100 degrees, 100 pillows

it's been about 100 degrees here the last few days, so i've been staying inside, knitting, and sewing. i went to a carrboro knitting group last night at open eye and met a whole crowd of amazing and like-minded knitters. most are on ravelry--one is a moderator of the new destash--and, unlike other knit groups i've attended in the area, all of them are totally online-knit savvy and no one was knitting with acrylic. i even met a super-fun knitter who shares my current fancy for getting pygmy goats. our landlord would love that.

as for sewing, i'm the official museum seamstress: the preparators hired me to make pillow inserts for 25 pillowcases that will be included in their next exhibition. i'll post a photo of the mountain of pillows and my makeshift sewing area next time...

for the moment, a few projects. here's jarrett, a rather sweltering piece to knit in this heat, for mr. boot.
and a quick string bag, crocheted from a pattern in erika knight's simple crochet with leftover recycled cotton yarn. i began this one after attempting the magknits saturday market bag and failing miserably at even this simple lace stitch, in size 15 needles. but i like this bag better, anyway. yeah.

the bag is filled with cucumbers: there are currently 11 in the fridge. i must make pickles soon and find people to take them off my hands. any takers?

and finally, a parting shot of this week's CSA box:

eating locally

greens from our CSA box, local corn, and local catfish! for the past few weeks, our box has included fresh garlic, strawberries, lettuces, arugula, and mixed greens--so many greens that we can't keep up! last week i used several types of greens in a huge salad for a potluck picnic. this week i plan to make arugula pesto and freeze it in batches. one of the contributors to the simply in season mennonite cookbook suggests eating greens only when they are in season. while i couldn't give up my daily greens, i do like to extend the season by freezing as much as i can for winter.

d. and i have been thinking about the historical-political implications of our dairy-free, sugar-free, alcohol-free (and now gluten-free) diet, which we have followed for about nine months. we no longer eat sugar or chocolate--which happen to be the key products of the slave trade, completing the europe-america-africa triangle. since european and american companies in africa, latin america, and the caribbean continue to exploit the workers in these industries, we feel pretty good about not supporting them. although i still daydream about hot chocolate.