Donabe + Neko Nabe

As I mentioned in my last post, I got pretty lucky this Christmas. This donabe is another wonderful gift from Mum. Donabe are the traditional clay pots used to make nabemono, the deliciously perfect Japanese soups usually called "hot pots" in the US.

I started making nabemono a year or so ago, when I discovered this wonderful sukiyaki recipe, and subsequently its source, Japanese Hot Pots by Tadashi Ono & Harris Salat.

I've been using my faithful little red dutch-oven casserole, and it does just fine, but I think it is too deep and narrow for proper nabe simmering, so I really wanted a donabe. The first thing to know about a donabe is that you ought to season it. They are not glazed on the bottom, and are slightly porous when you get them. Mine came with good directions, but I'm glad I did a little research online first. I found great instructions (and learned some interesting things) in this post on Thyme Bombe. These directions are especially good if you're dealing with a poky old apartment range like mine.

  Nabe are wonderful for winter dinners. They're light, but very filling, mostly healthy, and incredibly comforting. Best of all, once you have some basics in your cupboard, you can make them with just about anything you have on hand. I made this one with mostly nontraditional ingredients. I like to use enoki and oyster mushrooms, bok choy, and colorful Asian greens like shungiku, but decided to keep it simple after a busy week and lots of errands.

                                                                        Yum!
It is also worth noting that cats love to nap in donabe, prehaps because they are cat-sized. If you want to die of cute, Google "neko-nabe". See what I mean?

from Cook Tells A Story

Little Black Bento + Big Surprise

       This Christmas was amazing. One my favorite gifts is this adorable bento box from Mum.

There is something very relaxing and refreshing about sitting down to a neat, tasty, little meal.
                                               It brightens an otherwise dreary work day.

                                       For now, I'm using this skeletal calico as a furoshiki.
I'm plotting a new wrap as my first project on one of my other totally amazing Christmas gifts:

                                          Queen Batflaps is responsible for this one. 
I feel certain this machine will take me past the "damn damn damn" stage of my sewing trajectory. That button up there? It back-tacks. All. By. Itself. Those wee heiroglyphs? All sorts of different stitches. This year is going to be so much fun!

Yule Badges

I felt like I needed a little Holiday spirit, something to carry me through the annual panic and remind me that all this with the paper and lights and last minute card making and frantic knitting is ultimately supposed to be fun. Cheerful.

                  It's how we mortals make a stand against the darkness, if only metaphorically.

These are surprisingly easy to make. I covered some old pin-badges with a little white cotton, then knit blanks of my favorite Shetland wool - Jamieson & Smith's Ultra. I ran the ends through the edges and pulled them snug around the backside of the pins, and I used Appleton tapestry wool to duplicate stitch the motifs. I think I'll have to make more (when the aforementioned late night knitting is completed)!

Owyhee Vest

A few weeks ago, I inherited a mixed bag of Colinette Chrysalis from a long line of baffled knitters. I decided to accept the challenge, and see if I could make something wearable out of it. A most unusual yarn, it is a kind of unspun cotton suspended in a loosely bound tube of stitching, bulky, heavy, and soft.

After pouring over every pattern on Ravelry, a design started grow in my brain. A vest, loose but a little fitted, pockets, a shawl collar. I couldn't find exactly what I wanted, and I wasn't sure I had enough yardage to get me there. I went for it.


I made the back first, with some shaping. Next, I picked up from the side seams and knit forward, casting on to shape armscye, then knitting straight until I had a shoulder to seam, then casting on a little more to meet at the center of the neck. Here, I joined the front pieces to work the collar as one. When I was done, I picked up along the bottom edge for a few rows of ribbing. Finally, I picked up near my side seams and made some capacious pockets. 

I'm pretty pleased with the results.


I think next time, I'll add some short rows across the back to keep it from curving up so much, and some across the collar to make it a little larger. Next time, I think I'll use wool, or maybe an alpaca blend. I definitely need at least one more of these. 

This turns out to be a wonderful way to make a nearly seamless sweater; the only joining is shoulder to shoulder, sewing down pockets, and stitching the collar to the back at the neck. The changes in direction highlight variegated yarn, and any pooling winds up vertical on the front pieces. It is terribly versatile. I've worn it with skinny jeans and long skirts, over t-shirts and sweaters. The Pacific Northwest calls for a lot of layers, and this vest is a perfect addition to the heap.

The blending of colors reminds me of little lichens, and picture jasper, and the desert southwest of where I grew up, all dust and sky. I never would have chosen this yarn for myself, but I'm so glad it made it's way to me.
                                         

Recuperation

What a busy weekend! And here it is Thursday, and I still have glitter stuck to some of my eyelashes. We've had guests, and even though we had more fun than was entirely safe, it is a relief to have my nice, quiet little space back, along with my nice, quiet life. In fact, I think I have a new found love of the mundane, the quotidian, the normal.
In a few days, all the Halloween decorations will have to come down and I'll be dreading Thanksgiving, but for now I'm curling up with a big, steamy bowl of old-fashioned steel cut oatmeal, with lots of brown sugar and cardamom.

Chiroptera anteocularis

                I decided to paint a bat with antlers. Isn't he cute?

Doing the Batty Batty Bat

     My house is basically Halloween themed by default. This kind of thing goes on all the time.

 I spent today putting up even more decorations. The kitchen gets the most love, as there is plenty of space to work with. I love Martha Stewart for putting out these great silhouettes.

Our apartment is tiny and crowded, so I try to use wall space as much as possible.

I particularily like these little guys.

  

Someday, I'll have a front porch to cover in jack o' lanterns.

For now, pumpkin lights brighten a stormy evening.