never ending story sweater

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I've been working on the Never Ending Story Sweater.  I absolutely love the look of this pattern but my work looks sloppy to me.  I'm hoping things will all even out in the blocking process.  I really struggled with the neckline.  More on that later.  
Loving the yarn choice and definitely will make more summer sweaters out of this lovely cotton.  It may be discontinued soon as I bought it on sale and it doesn't look like Purl Soho is replenishing their stock.  
 We have been travling out west visiting two of our kids and this knit has been lucky to be along for the fun! 

biscotti

cookie of the week

Last week while I was swimming my morning laps I had an urge to eat a biscotti.  Not a usual craving for me for as I am swimming.  I am usually thinking about toast.  And actually, any toast will do.  Must be a carb craving.  But this particular morning it was Biscotti.  Orange walnut to be exact.   

As soon as I arrived back home I searched my recipes for a particular recipe that someone gave me years ago.  I had never made them but remember eating hers and enjoying the soft texture which I really like in a biscotti instead of the traditional crunchy ones.  
While my hair was still wet I was mixing the dough and sneaking in tastes that made my mouth wanting more.  I made one batch of orange walnut and then while they were baking made more dough to make an almond version.  I made two smaller "logs" with this batch instead of the one big "log" I used for the Orange Walnut. One log will give you a big biscotti and two logs will give you smaller biscotti.   In the end I couldn't decide which flavor or size I preferred more.  
Easy Biscotti
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt 
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup sugar
1-2 tsp extract of your choice
1 cup of nuts of your choice

Preheat oven to 300˚.  Combine flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.   Mix eggs and sugar.  Add extract.  Mix in dry ingredients and then nuts.  Form into either one big "log" or two small "logs" onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Slightly flatten dough.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool slightly.  Cut with serrated knife into one inch strips.  Turn on side and bake for 2 minutes.  Flip onto other side and bake an additional two minutes.  Let cool on rack.  

If you like a crunchier biscotti bake longer durning this second baking time.  (6 minutes per side.)
For the orange walnut, I used 2 tsp of orange extract and 1 cup of walnuts.  For the almond version I used 1 tsp almond extract, 1 tsp vanilla extract and 1 cup of slivered almonds.  

After baking, grab your knitting, a cup of hot tea or coffee and start dunking!  

simple stripes sweater

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This is without a doubt one of those sweaters that when it came off the needles I slipped it on and felt a huge "I LOVE THIS SWEATER" sort of feeling!
Is it the softness of the yarn?  Definitely.
Is it the weight of the yarn?  Absolutely.
Is it the colors?  Um, YES.
Is it the delicious visual candy?  Of course!
Is it the fit of the sweater?  Y.  E.  S.  

I've made this sweater before in a brighter palette and didn't think that one could be topped.  But for this time of year, this will certainly be the one I gravitate towards.  
I love how each mini  has its own show going on.  Some gave a soft speckle (SPARKLE!)  and some gave a more bold speckle. (SPARKLE!) And some just did a little stripe dance all on their own.  

I knew I liked this pattern because of my first go around.  And this just confirmed what a great pattern it was.  And although I adore stripes and the feeling that comes once a color is completed, I'd love to try this out in some sort of a solid yarn or variegated yarn.  My mind has been racing with ideas.  

 Pattern:  Simple Stripes by Suvi Knits
Needles:  US 4
Size:  M
Mods:  The pattern is written for 5 colors and repeat of the colors 3x.  However, the Perfect Palette comes with 15 mini's in 15 luscious colors.  For this version, I omitted 3 of the colors in order to make it a little shorter.  Each body stripe has 13 rows and each arm stripe has either 10 or 11 rows depending on how much yarn I had.  I'm not too fussy in the fact that they both have to match perfectly and in the end they both ended up the same length.  

You can see this sweater in action during this YouTube episode.