Be My Guest

Brief post this week.  Been hella busy with the last minute wedding stuff.  One of those things is legitimately crafty:  I'm binding our guestbook.  Slowly.  This is all I have done so far:

It's sewn and rounded.  I still have to sew endbands, back it, and actually attach the boards.  Oh, and cover it. So it's pretty.  I can do that in 18 days, right?

Best. Dinner. Ever.

Confession time:  I've been collecting recipes that I haven't been using.  I have every intention of cooking for real, but with all the stuff I end up doing after work, usually it's up to Mr. Pocket to throw something together.  Now, don't get me wrong, Mr. Pocket is quite the amateur chef.  But usually he improvises, so the recipies I've been collecting just don't get used.  Until now.  This is one that Mom gave me, because she'd tried it and loved it.  It came from Cooking Light, and the recipe is here.  You should try it.  Because oh my goodness, it's the best dinner we've cooked in the new place.  Mr. Pocket even said so.  I mean, look at this:

Mr. Pocket's second helping.

How can chicken, rosemary, thyme, potatoes, tomatoes, and olives ever be bad?  (Okay, sure, if one of those things is something you generally don't like, but aside from that.)  It's super easy, too.  And roasting might be my favorite way of cooking.  I don't care that it takes longer.  Really, try this recipe.  You'll thank me.

Meanwhile, an update from Mr. Pocket's World of Maille:

The dear gentleman hard at work.

There's been a lot of mailling going on.  He's working on a hauberk, as you see above, in stainless steel.  And he's been making some small items for friends out of aluminum rings and scale:

Gauntlet in progress...

Hiiiiya!

I, meanwhile, have lots of wedding things to do.  Pray for me that I get it all done in time!

Back with Needles

Finally!  PocketSize has come back to yarncraft! 

I'll forgive you if you don't get the reference. 

Anyway, with the apartment getting settled, I have gotten a little knitting time.  And with some small departmental meetings at work with people that know that I'm still paying attention, I've been able to crochet.  So I've got a sweet little project basket kickin'.

Want a closer look?  It's three shawls I'll show you, though one is only a few rows in.  I've been really wanting more shawls, so that's what I've been into making.  Here we go...

This one is Katika.  I had started it back before Christmas, and got several rows in, but then let it sit for months.  When I picked it up again last week, I dropped half a row and I realized I'd been leaving out an important yarn over for most of what I had done, so I ripped it back to the beginning and started over. 

 The yarn is Neighborhood Fiber Company in a one-off colorway.  I got it at last year's Homespun Yarn Party.  It's really nice and bouncy.

Next up, I'm finally knitting Damson.  I've been trying to settle on the perfect yarn for it, and even though it's a few yards shy of the required yardage, I'm using another yarn I got at last year's Homespun Yarn Party, from Ashton Studio Arts. 

Doesn't look much like a shawl in this pic, because I started it on the spur of the moment and grabbed straight needles to do so.  Now I really need to switch to circulars, because it's getting a bit heavy.

It was really hard to get the color of the yarn right, and even this shot isn't really accurate.  It's a gorgeous bluish lilac color. 

This last one is my travelling project, because it's very simple and easy to keep track of.  A couple weeks ago, I went to a yarn shop I hadn't been to before and they had Zauberball.  I'd never found a Zauberball before, but I wanted one.  So of course, one had to come home with me :)  I had such trouble deciding on colors that I realized that I don't have any really neutral shawls, so that's what I got:

The pattern is Eva's Shawl, and it's a really simple three-row repeat.  Which is what makes it ideal for department meetings and other times when I need relatively mindless work.

By next week I should have some bookbinding photos for you.  My only DIY project for the wedding...  So check back soon... :)