After Lunch

The Yogurt Experiments

2010-05-21T10:47:00.008-05:00

One thing I’ve learned is that there are usually many ways to accomplish the same thing whether it’s knitting, sewing, gardening, cooking or most anything else. There have been many bloggers lately that have posted about making yogurt – each of them slightly differently and each of them says that their method works. I believe them. But being me, I just had to tinker some more with the method or “recipe” for making yogurt until I had a method that worked best for me. You might find that my method works for you too. If you just want the “recipe” and not all my wordiness – scroll down for it.

I started my home made yogurt quest for two reasons: I was concerned about all the little unrecyclable yogurt containers that I was throwing away (in our area we can’t recycle #5 plastic – your area might be different) and since I’m doing things like washing my clothes with homemade laundry soap and hanging them to dry even in the winter it just seemed wrong to be throwing away all those little yogurt containers. My digestive system really appreciates yogurt if you know what I mean and so I eat a lot of it and that means a lot of yogurt containers.

Secondly, I’m always on the lookout to be more frugal and it really does save money to make your own yogurt. And as a bonus the yogurt you get is fabulous! Way better for you and it tastes scrumptious too. I made yogurt years ago with one of those Salton yogurt makers and really that stuff was pretty bad. If that’s what you think homemade yogurt is like then think again. This stuff is wonderful. Anyway, the Compadre did some seat of the pants figuring and with our prices for milk and dry milk here in Minnesota (about $2.39 for the whole milk and 75¢ for the dry milk needed) a gallon of yogurt costs us $3.10. Add your own jam if you want and some sugar if you’re me and you might raise the cost to a little under $5.00. For a GALLON! of good yogurt with no high fructose corn syrup, gelatin, cornstarch or preservatives. A bargain at half the price! Yoplait yogurt was 49¢ for 6 oz. in the food ad this week – that’s a sale price. That works out to about $10.45/gallon and all those foreign ingredients were what I just read on the label. Yikes.

The basics of making yogurt are to heat up the milk/dry milk mixture to a high enough temp to kill any bad bugs and then to cool it off to the right temp to incubate the good bugs, add the starter yogurt, and incubate at the optimal temp for the right length of time. There are many ways to accomplish this. My old Salton yogurt maker would have worked fine for me if I had known what I know now about the amount of dry milk and had access to better starter yogurt. All that yogurt maker did was hold the milk mixture at the right temp – I kind of wish I hadn’t gotten rid of it, but as the Compadre would remind me – you can’t keep everything and it’s very rare that I regret getting rid of something. (Don’t hold me to that Compadre!)

After reading many posts and articles (even scientific ones!) about making yogurt I tried several ways of doing it. Many of the instructions said to use no more than 1/3 cup of dry milk to ½ gallon of milk but I wanted my yogurt to be thick and not like the thin runny stuff I got years ago. I found one article that recommended as much as 2/3 cup per half gallon of milk and so I went with that. I tried two ways to heat the milk. I first tried the crock pot method and found that it took forever in my slow cooker and the milk scorched on the bottom. I have the kind of slow cooker that is like a plate with a pot on top of it so all of the heat comes from the bottom. So even though I kept the temp low it still scorched. I then went to the double boiler method. My double boiler doesn’t hold the whole half gallon of milk though and I had to stand over the stove and stir so this method, while it works well and takes much less time wasn’t as good as it could have been. But I made yogurt by this method for a while. Then I went to visit my daughter in Maryland because my grandson Elliott was born. While there I showed them how to make yogurt and they didn’t have a double boiler so I used their crock pot – the kind with the crock in it that heats more evenly. Now that worked great! I was able to heat the milk on high and it took about 2 hours to heat – your mileage may vary depending on your crock pot. When I got home I went to Target and bought a cheap crock pot for $12.99 and have been using it ever since. I figure that I recouped the cost after only a few batches of yogurt.

There are also many ways of incubating the yogurt. I incubate my yogurt in the oven. Some people cover the yogurt with insulating layers of towels or something and leave it on the counter. Some people invest in expensive equipment to keep the yogurt the right temp. And some people didn’t get rid of their Salton Yogurt makers! I started by putting the whole crock, pan, bowl, or whatever of yogurt with the culture into the oven to culture it. My oven lets me see what temperature it is inside it as it rises and the optimal temperature for incubating is about 110 to 115 degrees. I usually incubate for about 6 hours, again there are differing opinions about this. Some incubate longer and some shorter. The longer you incubate the more tart your yogurt will be. You can adjust the time for your own needs. I turn my oven on every once in a while to check the temperature and to try to keep it at the best temperature. Some people just put it in the warm oven and just leave it until morning – I haven’t tried that yet. My method requires me to be home for the day and the overnight method would be wonderful if you work. I’ll have to try it.

When you incubate your yogurt in a large quantity like the crock or a bowl and then scoop out what you need the yogurt separates and you’ll notice liquid whey in the place where you took out the scoop of yogurt after a while. You can stir it back in but I don’t like to do that because I like thick yogurt. You can strain it out and I did that for a while. I used a coffee filter in a funnel and let it sit for a long time. You can buy expensive equipment for this is you want. The result is a very thick yogurt that some call Greek yogurt – it’s good. The whey can be used to make the very best pancakes you’ve ever had. The Compadre thinks that he substituted the whey for the liquid in the pancake recipe and added a little dry milk powder. We’ll have to try it again and document what we do. They were light and fluffy and tasted wonderful. But the Compadre always makes good pancakes! As it happens, I am bugged by my yogurt separating and having to deal with the whey. So I put my thinking cap on and thought about how we used to buy our yogurt in small containers in the grocery store. Hmmm, why couldn’t I incubate it in small containers and then eat it all at once – the whey wouldn’t have a chance to separate then. So what I did and still do is use 8 ounce canning jars to incubate the yogurt. I have a collection of caps that I’ve saved from other bottles that I use to cover them. When we need yogurt we just grab a jar and either eat it straight out of the jar or scoop it into a bowl. How neat and tidy and it works great! When I incubate then this way I don’t screw the caps on tight until after the incubation time is over and I put them in the fridge. I don’t know if this is necessary but I just think that a little air is good while the yogurt is incubating.

