Sugar and Spice

Well, I finished the Iris shrug-cardi. It's definitely wee, but I think I like it as a sun dress shoulder cover-up. The pattern is Iris from Rowan magazine #35, Spring and Summer 2004. The yarn is Rowan Calmer, as called for. Normally, I don't knit with the yarn called for, but my mother and sister bought a huge amount of Calmer together. They both knit Iris and still had a bunch left over, so they handed it on to me. I pretty much followed the pattern initially, changing the decreases on the neckline so that they'd mirror each other. Then, after it was "done," I picked up along the bottom, knit until it was almost as long as I wanted (increasing a few times at the side seams after my waist) and ended with 8 rows of garter stitch to parallel the garter rows at the bottom of the shrug. My closure is a simple 4 stitch I-cord tied in a bow. I like that it's sweet but still a little bit sexy. I like that it's really a pattern but still a little bit of my own making. Of course, I can't wear it in the hospital and I don't wear handknits in the lab (it's less heart breaking to ruin a store bought shirt with bleach...oops), so I'm not sure how much use it will get. Probably not as much as it deserves.

Also, 1702 people in front of me on Ravelry. Sigh...

Last night I made up my own recipe and used a fish cooking technique I hadn't tried before! Making up recipes isn't new to me, but I just started eating fish about a year ago after not eating it for most of my cooking life (I was a stricter vegetarian). Thus, fish preparation still intimidates me a little. But last night B wanted to make pesto in order to break in his food processor and use the crop of basil we have. I wanted to put pesto on something other than pasta. Last week we bought a bunch of tilapia at Costco and froze it in lemon juice, so I figured I should try to do something with that. We also had panko, which I've been wanting to use. Solution: panko breaded baked tilapia. I guessed about temperature and time (375 for 12 minutes), and it worked out perfectly. It was fish I would serve other people, even kind of judgmental people. And B's pesto was pretty darn good too.

Kitties remain adorable. Ganymede has taken to trying to lick Biscuit clean. I'm not sure if he thinks she's dirty, or if he's just trying to be a good parent. Sometimes she lets him, sometimes she flips over and bites his face. She's getting comfortable, so she's in the punky phase. I can almost hear Ganymede sighing as she runs about all crazy.

P.S. We went to Blossom with some friends the other night. For details, see Christina's blog.