45 pm
I think the colors in the hat somehow work together, though I’m not sure why. Perhaps they are all some type of earth tone, so look similar to what is going on in nature in the fall…blue sky, browns and golds for the trees, gray for the tree trunks.
Your evening with soup, film, and knitting sounds so cozy! I need to do that too. There should be a TV channel that links film and knitting themes, so you can sit and watch a movie and have a KAL with just the right project!
Posted: March 2nd, 2009 at 5:00 pm
I think the hat is great! And the “squizzer” is one of the best kitchen tools!! Love using it on my butternut squash soup. I should try this garbage soup idea, but I just don’t feel confident enough to just throw random veggies into the pot and know that a delicious soup is on the other side!
Posted: March 2nd, 2009 at 5:21 pm
The hat is cute and what the heck, it keeps you warm.
I did make a random Fairisle-ish hat that had one badly chosen strand, which I removed and replaced with something less jarring by remove the old strand stitch by stitch as I Kitchenered the new one in (the good part of having lots of ends to weave in).
There actually is a recipe for garbage soup in a medieval cookbook.
It begins “Take the garbage of a chicken” which is just what you think it would be!
Posted: March 2nd, 2009 at 6:18 pm
*I* like the swatch cap. Very adventurous!
And now I must find that Sense and Sensibility…I liked the Ang Lee version (haven’t read the book), but Masterpiece Theatre is the best!
Posted: March 3rd, 2009 at 8:46 am
I think the hat is gorgeous!!! What pattern were you swatching?
Posted: March 3rd, 2009 at 10:55 am
oh! my! gosh! that hat is terrific! i do not think it is the least bit ugly… it’s terrific! you must have amazing knitting skills!
ps: i found my way here through the links
Posted: March 3rd, 2009 at 12:55 pm
sounds like a nice cozy weekend. perfect for warming up after a dog walk – i had my pups out at the sandy river delta sunday morning and it was really blowing! a blustery walk indeed.
Posted: March 3rd, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Did you call in your pledge? I have to ask! We ran S&S as a two-parter with no fundraising in January (I think)–and on this past Sunday night I suffered through part of “Rock, Rythm and DooWop” with Seth. I think he actually watched the Doowop show, though, whereas he tunes out Austen and Dickens.
Posted: March 4th, 2009 at 1:33 am
I believe that instrument is called a Bamix. My mom has one.
I actually like the hat, I don’t think it looks pukey at all. To the contrary, I think the chartreuse is a rather good thing, it makes a nice pop for contrast. To each her own sensibilities!
Posted: March 4th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
The cap is lovely. Nice work! Are you coming to Camp this year? I met you last year and was so impressed by your knitting. Hope to see you at Camp 2!
Posted: March 5th, 2009 at 6:49 am
I don’t think it’s ugly at all!!! But I’ve been having this 70’s and 80’s preppy obsession lately so maybe that where my love of those colors are coming from. Very “Love Story”!
Posted: March 6th, 2009 at 4:03 am
I love the hat! Perhaps my taste in color combinations is bizarre, but I think it works really well.
I am a big fan of our “Soup Squizzer” (just a regular old immersion blender here in our house). My husband gave it to me for my birthday several years ago and I contend that it is the best birthday present I have ever been given.
Posted: March 7th, 2009 at 8:22 am
I love the hat. I think it’s perfect.
Posted: March 7th, 2009 at 11:21 am
I love the hat, particularly the orange and blue areas.