A few words of caution. I’ve taken microbiology and had many classes in food safety and it really worries me to be keeping food for so long at the danger zone. So please make sure that all your equipment is clean, clean, clean. I prefer to take my jars, crock, spoons, etc. straight out of the dishwasher and use them. That’s not always possible but I always make sure that I’m using clean stuff. And it goes without saying that you should wash your hands! One of the online instructions even went to far as to say that you should use store bought starter every so many times. I have been using my own yogurt for starter for several months now but if it ever starts to look funny or smell “off” I’ll toss it and start over with store bought. By the way I use Stonyfield Farms yogurt because it was recommended as having the most beneficial bugs of the commercial yogurts out there. I usually look for plain but I’ve also used vanilla with success.

So, here’s the “recipe” that I use for making yogurt.

You'll need 1/2 gallon of whole milk, 2/3 cup of powdered milk and 1/2 cup of Stonyfield Farms commercial yogurt or 1/2 cup of your previous batch of yogurt.

Put ½ gallon of whole milk and 2/3 cup of dry milk powder in the ceramic crock for your crockpot. Whisk it until it’s mixed well and set the crockpot to high. Using an instant read thermometer monitor the temperature and whisk it occasionally until it reaches somewhere between 180 and 200 degrees F.

Remove the crock from the crockpot and let the milk cool down to 110 to 115 degrees F. Whisk it occasionally – this seems to hasten the cooling process (at least it makes me feel like it does). The milk will develop a skin on top and you can just stir this in or you can remove it.

When the milk is getting close to the right temperature turn on the oven and heat it to about 115 degrees. (I always forget and let it get too hot and then have to open the oven door a couple of times to cool it off – sheesh). Take at least ½ cup of your starter (either Stonyfield Farms yogurt or some you’ve saved from your last batch) and put it in a bowl or the pitcher and add a cup or two of the warm milk to it. Whisk it well and then pour the starter mixture back into the rest of the warm milk. (This is to make sure that the starter is well distributed in the milk). Pour the milk/starter mixture into 8 oz. jars or leave it in the crock if you want. Cover loosely and put in the oven for about 6 hours. Make sure to monitor the oven temp occasionally and heat it up again if needed – don’t let it get too hot when heating so that you don’t kill the yogurt bugs. I usually stand and watch it heat because I know myself – see above!

When the 6 hours is up take out a jar and tip it slightly to see if it is thick enough. If not let it incubate a little longer. When it’s done to your liking cover tightly and put in the fridge.

I always add something to my yogurt – I’m not a purist. I’ve added jam, vanilla, favored syrups, homemade rhubarb sauce (yum), and canned fruit. The Compadre likes to eat his plain. Both of us can’t eat store bought yogurt any more – it just doesn’t taste right!

Questions, questions

2010-02-03T09:19:00.008-06:00

I've been asked to do an interview for the newsletter of the shop where I teach. The idea is that potential students will be able to learn a little about the teacher of the class that they are considering taking and realize that we are real people and will be approachable. Anyway, I thought to myself, self, I don’t want to do that I like to be anonymous. I’m just a shy person. But then, it occurred to me that I could use these questions as blog fodder and maybe come up with some ideas for this blog that has been rather neglected lately.

So, lets start off with the first question. What’s your background? What should I tell you here? Let’s see, almost lifelong Twin Citian, grew up in a northern suburb of St. Paul. I do like living in Minnesota but the winters do get long. I’m very active in my church and have a deep Christian faith. I have a degree in Dietetics and am retired from a career in food service management – I was a lunch lady and proud of it. I’ve always been interested in things “domestic” as one of my school girl friends accused me of. That was an insult – I grew up when it wasn’t cool to be interested in those things – one needed a career. Hmmph. I had a career and I stayed home for 14 years when my kids were growing up. The lunch lady career dovetailed nicely with being home when my kids were off of school in the summer and all those other days off in the school year. Anyway, I love to do crafty, fibery, homemaking kinds of things and I’ve tried many of them. One could call me a jack of all things domestic and master of only a few – to paraphrase a cliché. I’m mostly self taught but have taken some classes over the years. I’ve taken china painting classes for about 6 years but I’m still a rookie at that – some things are fun just to do even if you’re not that good at them! My grandmother and aunts on both sides of the family were interested in knitting, sewing, crafty things but my Mom not so much, although she did sew a little. So my interest in fibery things could be considered genetic!

And because every blog post needs pictures – here are some grandbaby pictures.

First up - Abigail with her new little brother, her "baby".

Next up, Jordan is 6 weeks old and smiling! I got to play with him when Anita came over yesterday. Oh, the joy of having a grandchild nearby!

Our Family is Growing

2010-02-02T19:28:00.005-06:00

We welcome another new addition to our family! Elliott Joshua was born yesterday and joins his big sister Abigail! Everyone is doing very well and this Grandma is very jealous of their other Grandma who is with them right now. I really can't believe that I now have 3 grandchildren. I'm too young for that!

Living Green and Frugal

2010-01-05T21:15:00.007-06:00

I’ve been working toward living a more frugal life. Not including craft supplies and yarn! Wouldn’t want to give the Compadre any ideas! As a result – we’re living a more “green” life too. Some of the things I/we have been doing for a long time and some we’ve started more recently. We try not to waste food, we drive small cars, we wear our clothes until they wear out, we grow some of our food (sometimes successfully, sometimes not!). And now that I’m retired and we don’t have kids at home I have more time to do some things that I just couldn’t have done when the kids were all home and I was working. I’ve been washing our clothes with homemade laundry soap and for more than a year now we’ve been hanging them to dry – outside in the summer and inside on a wooden drying rack in the winter. The Compadre isn’t fully on board on this – he’s been known to dry the clothes in the dryer when he does the laundry and isn’t fully supervised. But I can’t complain – I’ve got a husband that does laundry!!

