Up for Breath

Oh, it's been almost ten days since my last post. Life's been odd and trying and overwhelming lately, and last night was the first time I knitted in over a week. By the time I've been getting my work done at night, I haven't had the attention span for Esperanza, which has reached a tricky spot. So, I wasn't knitting at all. Last night, I cast on another 2 Weeknights with Warrick by Karin Bole. I really enjoyed the last one I knit, and it doesn't take as much attention as Esperanza which gives me some hope of getting to work on it daily. Here is an extremely mediocre picture, and for that, I apologize:

I'm using the Zauberball that I've had in the stash for ages, and I'm pretty pleased with it so far. I'm not totally sure about the gauge, but I'm going to keep going for a bit longer and then block what I've got and see if I like it. It's coming out much wider than the last one I knit, even though they were in similar weights and I used bigger needles on the last one. I'm not sure what that's about.

In other news--I made a knitter friend! One of my voice teacher's former students who is filling in for her at the moment mentioned knitting in class the other day--which immediately led to conversation, then coffee, then Ravelry friendship. Last night, I cast on this scarf while sipping wine and chatting about knitting at her apartment, and it was quite nice. I'm so happy to have someone to talk about knitting to in person, and we have gone though some very similar things, so we have a lot to relate about.

Also, I have been cooking some lovely things lately. Yesterday, I made a pineapple upside down cake for the first time:

It was absolutely delicious--although next time, I'm going to leave it in the oven a bit longer. It didn't have the caramelized top I was looking for, because I took it out for fear of burning it.

Also, I made another pizza a few nights back, and that was quite delicious, too.

I've really come to love Nigella Lawson in the past month or so, and I use a lot of her recipes now. The pineapple upside-down cake is her recipe, as well as some other delicious desserts I've been exploring. I have made this pasta several times, and it is one of my favorite things to eat now--although not the most healthy. I skip the truffle oil, and usually use mozzarella and New Orleans-type spices, so it makes me feel at home.

Now that I've had the good sense to cast on an easier project for busy times (I don't know what took me so long) I hope to be knitting more frequently, and therefore posting more frequently. My new friend Meg mentioned that one of the yarn shops nearby has knit nights with sci-fi movies, and that is a happy prospect. I'll be back again soon--I promise.