Yarn Along

In true Wednesday Fashion, I present you with another Yarn Along, inspired by Ginny of Small Things, who's given us all a chance to share what we're reading and crocheting/ knitting, it's a lovely weekly ritual and this week  I've got two  such lovely things to share:

My head is surely enjoying the slouchy beanie I crocheted this week, making a few changes on the pattern I linked to from last week's post. It stitched up very nicely with only a couple hiccups along the way (which was really nice, because pulling stitches out of that boucle is really not a very fun job... and pulling out stitches is not fun at the best of times).
Anyway, the beanie and I have enjoyed  coffee time, trips to the park, and to the library and just sitting in my melting back yard.

Oh, and yes, I got all my hair chopped off... I am like a shorn sheep very much in need of my beanie

And all this while, I've still been reading Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal Vegetable Miracle." I think it may just become one of my new favorite books. Every few pages I stop and read aloud to whomever will listen and have started many more conversations like the Asparagus One on such topics as methods for beheading and plucking poultry, fascinating facts about tomatoes, the history of industrialized farming, the true nature of lactose intolerance and my new desire to try my hand at making cheese (because of the intolerance our family suffers with). I've told only several souls about this latest inspiration because... well it's cheese and something about it feels like the ultimate barefoot hippie thing to do. In Barbara's own words:

"Most people find the idea of making cheese at home to be preposterous. 
If the delivery guy happens to come to the door while I'm cutting and draining curd, 
I feel like a Wiccan.
What kind of weirdo makes cheese?" 

My one friend B however boosted my confidence in this latest endeavor by telling me that her mother had been making her own cheese for years and that she herself had made her own mozzarella for lasagna's in under an hour. I almost felt the compulsion to kneel in the presence of such domestic wisdom. I'm like Luke Skywalker wanting to learn all I can from Yoda, except that my beautiful friend B is NOTHING like Yoda and I'm pretty sure they don't have cows on Dagoba....

Anyway, I keep telling all who will listen that this book holds the potential to change my life and I think I am beginning to mean it, changing what we eat, really does change our lives, and without going off the deep end,  I think we're ready for some changes around here. My plans are not grandiose; just a vegetable plot for starters, some different meal planning and the plans to support the local farms in our area as much as we can.

But who knows; I've been heading down the crunchy granola path for a while now and have laughingly been describing myself as "chewy". But nothing says "crunch" like an organic vegetable and one of these days you might just find me in my kitchen stretching and braiding my own mozzarella cheese....

I guess I am that kind of weirdo after all.