This Christmas I tried something new in the frugal department. I wrapped many of our gifts with fabric squares in the furoshiki method. Basically if you know how to do a square knot you can wrap gifts in fabric squares. There are several good websites that show how to do it. I made my fabric squares by using my serger and doing a rolled hem edge on all four sides. I found that the most useful sizes were 28 and 22 inches. I made one that was 37 inches for a bigger gift and a few that were 18 inches using fat quarters. The advantage of using 22 inch squares (if they fit the package) is that you can get two pieces from the width of standard fabric. Of course this method is more expensive in the short run but over time I expect that we’ll reuse the fabric many times and it will be free from now on. I told the giftees that they could give me the wrap so I could reuse it myself or they could reuse it themselves. That of course makes it part of the gift! I stocked up on Christmas fabric after in the after Christmas sales – 75% off!! So I’m all ready for next year. One hint about the sizes of fabric needed. If you’re making the squares as you’re wrapping the gifts – check to see what size you need before cutting it. It’s surprising that I didn’t need many large pieces. Oh, and here’s a tutorial for you if you don’t have a means to make rolled hems. A little more time consuming but it works too. I think that wrapping gifts in fabric is easier too – I never was much good with square corners and tape and all. By the way, we really noticed that the Christmas garbage was much less – I’m sure the garbage man was happy with our house!

Of course there are many more things that we could do and I’m sure I’ve got my blind spots about some ways we live life, but I’ve got some more ideas for things that I could do to live greener and more frugally. First up is composting kitchen scraps. Let’s see if I can get the Compadre on board!

I'll leave you with a cute picture of newborn baby Jordan in his car seat.

Grandma again!

2009-12-20T14:22:00.005-06:00

It's been a long time since I posted and I joked to my daughter Anita that it took another grandchild to make me start posting again! Yes, it's true, Anita and Dave had their baby early this morning 2 1/2 weeks early. So meet Jordan!

And here is the proud papa!

This grandma got caught without some projects done! I never believed that he would come so early. So I'm off to do some knitting....

Our State Fair

2009-09-05T02:20:00.009-05:00

I'll take a little break from catch up posts to tell you about our visit to the Minnesota State Fair. We think it's the best state fair. Certainly it ranks right up there and it sure is fun. This year I entered 3 things in the competitions. Two pieces of tatting - I won a first for the wreath Christmas ornament in the upper right hand corner (picture taken through glass so it's not very clear) and a second for the earrings in the lower right. I also was brave and entered the very competitive knitting category. I knew that there were so many entries in knitting that my chances of winning anything were slim to none and indeed I didn't place, but I'll be interested to see what the judge says about it. I entered the Vine Flower Dress that I made for Abigail. I didn't even take a picture of it at the fair. It took me a long time to spot it and it wasn't displayed so you could see it very well - understandable when you saw how much knitting there was to display. The yarn that I used was hard to splice without it being obvious and I'm sure they'll note that. Here is Abigail wearing it. It turned out so cute - of course the model helps too!!

The fair is a good place to people watch. I spotted this young man - think he's a little bitter?

And of course there is the food. My daughter suggested we try the deep fried "gourmet" pickle chips. I'm glad I shared them with the Compadre. I'm sure that my arteries will thank me! This must have been the year to go to the fair (staycations and all that) because it was more crowded than I've ever seen it. When we went into the food building to get the pickle chips it was so full that we couldn't move. More than a little claustrophic! I wonder what the fire marshall would have said. I was glad to get out of that building.

We go to the fair every year. I don't always enter my things in it but it's always more fun when I can look for my entries and see them displayed.

Catching Up

2009-08-26T09:45:00.009-05:00

I've been wondering how to get all I have to catch up on in one post. Maybe I'll just have to catch the highlights! It's been such a busy summer and I've been neglecting my blog.

So, before my son's wedding, in early July we went on our 2 week vacation to Colorado. I had gotten a cortisone shot in each knee and I timed it perfectly so I was able to do a lot of hiking. I also made an attempt to hike up a mountain again. Did you catch that? I attempted it. No, I didn't succeed - and I decided that I like the valleys just fine! The mountains towering above us in the valley are beautiful and much easier to enjoy!! The guidebook said that the hike up to Mt. Sherman was "easy". Ha!!! For a billy goat maybe. We lost the trail at one point because of snow fields and ended up on an area of scree. The rocks were largish and unstable and I am afraid of heights. At one point I almost sat and cried - I was afraid to go forward and couldn't go back. Yikes. We met several people that were just picking their way along without hesitation but I just couldn't do it. I ended up crawling along until we found more stable footing. While we were doing that we observed other people hiking across the snowfield to avoid the rocky area and that's the way that we got down - still not easy but more doable. I hiked up to the pass or saddle area of the mountain to humor the Compadre. This is a picture at the pass - as high as I got. He claims that the best part of hiking in the mountains is seeing the other side. Oh, I didn't mention that there were gale force winds blowing up there too and it was cold. We weren't the only ones that didn't continue.

We did do many, many enjoyable hikes during our trip. I logged 34 miles of hiking. I had great intentions of continuing to walk when I got back but....

On our way to Colorado we visited Pete and Carol, some good friends who live in Texas. Yes, I know that Texas isn't really on the way to Colorado from Minnesota but they live in the panhandle and it wasn't really that much out of our way. We really enjoyed our visit. While we were there we were able to see the church that Carol is pastoring and meet some of the people from the town. The town was getting ready for their annual festival and they had a fund raiser that I had to participate in. It was called horse drop bingo - and it is played just like it sounds. The field is marked out in a bingo card and a horse is let into it and the first place he, er, drops his load so to speak, is the square that wins. I didn't win but it was fun just imagining the game. I wish that we could have seen it! Rural people have a different perspective than us city folks!

After we got back from vacation we had to hit the ground running. A wedding happening in two weeks and....we had decided to have almost all the windows and the front door in the house replaced . What were we thinking!!! That meant of course that the workers had to get to all the windows. And I have stuff!! So we moved and cleaned and shoved the piles into the areas that didn't need to be accessed and somehow it got done. Then of course after the job was done I needed to move it all back. I took the time to organize the "fiber room" and now I can actually use it! And since I had to move all my fiber related books out of the bookcase that they were jumbled into I organized them and even entered them into Ravelry. At least all those that Ravelry currently has in the system. I found a couple of duplicates that I gave to Amy. What I should do is print out a list of my books and carry it with me so that I don't by duplicates any more. The downstairs family room/sewing area is still a disaster area but I'll get to that the next time I have some panic deadline - maybe Christmas. I know myself. In the meantime I'm enjoying the newly clean areas and hoping that I can keep them that way.

