Cabled Gloves

I've been lame about updating in general, and especially lame about updating my knitting projects. This winter was all about the small knitted items. I made some mittens for Ferret, a pair of winter socks for myself and a set (almost) of cabled gloves. I say almost because my right hand glove is still missing three fingers. At some point I'll finish them, but now that the weather is warming up I've lost all interest in these and am focused on making a bunch of socks out of KnitPick's self-striping yarn. 

I'm especially proud of these gloves though because I more or less came up with how to make them on my own. These were started on the plane ride to Las Vegas and finished sometime after. I started off by following the instructions for mittens and then added cables and figured out how many stitches to do for fingers. So that I don't forget, here are the general instructions:

Cabled Gloves

Left Hand (size small):

Cast on 44 stitches and divide among 3 size 3 needles (12, 16, 16)

Knit 2, purl 2 for about 2.5" (to make cuffs)

row 1-5: k3, p2, k4, p2, k4, p2, k4, p2, k to end of row

row 6: k3, p2, cable twist the 4 stitches, p2, cable twist the 4 stitches, p2, cable twist the 4 stitches, p2, k to end of row

row 7-8: k3, p2, k4, p2, k4, p2, k4, p2, k to end of row

row 9: k2, inc 1, k1, inc 1, p2, k4, p2, k4, p2, k4, p2, k to end of row

row 10-11: k5, p2, k4, p2, k4, p2, k4, p2, k to end of row

row 12: k2, inc 1, k3, inc 1, p2, cable twist, p2, cable twist, p2, cable twist, p2, k to end of row

row 13-14: k7, p2, k4, p2, k4, p2, k4, p2, k to end of row

row 15: k2, inc 1, k5, inc 1, p2, k4, p2, k4, p2, k4, p2, k to end of row

row 16-17: k9, p2, k4, p2, k4, p2, k4, p2, k to end of row

row 18: k2, inc 1, k7, inc 1, p2, cable twist, p2, cable twist, p2, cable twist, p2, k to end of row

row 19-20: k11, p2, k4, p2, k4, p2, k4, p2, k to end of row

row 21: k2, inc 1, k9, inc 1, p2, k4, p2, k4, p2, k4, p2, k to end of row

row 22-23: k13, p2, k4, p2, k4, p2, k4, p2, k to end of row

row 24: k13, p2, cable, p2, cable, p2, cable, p2, k to end of row

row 25: k13, p2, k4, p2, k4, p2, k4, p2, k to end of row

slip 1 stitch from needle #1 to needle #3

drop the next 11 stitches from needle #1 to a piece of yarn (this will be the thumb)

row 26-29: k1, p2, k4, p2, k4, p2, k4, p2, k to end of row

row 30: k1, p2, cable, p2, cable, p2, cable, p2, k to end of row

continue (cabling every 6th row) until you reach fingers. allot 11 stitches (5 from needle #1 and 6 from needle #3, or vice versa) for the index, middle and ring fingers and 10 stitches for the pinky. for each finger, pick up stitches on the side so there are 13 stitches total per finger. work one finger at a time and when proper length has been achieved, k2tog until there are 3-4 stitches left and tie off.

similarly, pick up 2-4 stitches for thumb and work in the round until proper length, k2tog until there are few stitches left and tie off.

sew in loose ends, filling in whatever gaps there may be!

Knitting Movies

I will be posting a series of these "knitting movies," at least until the weather turns warm enough that my urge to knit fades.  I'm working on a pair of cabled gloves for myself right now and have been taking full advantage of Netflix's Instant Watch feature.  The best knitting movies are those that don't require full attention; therefore, they must be movies I've seen before or movies that are mildly entertaining without being too novel or interesting.  Movies that are too good are disqualified because I will get distracted and make knitting errors.  For example, during Persepolis, I stopped knitting my sock entirely and half the stitches slipped off the needles.  It was a knitting disaster.  For this series of movies, there will be no rating system, because the metrics for a good movie don't quite apply.  Onward!

These were movies I watched while knitting a pair of blue socks:

mannequin: i remembered really liking this movie when i was young so i thought it would be the perfect knitting movie.  sadly, the passage of 20 years had rendered this movie completely unwatchable.  i plowed determinedly through a good portion of it bc tortoise was encouraging me to (awesome movie!! says he) but i could not take it through to the end.  if it's too awful to be a good knitting movie, it is too awful period.  end of story.

enchanted: this was a ridiculous movie featuring a very squealy heroine.  i don't remember a whole lot about this movie aside from the fact that a high pitched voice appeared to be a prerequisite for princesses.  oh there was one really funny dance and song number in central park.  i enjoyed that part.  i probably would have enjoyed this more 20 years ago.  that said, i did make it all the way through the movie.

you've got mail: i think this might be classified as an ideal knitting movie.  you've got meg ryan who is adorable and a very simple and absurd love story.  after watching this movie i caught on that romantic comedies may really be the way to go here.  my knitting was perfect and i was adequately entertained.

four weddings and a funeral: i started watching this but it was kind of a snoozefest.  maybe it was because my laptop speakers weren't loud enough or something but i really couldn't get into it.  and normally i find hugh grant so charming.  oh well.

