San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles

We went there this weekend, and I loved it. I was most interested in Beyond Knitting: Uncharted Stitches, but enjoyed every single exhibit.

In Beyond Knitting, some of my favorite pieces were Mark Newport's hand-knit costumes; you can see some of them at the Greg Kucera Gallery website, but the images don't convey their presence--they're actual size, as if knit for a tall, powerful man, but they're adorable! I really loved Argyle Man and Sweaterman 4--and if I had $7000.00 (each, according to the gallery site), they'd be mine. I would love to come home and make believe that this is just my secret identity--in reality, I'm Sweaterman 4, and together with the other three Sweatermen, we're mustering the power of the knit cable to fight the agents of evil!

I was very surprised by how taken I was with the figures in "In Javanese Moonlight: Sha Sha Higby in Transition." They're haunting. And the "Crocheted Reef and Anemone Garden" is fantastic--look for the sweet and well executed crab and rays.

Of course, Cedric was there, but photography was not permitted in the museum. His favorite piece was the knit capitol building. And consider a membership--with it, you can bring in two guests!

Cedric's pal Fergus

We get the most interesting researchers at work. This week, Cedric came in to work with me to meet his pal, Fergus, who's researching his family history--like many of our researchers, Fergus wanted to look up the ship that carried some of his ancestors in the registers. It was quite a challenge for him, since he's only a fraction of the the size of the Lloyd's Registers--even the small ones!

We were struck by their resemblance to each other--they may be cousins, but they won't be sure until Fergus gets further in his research. (It's Cedric on the left.)

Bagels

This is my first batch of bagels! I used the recipe in the The King Arthur Flour baker's companion (which is also on their website) because it was the lowest fat version of the recipe in all of my cookbooks. (It's beyond lowfat--the only fat I used was to grease the bowl that held the rising dough.) I also substituted agave syrup for the sugar in the dough--I didn't see any reason to go hunt down exotic ingredients like "non-diastatic malt powder," if what I had in the cabinet would work--and also substituted rice syrup for all the sugars in the water bath. Worked like a charm.

They came out great and according to my neighbor, "they are real bagels." I'll be making them again!

Sam and Max

Sam and Max, freelance police, outlasted the tshirt onto which I had embroidered them. Now they will be bringing their particular brand of aggression to a Christmas tree near you.