Amy, Eric, and Abigail came for the wedding and we had to try to babyproof this house. It was next to impossible so we blocked off areas and did a lot of supervising of Abigail. This is getting really long so I'll catch up on their visit in my next post.

Excuses, Excuses

2009-08-14T17:03:00.006-05:00

I've been taking some flak because I haven't posted much lately. I've got some good excuses! Here's the first one. My youngest son got married on August 1. Granted, as the mother of the groom I didn't have quite the responsibilities as when my daughters got married but nevertheless I'm using it as excuse number one.

Megan and David's ceremony was a beautiful outdoor one. It was a perfect day - even the weather cooperated! It was actually "cold" on August 1 in Minnesota. And no, for those of you that don't live in Minnesota, it's not always cold here - usual temps in August are hot and humid!

Abigail was a very cute flower girl!!

I wore the shawl that Amy made for me and Amy wore one that I have that Kelly made as a shop sample and that I bought. I don't know what pattern Kelly made but I do know that it took only 100 gm. skein of sock yarn.

Busy times here

2009-07-23T21:44:00.002-05:00

Yes, we've gone on vacation, but we're back now. As soon as we got back we had our windows replaced in our house - which of course meant that a lot of stuff had to be moved because I have so much crafty stuff in this house and a lot of it lives in front of the windows. That means of course that it all has to be moved back. And last but not least we're getting ready for the wedding of our youngest son. So, in honor of the approaching wedding I thought you'd all like to see this video. Looks like it was a fun wedding!

A School Lunch Story

2009-06-07T19:21:00.004-05:00

When I saw today's comic For Better or for Worse I laughed and laughed because it reminded me of a real life episode in this former school lunch lady's career.

Back in the "old days" in school lunch we made most of the food on site, from scratch. Including the bread. And during this period in my career I started my job at 6 AM at a school about 50 minutes away. So that meant that I had to leave home in the winter before the radio station announced the school closings for bad weather. This particular day I made it all the way into the school and so did my assistant despite horrible freezing rain that coated the roads with ice. We had a discussion about what to do but since school hadn't been called off we started the day's menu. Including the bread. All the while we were worried about the weather and how we would get home if our day was canceled. So of course as soon as we had the bread rising we got the call that we could go home. We had a discussion about what to do with the bread dough - we wanted to get back on the road as soon as possible before the roads got any worse and so we made the decision to put the whole bowl into the freezer and deal with it later. Now we're talking about a lot of bread dough. My memory is fuzzy but I think we used to use at least 30 pounds of flour in each batch. A lot of bread dough. I bet you can guess what happened. The next day when we got to school we couldn't believe what we saw. That dough took long enough to freeze that it had time to rise and overflow onto the floor of the freezer where it then froze into a large immovable lump. The custodian got out his ice chipper and it took a long time to chip away the frozen dough even with his help (and teasing). We needed that bowl to make that day's batch too - so the bread was late in getting started for the day. And it took a long long time to live down the "thing that ate the freezer" stories.

And just because every post needs a picture - here's one of Abigail "walking" her baby doll.

Two Years Ago Today

2009-06-01T20:45:00.003-05:00

My Dad died two years ago and I still miss him. Funny how anniversaries bring events and people to mind. Really, today is just another day in June but to me it isn't. About this time two years ago today we were gathered around Dad's deathbed singing Amazing Grace as he left us to go to heaven. I still can't sing that hymn without tears.

Dad was a gentle soul, a wonderful father and a faithful husband to my Mom. He had a grace about him even during trying times. He was a WWII and Korea vet, he served in the Navy working with radios and radar. He was a smart man, he went to college when he got out and became an electrical engineer and worked on computers when they were first beginning. But most of all, he was our father. I still catch myself thinking I've seen him when I see an old man from the back that walks like he did or stands like he did. Or I remember him when I hear music that he liked or go to an event that he would have liked. I wish I had spent more time with him when he was alive, I wish that I would have had him over for dinner more often. Towards the end he was disoriented and confused but he sure loved to eat! I know I'll see him when I get to heaven but for now all I have are the memories.

Thanks Amy

2009-05-20T10:55:00.005-05:00

I'm a lucky Mom. My daughter Amy knit an awesome shawl for me - it took her a year to do it! She told me that she wanted to knit something for me and I suggested a shawl. She thought it was a good idea since she didn't think that she'd ever wear one and she'd been wanting to make one. Heh. I gave her a pattern and yarn and she agreed. I did warn her that it was a hard pattern but she's never been one to back off from a challenge! She reminded me a few days ago on the phone that this was her first lace project!! She also admitted that she had a very hard time parting with it. I can see why, but I'm very glad she did!

So here I present - Sivia Harding's Shetland Garden Faroese Shawl, made by Amy. Wow! And Thanks.

Spinning with a Bunny

2009-05-15T15:17:00.004-05:00

I told the group at knitting this afternoon about this and they wanted me to post this picture that I took at the Shepherd's Harvest Sheep and Wool Festival . It was really a cool thing to see. The bundle of fur in her lap is an angora bunny and she's just spinning directly from the it! The bunny was happy to oblige. Oh, and I asked, his name is Spot. This was the only picture I took at Shepherd's Harvest - I remembered my camera just as we were leaving. Camnesia - forgetting that you have a camera and should be taking pictures!

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T13:07:00.001-05:00

You may have seen this before but here it is with words!

