To be “in the soup” is an idiom for being in trouble. It may have originated as a nautical term referring to a sailor being in a bad way when falling overboard in to the “soup” of the ocean. This time of year, however, in addition to having “sweater weather,” it’s soup time and each week has something different going in the crock pot.

I’m a lazy cook — meaning I don’t like to stand around stirring and blending and such. The reason for the use of the crock pot it to throw everything in and then go back to knitting or spinning. While I often repeat favorite recipes (although none of them are normally things I’ve written down) I like to experiment with whatever I have at hand. There is an emphasis on balanced proteins (like beans and rice), as well as color, and of course, flavor. My tastes go to low salt and subtle spices, so you may find yourself adding to my recipes to adjust to your own taste. We happen to be vegetarians, but most of these soups would be good with some kind of chicken or meat if you want to go in that direction.

This week is literally “what’s in the cupboard?” soup. I had barley in mind, so that went in along with French lentils, and then various frozen, fresh and canned veges, some of which were starting to look a little sad. “Sad” vegetables often end up in the soup! Here is the offering of the week.

I still have leftover yarn from my capstone project, so I’m on to another design to get rid of the last bits. I had an idea for something with an ikat feeling, so here is where I am in putting that one together. I’m imagining it with the small border motif extending around the back and at the edges of the sleeves. I haven’t figured out the rest of the back, but I don’t think I have enough of the burgundy and will need to use the dark grey-green. Imagining is the best part of design.

I’ve made it to day 3 of the 12 Days of Spinning. So far I’ve picked a different tool for each one. The first was done on my Electric Eel Nano, the second on a Tibetan-style support spindle, and the third is just started on a pear Tahkli spindle. This is the first time I’ve used a Tahkli for more than a test spin, so I’m hoping it will resemble the other two (which are more or less the same diameter). The fiber (from Inglenook Fibers) is really fun to spin. A mix of fibers including sari silk that produces great runs of color and little pops of brights here and there. Here is another spinner’s work for days 1-4. As you can see, there are differences in the range, so it will be great fun to see more spinners finished.

We’ve turned the corner at mid-winter, so I’m looking forward to the light of day increasing bit by bit. It doesn’t take anything away from my enjoyment of the winter months and the joy of spending those days with my hands in wooly goodness.

On the other hand, with two little grey fur babies, it’s sometimes a little hard to keep them out of my fiber long enough to knit a few rows. Luckily, they seem less interested in spinning…at least so far. Isn’t is amazing how innocent they can look? They still are young enough that they spend most of the day sleeping. Now that they have discovered that there is wildlife to “hunt” through the windows, they spend most of the rest of their time chattering at the birds and squirrels or chasing each other around the room. Lyla (seen here on the right) just discovered that lap-sitting has certain advantages. Sofi (on the left) is still undecided.