Vegan Knitting...and then some

Secret Pal Question of the week

If you were told you could never again buy yarn, would would your last yarn purchase be?

A good fat skein of laceweight so I could work on a lovely shawl that would take a LONG time to knit.

If you were told you could never knit again, what would be the last thing you’d knit??

See above!

In a given year, how many times do you buy yarn? And what is your favorite place to buy yarn from? A festival? A shop? Online? Dish your favorite places!!

How many times?  I have no idea.  Probably about 12.  I usually buy yarn from my LYS or from destashers both to save money and for the environment.  My favorite shop where I used to live in the Bay Area is Marin Fiber Arts, and my favorite shop here in Portland is Close Knit.

Lastly, with Fall in full swing in many areas, what is the one thing you look forward to most?

I love Fall.  I look forward to cool afternoons where the sun is out and a cool breeze is blowing and I'm buying vegetables to make a nice hot soup for dinner!

Sausage Pizza

We enjoyed the last pasta I posted about so much that we repeated it in pizza form!

WIP: Men's Fancy Socks II

This pair is for my mother, using Crystal Palace Panda Cotton in the "Tulips" colorway. I'm passed the heel of the first sock and anticipate finishing in a couple of days.

Italian Pasta

We live really close by to the Vita Cafe in Portland, so it's too bad that we don't like it all that much.  However, there are a few dishes that we have enjoyed, and my husband's favorite is the:

ITALIAN PASTA     9.5
Organic kale, veggie sausage, garlic, chili flakes and crushed tomatoes, sautéed in lemon and olive oil topped with toasted bread crumbs

So, for far less than $9.5, I made it last night, minus the breadcrumbs because I didn't have any stale bread. And I added some kalamata olives on top.  YUM!

WIP: Diamonds in his Shoes

I have finally finished a project I started last year, Diamonds In His Shoes.  It went with me through 3 moves, a few needle size changes, and some alteration to fit my husband's feet.  I am so glad to be done with sock #1.  I am using Crystal Palace Maizy Print, which I find to be more durable than Panda Cotton but not as soft and splitty with pointy needles.  I used bamboo DPNs for the main body and this was very splitty.  Then I switched to Addi Turbos for the rest and it was smooth sailing.  I like how well the diamonds pop out of the pattern and can't wait to cast on the second one!

Secret Pal Package #2

This mostly-cooking themed package is, clockwise from top:

Silly Feet silicone cupcake bakers
2 balls of Madil Yarns' Eden 100% bamboo, which I'm already using to make the Little Leaf Scarf from the Make it Modern booklet from my #1 package. 
Fortune cookie bath bombs
Lovely mini cookie cutter set with fall shapes
Cupcake stitch markers
Sprinkles
Apple lotion (not shown)
Gift cards to go with hand-made items (not shown)

Thank you so much SP!  The yarn is so soft and pretty and will be perfect against the neck.  I'm looking forward to cooking with the tools and treats! And fall is upon us so I'll soon be taking baths again.

Local Fruit Tortes

This week I attended a vegan picnic and a local park and  the theme was "local produce".  So I turned to my backyard (can't get more local than that!) and found that my Italian Plum and apple trees are ripe.  I've been itching to veganize the famous New York Times plum torte recipe, so for the picnic I made one plum torte and one apple torte.

On the tree

In the torte!

On the tree

In the torte!

I will be making these again this week.  I simply substituted Earth Balance Buttery Sticks for the butter, used unrefined sugar, and used Ener-G egg substitute for the two eggs plus a little almond milk so that the batter was moister.  I used a 9" springform pan for the apple torte and an 8" square cake pan for the plum.  The springform worked better as it was much easier to extracate the torte after it was cooked.  However, I still should have greased the pan even though it's non-stick.  And I also felt like the batter was still very thin as I like the cake part and I will try it again with more batter.  The edges are really crusty and tasty and both fruits worked very well.