Ketchup and Diet Coke

2009-05-08T15:41:00.004-05:00

I'm sure that our knitting group is like most others and many topics come up for discussion when we get together. A few weeks ago some of our group (I'm looking at you Miss T) were totally grossed out and appalled when this "recipe" was discussed. Apparently it's a Weight Watchers idea and several of the group vouched for its tastyness. I decided what the heck, I'll try it. So I mixed 12 oz. of diet Coke and 1 cup of ketchup together and poured it over chicken breasts and boiled it all until the sauce was of BBQ sauce consistancy and then....we ate it! The Compadre pronounced it good and he saved the leftover sauce - he wants me to make it again!! I think that my homemade BBQ sauce is better but this is sure easier. I wonder if the diet Coke makes all the calories go away?

Guest post by Amy

2009-05-04T07:21:00.012-05:00

I haven't been blogging much lately. I keep writing blog posts in my head and then never get around to posting them! I even told the Compadre yesterday that I'm tired of my blog!! I hope I get over it! Anyway my daughter Amy came to the rescue. Here is a guest blog post about their trip to Canada. She got to go to knit night and the Yarn Harlot was there! How cool is that - I'm jealous.

Canada, by Amy

A year ago I wrote a guest blog about my trip to the Maryland Sheep & Wool festival. Well this year we took a family vacation to Toronto, Canada instead. It was well worth it!

Day 1

Eric wanted to go to Toronto for a couple reasons and they both had to do with sports (for the record, I like sports too). The first thing we did in Toronto was go to the Hockey Hall of Fame. We could have spent all day there if we weren’t so wiped out. It was a lot of fun and Abigail enjoyed walking around (the exhibits were safely behind glass).

I wanted to go to Toronto for several reasons, the first of which was to go to the Lettuce Knit SnB. I was hoping to meet Laura of Cosmicpluto Knits (blog) and Stephanie of Yarnharlot (blog) and I met both! Of course I almost chickened out of talking to either of them, but Abigail makes it easier to talk to people. Stephanie remembered Abigail from last year when we saw her speak. I somehow managed to cast on for a toe up sock and I bought yarn in a gorgeous rust red for Laura’s B-side Cardigan. Space was tight and Abigail got cold outside so we left early, but I was still on cloud nine for the entire walk back to the hotel (at least a mile) and I think I talked Eric’s ear off. Of course, afterwards I think of all the dumb things I said or didn’t say to the people I met. Sorry mom, I forgot to tell them that you knit the sweater Abigail was wearing, not me.

Day 2

On our second day of vacation we went to the CN tower, which is the tallest building in the world. We went up to the glass floor level and looked down at the ground beneath us. Abigail was completely unfazed by it and was more interested in the cheerios I had.

Day 3

We went to the zoo , based on a lot of recommendations. It was a very long subway and bus ride, but well worth it for Abigail. She loved the tigers, the elephants and the hippos. She even tried to make the elephant noise that Daddy made. She especially enjoyed walking down the trails by herself. We really wore her out.

After she got some rest, we went to a Blue Jays game where Abigail got to run around some more. It wasn’t very crowded and we let her walk up part of the steep ramp by herself. Unfortunately, she wanted to run around during the game too and Daddy only saw half an inning.

Day 4

We were walking through the mall when we saw on a TV that the Blue Jays were in the 3^rd inning. Whoops! We had tickets to that game! We rushed back to the hotel and sure enough, our tickets said 1pm NOT 7pm like we thought. We made it to the game in the middle of the 6^th inning, which turned out pretty well. Abigail sat through several innings and then I let her run around while Daddy saw more of the game. Afterwards, Abigail got to “run” the bases, though I don’t think she thought much of Ace, the Blue Jay’s mascot.

Day 5

We’re all glad to be home. While waiting at the gate to board the plane, Abigail handed us her pajamas. We changed her and she slept the whole way home and then some more!

Perfect, easy peeling, boiled eggs

2009-04-24T18:35:00.006-05:00

Back when I worked in a commercial kitchen making perfect hard boiled eggs involved steaming them in the steamer in a perforated pat for exactly 14 minutes. It was easy. But now that I'm retired I have to use the stove and boil them. Can you believe that I had to do some research into how to make the perfect boiled egg? And what I found was that there are many, many opinions on how to do this. I wanted an egg that didn't have that gray overcooked edge on the yolk and that was consistently easy to peel. Two separate problems to solve. I already knew that 10 minutes of boiling gave me an acceptable egg most of the time but the problem was the peeling. I like to make deviled eggs for pot luck type of situations and you want your deviled eggs to look appealing (get the pun) hee, hee. So with my research here is what I worked out. Your mileage may vary, this is what works for the altitude in Minnesota. I know for a fact that it doesn't work in the Colorado mountains at 9,000 feet - the eggs have to cook for some unknown time longer - I'll work on it when we go to the cabin this summer.

Take the eggs out of the refrigerator and put them into a pan. Fill the pan with HOT tap water and put it on medium heat. Bring to a steady but not hard boil and boil for 10 minutes (use a timer). When the timer has about 2 minutes left to go, prepare an ice cold water bath for the eggs. Put a tray of ice cubes into a bowl and fill with cold tap water. When the timer goes off, immediatly drain the eggs and rinse with cold tap water. Then put them into the ice cold water bath and leave them until the ice melts. When you peel them, crack them all around the middle of the egg and the shell should just come off in large sections. Works for me - try it and let me know if it works for you. Popular folk lore says that you should only use old eggs for boiling but I've used them fresh from the farm and it's worked.

Here's one of the things I do with boiled eggs. This "recipe" comes from my grandmother so that must qualify it as an heritage recipe - except that my kids and the Compadre think it's gross so the recipe is bound to stop with me. Anyway, take a peeled egg and slice it. Drizzle oil and vinegar on it and then sprinkle salt and pepper on it. Mmmm, brings back memories every time.

If Only I Could Remember My Camera

2009-04-09T20:22:00.006-05:00

If I could remember my camera then I would have wonderful pictures of the cute alpacas that I saw at the Minnesota Alpaca Expo last Saturday. It was a fun day. Although I have no knowledge whatsoever about judging alpacas it was fun to watch. Everywhere you looked there was a cute alpaca head looking back at you! Some of my friend's alpacas placed very well. I had the most fun watching the kids with their alpacas play "Simon says" during the lunch break. Little kids with their alpaca on a leash leading it around the ring. Cute and cuter. But sorry, I forgot my camera, you'll just have to imagine it. Oh, and there were vendors - yarn vendors. I bought another kit to make yet another tulip sweater for Abigail! I love, love, love making that sweater and Abigail looks so cute in it. Christmas present here we come.

