Chocolate Fest & Ravelympics Prep

Since returning from the lovely beach trip I have been dealing with a migraine in some form or another. I won't go into details. Except, really? Four freaking days?!

Tonight was the Chocolate Fest at Whole Foods. The $5 donation goes to ChristieCare. This year it seemed as if the samples were lighter. The tasting menu included:

1. Lobster Bisque ( yummy, I ate Brandon's sample since he doesn't like lobster) 
2. Chicken Mole (I really liked this and wish they had the recipe card for this one, good with the rice - anyone have a good recipe they want to share?)
3. Chocolate Beef Curry with Saffron Rice (Brandon liked this one but wasn't impressed by the rice, I found it just a bit spicier than I would normally eat. Maybe less curry, since it wasn't a top note, definitely tasted the orange juice.)
4. Dry Jack Cheese & Barely Buzzed Cheeses (the Dry was a hard cheese and not a lot of flavor; the BB cheese had lavender and coffee and had more flavor; both needed something than the hard little toast rounds to clear the palate or eat with.) There was also a chocolate cake/pie/truffle slice here that was really good that I'm not sure where it fits in on the list.
5. Lake Champlain and Green & Blacks Chocolates (yummy! Chocolate bar bits and truffles)
6. Chocolate Dipped Strawberries (interesting chocolate sauce, not sure that I'd want it again though)
7. Themed Wines (They had an Australian Port Wine with the cheeses. Most wines taste like vinegar to me but both Brandon and I liked it. Will have to go back for a bottle.)
8. Numi Chocolate Puerh Tea (This was also by the cheeses. Surprisingly good.)

Missed the salad and the shrimp they had last year as well as the Rogue Chocolate Beer Floats. Could have used another beverage other than the port along the way too. Oh! Totally missed the chocolate fountain!  You can compare visits from last year's post.

This morning I spent time with the swift and ball winder as well as the printer. Printed out the two patterns I'll need for casting on tomorrow night at 6pm. Ideally the projects that are attempted during Ravelympics have some level of challenge to them. Otherwise what's the point in competing?

I have the Leyburn Socks using the Sock Candy yarn I picked up from Tammy's destash. I'll be participating in Sock Hockey with Team BMFA (Blue Moon Fiber Arts). I'm going to finally teach myself Judy's Magic Cast On (the visual version that I can follow along with, I think), without Judy close by to turn to for help. I think I may try this out beforehand just to be sure I don't have to switch out patterns, but I'm confident I will be successful in getting things started. I may go wild and see if I can do two socks at once! Gasp! Lots of challenges with this project!

 

I also made into a yarn cake the Cormo/Silk I recently spun up to do the Lillia Hyrna Shawl from the Book of Wool by Clara Parkes.This is my Short Track Shawl entry with Team Spin-Knit. Team Spin-Knit is all about using your own handspun yarn to knit a project. A nice large lace shawl should be nicely challenging as well, getting it done in the two week time period.

 

Then there was digging out the Yak/Merino that Tammy brought back for me from Madrona last year. Since its a year later, I thought it appropriate that I spin this next. I thought I'd enter this in the Flying Camel Spin competition without a particular team to compete with. The challenge is to see how much yardage you can accomplish.

I have just around a foot of the Portland Punch fiber to finish spinning up. I may try to get it done tonight, since I'm pretty sure that the other three items I was hoping to get done before Ravelympics aren't going to get done! LOL I'll have those around to give me breaks in between the event projects. Then I can try to ply it tomorrow afternoon so its all done. It's been good preparation for me to see if I can spin four ounces of lace weight in two weeks. That right there is my own personal challenge!

Are you competing?