So, I somehow managed to hurt my back yesterday (I think it was getting sore before yesterday, but things have come to a head and a tailbone). Today I'm gingerly moving about and wishing for something stronger than ibuprofen. Hopefully it will get better soon.
The pumpkin gnocchi went over pretty well yesterday. I still need to work on making gnocchi look good (I lose points on presentation all the time), but they tasted good. The recipe I was working from used a butter thyme sauce, and I decided I wanted to make something else.
Creamy Pumpkin Pasta Sauce
0.25 cups pumpkin puree
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 Tbsp packed dark brown sugar
2 Tbsp (approximately) fat-free evaporated milk
0.5 cups vegetable stock
1 capful of Ginger Juice
Mix all of the ingredients over the stove on low heat until butter is melted. The texture changes slightly if brought to a boil, so try to keep it under a boil. Add extra water or stock until you get the sauce consistency you prefer.
I've been spending most of the last day or so thinking about my stash and what I want to knit when I'm not trying to knit for gifts or the holiday bazaar. In the past year or two, I've bought a fair amount of yarn with specific projects in mind. I have yarn for Serrano, Cavern Cardi, and the Traveling Rib Sweater from Loop-d-Loop (which I recently thought of because someone got to my blog by searching Google for that sweater). That's not an insignificant amount of yarn. I also have yarn to make Harry Potter sweaters, which I plan to repurpose. I feel like I need a game plan. I am not doing a lot of gift knitting this year, so I feel like should start on one of these. I still like all of the sweaters, though I'm getting a little wiser about the Loop-d-Loop sweaters. As much as I like them, I am not sure that their styling is flattering to my more womanly curves (as in they would look better if I were 5'7" and 130 pounds). I'm not fat, but I'm not tiny either. Some of these are much better for the tiny frame. I think I will be spending a bit of time on Ravelry trying to see which of these sweaters is most likely to look good on me (aka, which ones look the best on the widest range of body types). My gut feeling right now is Serrano, because it is lace and should be able to easily be packed in my knitting bag.
Other than dreams of knitting, I've been stringing beads to make more crocheted and knitted ornaments. I bought some findings on Black Saturday, so I can finish one of the ornaments off, but I haven't gotten around to completing it. I have about 2 weeks to get as much done as I can. Obviously I'm not expecting to make a huge amount of items this year, but I did spend a bit of time having fun with my wirejig, which I haven't used probably since I bought it (well over 3 years ago).