And if I had thought that there would be a camera opportunity I would have brought it to the sock machine get together last Monday. We got a tour of the wooden box factory that is a family business for one of our members. It was like going back in time - the boxes are made with very old technology and this is one of the only places that makes wooden berry boxes. We saw the basswood logs being made into the thin veneer and scored and sliced into the pieces for the boxes and then watched them being stapled into the actual boxes. I just love factory tours and this was especially great because of its history and because I know one of the people involved.

I learned how to make the tiny felted mittens on my sock machine on Monday too. They are fun to make. The idea is to make coin purses out of them by sewing velcro in the top. When I got home and showed the Compadre what I had learned he started laughing! He pointed out that the entry for Monday on the Yarn Harlot's daily calendar was about making mittens because they're a small project. And she had the idea to sell them as small purses (tongue in cheek) because you don't need as many mittens as you do socks. And here I was actually making small mitten purses! Talk about a coincidence.

I'll leave you with a picture of a different baby! This is Natalie, she's the daughter of my nephew and his wife. They were visiting last week. Also in the picture is my son and his fiancée and my daughter. What a cute baby.

It Was A Very Good Trip

2009-03-29T20:31:00.006-05:00

The Compadre and I went on a quick trip out east to visit Abigail – and her parents of course. The Compadre was on spring break. Funny, now that I don’t have to worry about the school schedules the Compadre does. We had such fun playing with a 15 month old Abigail. She is enjoying her mobility as she walks all over. Her other grandparents came too and so Abigail had what we called “staff”. If she started out walking somewhere she looked to see if someone was following – and if no one was she made sure one of us did! Amy was a little worried that when we all left Abigail would be a handful but as of our last phone call she handled it fine.

For such a short trip we packed in a lot of visiting, yarn shopping and eating out. I visited Amy’s favorite yarn shop – Stitches with Style on the way in from the airport. It was fun to see that Abigail is such a regular at the shop that the staff gets down on the floor and plays with her. She’s also been well trained that she leaves the yarn alone!! She does have her own yarn that she can play with. I did have to stimulate the economy there and I bought some sock yarn and a cool necklace made out of slices of aluminum knitting needles. We ate at wonderful Malaysian restaurant twice while we were there. I wasn’t too adventurous but I did eat a dish called Fried Pearl Noodles. The noodles were kind of the shape and consistency of gummy worms but they tasted like fried rice. Very good. We also visited Amy’s other favorite yarn shop Vulcan’s Rest Fibers. This shop is in a small town on the Chesapeake Bay. I wished we had had more time to explore the area. This shop had spinning and weaving supplies. Of course I had to stimulate the economy there also and I bought some more yarn and some roving. I wanted Amy to use some of the roving to practice her spinning but she is reluctant to use “good” fiber to practice. Keep spinning Amy, you’ll get better and better and then you’ll be happy to use good fiber.

Abigail was dedicated at their church on Sunday. It worked out that the dedication could be scheduled when we were there and so that was a bonus. We got to meet a lot of Amy and Eric’s friends too. Abigail wore a dress for her dedication that I had made when my girls were little. This particular one is one of a matching set that I made for Amy and her sister and it was worn by Anita. I need to re-learn how to smock so that I can make some cute dresses just for Abigail. Another bonus was getting to know Eric’s parents better. It was fun to spend time with them.

Take a look at this

2009-03-07T20:17:00.002-06:00

I've been working making bread from the Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day cookbook but I have to say I need to do it a few more times before giving you my review. But in the meantime I discovered this video of a 93 year old woman giving her stories and recipes from the depression. I can remember my mother feeding us pasta with ketchup on it and as kids we liked it!! She has a total of 10 videos if you like this one.

Quick Turkey Alfedo Soup

2009-02-27T19:09:00.007-06:00

Yesterday we had a biggish snowstorm. Yesterday I was scheduled to drive my younger son from work to school because his car died and he needed me. Yesterday the Compadre had class to teach in the evening and he was sick. I'm sure the snowstorm wasn't a blessing to everyone but to us it was. School was canceled so I didn't have to drive in the snowstorm and the Compadre got to come home and have a sick "evening". He's a busy man - he only gets to be sick for one evening. Tell that to his body!

So I was planning to have the evening to myself because the Campadre would be teaching. My dinner on those nights is usually leftovers, or popcorn, or whatever I can scrounge up - you get the picture. Confession is good for the soul I hear. But the Compadre came home and he wanted something to eat! And he was sick. I checked the cupboards for chicken soup and the cupboard was bare (of Campbells chicken soup that it). So I remembered that my daughter - you know, Abigail's mother - had told me of a yummy alfredo soup that she made. With the wonders of cell phone technology I called her up and asked her for the recipe. She told me how she made it and then I proceeded to make it my way. And it was yummy!

It all started with a Pampered Chef recipe that Amy had. The basic premise is a jar of alfredo sauce and a can of chicken broth. It also included broccoli - but if you remember my last post - I can't do broccoli. So, here's what I did.

I found a cup of cooked diced turkey meat in the freezer and put it in a pan.
I dumped a jar of alredo sauce in the pan
I added about 3/4 of a box of shelf stable chicken broth (about 24 0z.)

I stirred it all up and started it heating.

Then I added:

1 cup of sliced carrots
1/2 cup sliced celery including the leaves
1/2 of a medium onion, diced
1 clove's worth of chopped, bottled, garlic

I cooked the soup until the vegetables were done and then we sat down to eat it. Yummy. Turkey soup for the grumpy, sick, Compadre. He pronounced it good. And it was super fast to make.

By the way - if you have extra cooked turkey or chicken meat, dicing it up and freezing it in small baggies make for easy meals later on. And if I had some, homemade broth would have been better - less salt and all the other mystery ingredients in the boxed stuff. I'll have to get on that - soon.

