Discoveries that have delighted me this week thus far:

1. Miss Marple (or at least Julia McKenzie who’s playing her in the new Masterpiece series) is a lever knitter.

2. In Germany there is an octopus named Paul who has correctly predicted the outcome of each of his country’s World Cup matches by eating a mussel from a box labeled with the winning country’s flag. Paul is six for six, having foretold Germany’s shocking upset by Serbia earlier in the tournament and also their defeat by Spain in yesterday’s semifinal. (Keep in mind that Paul has eight tentacles and could probably open both boxes at once, but he is not greedy and apparently takes his oracular duties seriously.) I think that if America is ever to reach a World Cup semifinal we not only need to study the new German style of play but should also trade Punxsutawney Phil for a more sophisticated animal prognosticator.

3. You can make paper out of pond scum. The children who have confirmed this report that if you want to try it at home you should make sure you have good ventilation, as the paper smells rather fishy even when it’s dry. (They took this as inspiration to cut fish shapes out of it for a multi-sensory collage.) I must say the pond scum paper looks easier to work with than the thistle paper a friend and I made at a similar age.

4. Radishes are a good addition to homemade salsa. Use plenty of lime juice.

5. I don’t hate knitting cotton as much as I thought I did, at least not if it’s the right cotton. Mirasol Lachiwa is 60% cotton, 40% linen, and yet it is soft, gentle on the hands, doesn’t split at all, isn’t prone to rowing out in stockinet fabric…. I am forced to admit that knitting with it is downright PLEASING. (Occasionally there’s a little stray end of tough fiber poking out from the plies that’s rather scratchy, but these are easily pulled free.)

I had all these projects I was going to work on this weekend, all these pictures I was going to take to share with you here. I’m sewing a simple linen dress from this tutorial; I’m knitting these crazy awesome socks in a mad dash for a friend’s birthday; I’m mocking up a quilt block to practice piecing circles (sounds nuts, right?); I have two sweet Oliver + S patterns I’m excited to try. I did finish the neckline on the dress and got as far as the heel of the first sock, and then the zombies happened.

Actually, I was the zombie.

I just completely ran out of steam on Sunday morning and had to give over the entire afternoon to a nap, accomplishing nothing but a little feeble vacuuming. I dragged myself through an evening of marimba practice and grocery shopping and arrived home even more living-dead. Apparently Minnow is making some demands on my body right now and I just need to watch how I extend my energy. (Oh, and I was wrong about how big it is — I was reading my little journal again and apparently the baby had gained 100g, bringing its total weight to more than a pound! Which sounds like a lot until I remember it’s only got four months to put on at least five more… no wonder I need more sleep.)

Anyway, no fun photos and not as much progress as I’d hoped in any department. Except for that part where I’ve increased the size of my offspring by a skein of sock yarn in the last couple of weeks.

Yesterday I sent Molly a message to say she’d won my little contest, and today I had a message back:

Hi Sarah – I’m tickled pink to have won your contest, even if by default!  That being said, I have a little proposition for you…did you happen to see the blog entry on Mason Dixon about the “Iraqi Bundles of Love”?  I really like this idea, such a simple thing to do – and who doesn’t need to clear out some space in that sewing/knitting drawer?  (or in my case, closet)  I don’t know if you have time to do this, they must mail out by next Tuesday, but if you do and you think it’s something you’d be interested in undertaking, why not include my prize in your package?

Molly rocks. I had seen the Mason Dixon link, but I was only skimming the blogs during lunch that day and didn’t go investigate the project further. The link is here.  Basically, a man who’s deployed in Iraq and has been visiting the country since 1994 is collecting all kinds of sewing, knitting, and quilting materials to put into the hands of Iraqis. The deadline is right around the corner–I’m planning to mail my bundle on Saturday–but there are great instructions on the IBOL blog and it won’t take long to pull some things from my excessive stash and package them up. It’s all going to an APO address (you have to leave a comment in the IBOL blog to get the address) in an $11.95 flat-rate box. Apparently there’s also someone in the Netherlands collecting bundles to forward from Europe. I’ll take a picture of what I’m putting in and post it here! And if you’re intrigued, consider this a nudge to do the same!

When Monday morning begins with the dog escaping from the yard and cruising over to the neighbors’ to sample their buffet of dirty diaper trash, it doesn’t augur for a good week. Given that the subsequent clean-up effort caused me to forget both my lunch and the reports I needed to edit today, let’s not even try to imagine what the fates may have in store. The world is probably trying to throw us a little something to balance against a lovely weekend that included an early morning bike ride, a thrilling finish to the Giro d’Italia, a nice dinner out with the Senior G’s in honor of their 35th anniversary (producing the leftovers now languishing on the kitchen counter), plenty of sock knitting, a trip to the farmers’ market…

… and an impromptu celebration of my neighbor Barb’s birthday, lounging in the grass in their beautiful garden and enjoying a birthday cake I whipped up for the occasion. I went with my new favorite cake recipe, which I’d made once before exactly as written and found excellent: neither too sweet nor too time consuming. But this time, I had rhubarb, and when rhubarb is in season I’m generally of the opinion that it ought to go into anything I might bake. So Barb got Apple and Rhubarb Yogurt Cake à la Clotilde. We had (shockingly) run out of maple syrup, so I substituted 1/4 c. of Lyle’s Golden syrup* and a scant 1/2 c. of turbinado sugar. The rhubarb I chopped in 1/4″ to 1/2″ slices and tossed with about 1 Tbsp. more turbinado sugar. One medium size, long stalk was exactly right to cover the top:

I pressed the rhubarb slices gently into the batter, sprinkled (as much as one can sprinkle wet clumps) the remaining sugar in the bowl over the top, then layered the apple slices on above, sprinkled again very lightly with a bit more turbinado sugar. I neglected to take a picture of the finished cake (you can tell I’ll never make a food blogger), but I’m happy to report that it was delicious and the rhubarb added just the right pleasing tartness without making the cake soggy.

I also gave Barb a drop spindle that I’ll be teaching her how to use, in my admittedly inexpert way. She knits a bit and she’s been intrigued by the spindle since I busted one out at early morning 2006 Tour de France screenings at the bike shop where she works (her husband was the recipient of the hat I knit from the resulting fiber). She managed to acquire a heap of wool, so I’m all set to grow myself a spinning partner! Just imagine the attention we’ll probably attract, drop spindling away on one or the other of our front porches on summer evenings…

*A treat unfamiliar to far too many Americans—and you really should go read about it, as this article typifies the wonders of Wikipedia. I, for one, had no idea that the lion on the label is a) Biblical, and b) dead. I thought he was sleeping and bothered by flies. While I’m slightly stricken to be disabused of my gentler interpretation, I do love me a Peculiar Inventor story (someone remind me to Netflix that documentary about Dr. Bronner, okay? Go read the label of one of his soap bottles—ideally aloud to friends, and it’s best if you’re all a little tipsy or otherwise in a jolly mood—if you don’t know what I’m talking about. Arctic owls and Mark Spitz! All one or none!), and it looks like Mr. Abram Lyle fit the bill.