Time Warp Fiber

How are things with you, my hypothetical reader? I haven't any monumental updates for you this week, but no news is good news, or so I've been told. I baked bread today. (with the phenomonal Sweeney Todd movie for company. I wonder if my neighbors can hear me singing.) There's something grounding and elemental about baking your own bread from scratch. It takes a whole day and is pretty exhausting. But I enjoy the process, and the results are fantastic. I get the same connected feeling as with knitting, evoking images of centuries of communal hearths.This is a parmesan swirl baguette from today's baking. It looks nice and tastes better. The apartment smells great too. Also simmering on the stove all day is a homemade marinara with porcini and portabella mushrooms. But even the best red sauce doesn't photograph particularly well, so you have to use your imagination. Sidenote: At our local deli, one of the men questioned my wanting a prosciutto sandwich. I offered to show him my Italian horn as verification. He was very confused. Are Italian horns a Northeastern thing in the states? They weren't rare at all where I grew up, but are not much in evidence in the Bay, despite the rampant multiculturalism. Or perhaps with so much variety, the european descendants don't feel the need to parcel themselves out so much. 

On the fiber front, I'd like to introduce my Juno Regina. I figure today is appropriate, since it's the video release of the film Juno, which was wicked. If you haven't seen it, drop by a rental place, it's totally worth watching. Witty, well-delivered dialogue and a non-judgmental treatment of a much condemned group. Anyway, back to my stole. These are just the beginnings of it. I'm planning to widen it a bit with an extra repeat or two, to make is more appropriate to my size, and to use up my yarn. This is Chasca, by the Unique Sheep, in Brookside. It's a 100% alpaca laceweight, thinner than many. I actually got this from Ms Unique Sheep herself, as a barter for my bread machine, this past december. ( I love the barter system, so much more personal and fun) The yarn is behaving nicely, although I remain divided on the subject of lace in variegated yarns. I think this shawl, being fairly simple, will agree nicely with the yarn. I hope Laura has enjoyed the bread machine as much as I am the yarn. My MIL's socks are progressing, I'm almost to the gusset increases on the second sock. I have been trying to resist casting on for more socks until these are done. I'm in the process of convincing myself that the baby socks in New Pathways don't count. Anyone have a baby with cold feet? Or the potential for one in the future? I don't even have a cat. That's all on the homefront, o hypothetical reader. Rent a movie and sing along on my behalf. Life should be a musical.