A Bad Night Last Night

2009-02-23T18:49:00.004-06:00

I think that every writer goes through dry periods, sometimes called writer’s block. I guess I qualify as a writer now since I’ve had difficulty thinking of something to write lately. But I have a few backup ideas in my mind and now is the time to use one of them. QoE of Yarn and Chocolate tagged me a long time ago for the 6 things about me meme. I know all about the facebook controversy about the 25 things and narcissism and all that and really I’m not sure what I’d tell you about anyway but I’ve been meaning to tell you about one thing about me for a while.

I have a lot of allergies. They all showed up, the nasty things, when I became middle-aged. And they keep showing up. I’m allergic to a whole bunch of foods and some hay fever inducing things too. Oh, and some medications also. The family joke is that some day all I’m going to be able to eat is white rice. Most of the food allergies but not all of them are related to the latex allergy I have. So, let me tell you what it’s like to be me.

Last evening I must have eaten something that I was allergic to. I’ve gone over in my mind everything that I ate last night and nothing was on the known allergy list. That means probably another food is heading for the do not eat list. The prime suspect is chocolate. I might cry if that’s true. Some people who just don’t understand, think when a person who is allergic to a food tells them they can’t eat such and such “oh, they just don’t like that food and don’t want to eat it”. I like to eat cherries, cranberries, kiwi, bananas, avocado, pineapple, salmon, broccoli, artichokes. And I love chocolate. In fact sometimes I crave one of the foods on my do not eat list, but I don’t want to spend a night like I did last night for the short period of enjoyment I would have if I ate one of them. So, last night, it started with stomach cramps, like you normal people would get with the worst flu you’ve ever had and then it worked its way down to abdominal cramps. Basically I can feel the offending food working its way through my system. Sometimes I can sleep it off but it took a long time of tossing and turning and sweating and getting the chills last night for it to get through me. Not pleasant. I hope it’s not the chocolate.

And then there is the latex allergy. Food service workers and nurses are the most likely to have this one due to the latex gloves that we wore until we were sensitized to them. In my case it causes a red rash sort of like a bad sunburn but it itches and then hurts like the dickens if I scratch it. So, latex is a natural rubber product and is found in all kinds of things. Like elastic in your underwear or socks. This is one of my “justifications” for having a sock machine and knitting all my socks. I went on a tour of a sock factory in Indiana during the sock machine conference and noticed that the label on all their socks said that latex might be in the product. I mentioned that to the manager who was leading our group that maybe they could use a non latex elastic in their socks since there were many who were allergic to latex and his attitude was “that’s your problem, not mine”. Most medical establishments understand and take measures to make sure that latex is not a problem – in fact some have banned latex completely. Kudos for them! By the way balloons are made with latex. One popped balloon spreads powdered latex into the whole room. And elastic, I have a hard time finding underwear – most labels don’t even tell what the elastic is made out of. I found a brand I could wear and then they changed the way they’re made. So I’ll have to do some more searching and find another one. Or I could always make my underwear!! Not. And did you know that most condoms are made with latex. Heh. That’s all I’ll say about that one.

Some people actually could die if they eat the food their allergic to – my Aunt Ann is one of them. She’s got the type of allergy to nuts that closes up her throat and she can’t breathe. Some of the kids in school who have peanut allergies are that allergic – I pity their mothers. Can you imagine fearing for your child’s life every day when you send them to school?

I’ve met my share of people who are intolerant towards people who are allergic. Allergic people don’t choose to be that way, it’s not like we’re trying to make life difficult for you – it’s just that it’s difficult for us and we would like you to be understanding and helpful. Yes, you might not be able to have your favorite food when we’re a guest in your home in deference to the person that is allergic to it or you might not be able to wear your favorite perfume to some public places. And if you’re a manufacturer it sure would be nice if you would put accurate labels on things, not just generic labels that say the product might contain the allergen in order to cover your butt. But keep in mind that what you might be called on to do to defer to the allergic person is just for a short time – we live every day like this.

And just because what's a post without a picture - here's another picture of Abigail.

A Pair of Hats

2009-02-04T19:35:00.013-06:00

I've been into the quick gratification of hats lately. I have some long, long projects going too but every now and then it's nice to make something that works up fast. And once you complete a hat you don't have that pesky second one to make - or if you do it's just another hat of a different type. So here we have it. A pair of hats.

The first one I made is from another CiD Hanscom pattern. Do you remember Radar from MASH? Well here is a hat like he wore. Only prettier. I was glad that I worked on this one during open knitting at Double Ewe because I got the instructions for the brim exactly backwards in my thinking. I don't know what I was thinking, really. But one of the gals at knitting had knit it already and even had CiD's phone number on her cell phone. She got me straightened out in my thinking even before CiD called back and it was clear sailing from then on. I'm showing you the inside and outside of the brim in hopes that you won't think backwards like I did. The hat is cute and really probably looks better on a younger model but what can I say.... This Radar cap is made with Frog Tree Merino for the main color and Frog Tree Alpaca for the contrasting color. Both in worsted weight. Very soft and comfy.

The second hat I made for the Compadre. I looked at his dismal collection of hats and decided it was a case of the cobblers children - you know, they never had any shoes. The Compadre was wearing either a store bought acrylic hat - ugly as sin - or a red and yellow polar fleece hat that I had made as a gag when we had students at Iowa State. Embarrassing. I guess I didn't think to make him a hat because I was afraid that he would lose it. He does lose things, but he takes offense that I consider it a given that he'll lose this hat. We'll see, I'm just protecting myself from being too crabby if he does lose it. Kelly is calling a disposable hat. And by the way, I have enough yarn to make another one with the colors in the opposite order. And Compadre, that doesn't mean you should lose this one! I made the hat using the Seaman's hat pattern with Brown Sheep Nature Spun yarn left over from Felted Rudy. It was fast to knit and I had fun designing the stripes. I like that there is a purled turning row for the brim - it makes it look neat and tidy. By the way - he requested a plain hat - I couldn't stand it so I added the stripes.

