The day before yesterday I saw what appeared to be a purpose-knit parking metre base warmer. It was handknit, with a cable design if I remember correctly, a bit like a toque with a wide enough hole in the middle to accomodate the trunk of the parking metre, lying flat against the sidewalk at the edges, and rising toquelike over the metre’s now cozy warm base.
Parking metres are among the more unappreciated characters in our society. This one’s at Stephen and Broadway (towards McDonald).
One can of wild pacific salmon (or leftover non-canned salmon, cold)
Spoonful of chopped garlic
Thai Sweet Chilli sauce to taste
Three or four tablespoons of lemon juice
Handful chopped fresh cilantro
Seven or so chopped cherry tomatoes (or large tomato equivalent)
Pepper to taste
4 pieces of sun dried tomato (optional)
one finely chopped spring onion (optional)
1. Mix ingredients together
2. Serve
3. Eat!
Feel free to add other things that seem like a good idea at the time. I imagine you could also add salt if you’re that sort of person.
The whole world is in Vancouver for the Olympics, including the leader of the Colbert Nation. If you’re heading out to watch him film, bring some knitting with you. What more Vancouverian way to welcome him to our wet city than epic Knitting in Public?
I had leftover rice and a desire for rice pudding, but lacked the usual vanilla and cinnamon, and even raisins. My solution? Rice pudding with nutmeg, allspice, rosewater, and cranberries. Verdict? It Is> a Good Idea pudding.
I used a general not-too-specific combo of rice, eggs, and milk for the pudding, cooked slowly on the stovetop to thicken the egg custard-style, then doled out into heat-proof serving dishes and tossed ‘em under the broiler for a few minutes to get a nice crust.
I was experimenting with rye bread earlier this week, blatantly ignoring my recipe’s gentle guidance and took a heavy hand to the spice jars. The results were delicious, so if you’re looking to liven up a rye bread, try adding:
- caraway seeds (lots!)
- fennel seeds (some)
- cardamon (some)
- ginger (some)
- allspice (small)
- nutmeg (small)
- pepper (tiny)
One of the things I love about knitting is that with every stitch, you knit a part of your day into a project. I have my thesis sweater from when on a binge to finish the data-collection and writeup for my thesis, countless balls of yarn from tourist destinations (double the memories! both the yarn, and the knitting), the ocean-blues scarf knit along Australia’s Great Ocean Road, my first weaving project from the tea garden of the Ashford factory, and many more. Folding hats and scarfs to neatly fit in a storage box at the end of the season is like flipping through a scrapbook, reliving evoked moments — all those funky stitches are from the knitting group I was laughing so hard I kept screwing up my pattern without noticing, that stripey stripey hat is from when I was determined to learn jogless stripes and was too sick to seek out other humans to help interpret the cryptic instructions, that ridiculously bright yellow furry hat is from when I was quietly raging in polite company and just wanted to kick rocks!
I’ve lost two grandparent to Alzheimer’s, long, slow fade-outs while trying to cling to the few memories left. I knit by each of their hospital beds, fingers numbly working while I tried to say goodbye. I have no memory what the projects were, not even a hint of colour or texture. Yesterday, I walked in their memory, for their memories, and in hope that someone’s thesis will help me keep my memories.
I hope I’ll remember what I knit as I walked — sunrise-red yarn, the dawn of hope in hat-form.
The next knitting extravaganza will explore the luxurious delights available within a 5-minute walk of the Broadway & Alma bus stop on Saturday, January 16th.
The first location at 1pm will be the Coffee Lounge at 3436 West Broadway to sip fancy drinks near the fire, and possibly ducking almost-next-door to Gina Brown’s Yarns. At 3pm, we’ll wander down the street and around the corner to Cocoa Nymph to savour the best hot chocolate in the city.
The Charming Lady K has been experimenting with plastic bag knitting, and will be starting the new year off with an Unusual Materials themed knitting day on January 9th, time TBA.