These are movies I've been watching while knitting cabled gloves:

penelope: this was another wonderful knitting movie.  you've got a bit of a fairy tale thing going, a accepting yourself for you are thing going, and a budding romance with a guy who looks like he sleeps in the sewers by day and does crack cocaine by night.  i like christina ricci in general, with or without a pig nose.  this was a girly and fluffy movie.

an ideal husband: i watched a streak of period pieces and this was one of them.  during high school i went through an oscar wilde phase so when this movie came out, i was wilde (haha!) to see it.  it was entertaining then and was entertaining now.  everyone was great except minnie driver.  she just didn't seem to quite fit.

emma: all girls like jane austen and i am no exception.  while i've read pride and prejudice exactly one million times, i've only read emma once or twice.  i have seen clueless several times however and so i am quite familiar with the story.  gwyneth paltrow was pretty perfect as emma and this was another great knitting movie.  she's so good to look at.  when i watch a movie, i pretty much only want to watch good looking people.  if i wanted to watch ugly people i would take a walk.  and this brings me to the next movie...

persuasion: this was a complete disappointment.  it was so extremely disappointing because after pride and prejudice, persuasion is my favorite jane austen book.  i realize that anne was supposed to have lost her looks when the book/movie starts, but she does go through a second bloom and if you cast a stolid matronly looking actress as anne, no one is going to believe that anyone can ever fall for her, no matter how refined her mind.  especially if this actress only has one expression: scared stiff.  bah!  it was so annoying.  i watched the entire movie but was irritated the whole time.  i had always imagined anne as a waif of a thing, too pale with delicate features.  this woman was quite solid.  her face did not seem sensitive enough; it was just wide wide wide eyed.  bug eyed.  and you couldn't tell at all that anne was especially intelligent and feeling.  i hope they remake this soon.

I have quite a few more movies to post, both of the knitting variety and the non-knitting variety, but it is getting late so it is time for sleeps!

YAY! I've been anxiously watching my chives for the last couple of weeks, ever since I noticed the little flower bud that formed after a particularly cold spell here in Philly. The first two flowers bloomed yesterday and they are as pretty (although less purple) as I had imagined. I have three of them and wish to eat one just to see what it tastes like. It's hard to eat one of the ones that just bloomed though, so I may eat the third one. In any case, these little flowers are brightening up my windowsill.

Update (04.09.09) It's crazy, so I finally ate one of these flowers (there are about a zillion of them in the pot now) and it tasted just like chives!  I guess I shouldn't feel so surprised, but it's a flower for god's sake.  Anyway, if I ever want to eat a salad again, I'll be sure to toss a couple of these in.

Tandoori Chicken

This dish was MAGNIFICENT!!! It may be hard to tell, but the first picture is the chicken before cooking (with the yogurt dip) and the second picture obviously, features the cooked chicken right before eating. The recipe is from Cook's Illustrated and these ingenious people figured out that the best way to zap the flavors in without turning the chicken into mush was to marinate in a limey spice rub before dipping in spiced yogurt and cooking. Can't post the recipe here since it's not freely available but will add it to my database. Cook's Illustrated has not led me astray yet and I am really looking forward to trying more of their recipes in the future. I devoured this chicken with fluffy basmati rice, green beans and a packet of dubious spinach dal I got from the grocery store. I wanted to make my own dal but for some reason I couldn't find lentils anywhere. Tonight, I fixed a quick chickpea curry dish to go with the chicken and rice and that was pretty nice. When I return from ORS I plan to throw myself into mastering some Indian dishes. I still have to perfect Mouse's samosa recipe.

Mushroom risotto is probably one of the things I like to cook the most. It goes with many things and I always have arborio rice, parmiggiano reggiano and a glug of dry vermouth laying around for this dish. I usually stick to mushrooms and a quarter of an onion, but this time I had some celery that was growing limp so I sliced a couple of ribs and tossed in. This would work with diced asparagus too, if you happen to have that instead of mushrooms around. Anyone who has ever made risotto will know how to throw this together but just in case:

Bit of olive oil

Handful of mushrooms (any kind), chopped

Quarter of an onion, chopped

1/2 cup of white wine

1/2 cup of arborio rice

~ 3-4 cups of chicken broth

Handful of parmiggiano reggiano

Salt

Pour a bit of olive oil into a little pan or pot and heat. Toss in mushrooms and onions and stir around a bit. Toss in rice and stir around. Add white wine and cook until the liquid is practically gone. Start ladling in chicken broth, maybe 1/2 cup or 3/4 cup at a time. I usually wander around doing other things during this process, but you want to come back and give it a stir fairly frequently and check the liquid. When the liquid has been mostly absorbed, add more broth. After about 20 min you can start testing grains for doneness. When done, shake in some salt and cheese and enjoy! I might twist in some black pepper as well.