Oh, and Miss T gave me permission to show this picture of the super secret test knitting project that I'm doing for her. It's one of the perils of test knitting - do over.

And just because I'm a Grandma.....Abigail feeding her baby. Notice, she is using the bottle upside down - she's never used a bottle and she drinks out of a cup now - so the baby is drinking out of a "cup" too.

More About Soap and Saving Money

2009-01-28T10:34:00.005-06:00

I got a lot of response to my soap recipe. It was one of the topics of conversation at open knitting last night at DE and it seems that people are willing to try it! But apparently washing soda is not available as easily as I thought. Here in Minnesota you can get it in some grocery stores but not all of them. I did some googling and found that in some areas of the country it is very hard to get. Washing soda is sodium carbonate, baking soda is sodium bicarbonate – they are not the same thing. But one on line source said that you can get sodium carbonate at pool supply stores. Haven’t checked but it’s worth checking if you’re in one of those areas that doesn’t seem to have the Arm and Hammer brand. And as always call ahead and see if a store carries what you want rather than driving all around to find it. Even though gas has come down in price it still costs money to go from store to store.

One other thing that I forgot to mention about the laundry soap, put it in the washer and let it dissolve before putting your clothes in. And the original recipe called for grated Fels Naptha soap but I used both my homemade soap and a couple of bars of hotel soap and it works just fine. I can’t make more homemade soap until I find a source of lye – the stores don’t carry it anymore because there are people that make bad things with it. Grrrr. It was fun to make – as long as I followed the directions exactly. I did have one batch where I mistook the temperature and started combining ingredients at too high a temp – big mess. Good thing that was in our old kitchen and it didn’t matter too much.

I just thought I’d mention one other cost savings I know about. Some of you make your own bread like I do and need to buy yeast. I was in the local grocery store with my son and since he expressed interest in making some bread I thought I would encourage him and buy him some yeast. Not at those prices!! I’ve always bought my yeast either through school or at Sam’s Club now that I’m not working for school lunch any more. So I did a little price comparison. It was about a dollar and a half for 3 tiny packets of yeast or 4 something for a 4 oz. jar at the grocery store. Yesterday I did my shopping at Sam’s Club and bought 2 pounds (yes I did buy 2 pounds – it lasts a long time. Just keep it in the freezer after you open the brick). Sam’s Club price was $4.16 for the two one pound bricks. That’s 8 times the yeast for about the same price as the 4 oz. bottle!! And I was asked recently why I still shop at Sam’s Club even though there are only two of us to shop for! Actually the main reason that I keep up my membership is that the price of hearing aid batteries is half of what I can find anywhere else. That pays for my membership right there. I would caution you that some prices at Sam’s are not as good as what you can find elsewhere – soda pop comes to mind. Again, you need to balance driving from one store to another with the savings that you can get. We usually do a big Sam’s Club run about once a month or we stop in if we are in the area anyway.

I'll leave you with a fun video that I found. And I'm not even a dog person!

Don't Try to Eat This One

2009-01-23T19:14:00.008-06:00

I've been on a frugality kick lately. As has much of the world it seems. I read several frugality blogs and have read some books about thriftiness. I really recommend the Complete Tightwad Gazette - I found it in the library and then I loved it so much I actually bought my own copy!

I've tried various things and today I'm going to tell you about laundry. The Compadre hasn't totally come on board on this one. We've been hanging our laundry up to dry since early last summer and during the summer it was kind of fun even. The Campadre rigged up a pulley system laundry line so that I wouldn't have to do as many stairs to hang up laundry and it worked well. It's frosted with ice right now and so I really don't want to go out and take its picture - you'll have to imagine it. But now that it's winter we have been using two wooden racks to hang our laundry. There are only two of us and we do about 3 loads of laundry per week. This probably wouldn't work for a large family. And the Compadre isn't sure it works for us! But I can manage to dry a loads worth of laundry on my two contraptions and sometimes it only takes one rack to dry a load. And it really only takes minutes to hang it up. I'm not sure how much the savings are. If you have an electric dryer it's much more than my gas dryer, but any savings is good and besides I'm saving the planet too!

A couple of weeks ago I really got crazy about the laundry thing. I read a couple of blog posts about making your own laundry soap and thought "I can do that". So I googled recipes and read about it and even asked at open knitting. I learned to my surprise that Kelly has been making her own laundry soap for years! Who knew? So I tried it and I'm here to tell you it isn't hard and it does work. And there is a bonus! Those clothes that I hang up to dry used to dry hard and crunchy but now they are much softer. I must say that I like my towels to be crunchy - not all of you do. Some people put the clothes that they want softer into the dryer for a couple of minutes to soften them up if they air dry them.

So here is how I made my laundry soap. I decided to make dry powdered soap - there are recipes for the liquid stuff but I didn't want a 5 gallon pail of slimy stuff sitting around my laundry room - call me squeamish I guess. Maybe I'll try it someday if the powdered stuff starts to cake up on me in the summer. Anyway, the recipe is 1/2 cup borax, 1/2 cup washing soda and 1 cup grated (or ground in the food processor) soap. One of the sites I looked at suggested that this was a good use for all those little soaps that you might have collected from hotels. I have lots of them - pack rat that I am. I also have some soap that I've made myself but that's a story for another time. When you use this laundry soap you only need to use one tablespoon for a normal load and 2 or 3 tablespoons if you have a very dirty load. It also doesn't suds like the tide that I used to use and so that would be good if you have one of those front loading washers. If you try the recipe and decide it's for you, you can double or triple the recipe easily. By the way, I already had the washing soda but the borax was $3.98 at my grocery store and it will last a long long time. Interestingly the person right before me took a box off of the shelf and there were so few that I had to ask a stock boy to reach one of the few left way in the back of the top shelf. Making your own laundry soap must be trendy, right?

Crankin' Out Socks

2009-01-21T19:16:00.014-06:00

The last two Saturdays I've gone to sock machine get togethers. That means that I've been crankin' out socks! A small group of us get together about once a month to keep ourselves going on the sock machine. Funny how when you don't have some accountability you "just never get around" to using your machine. I hadn't actually touched it since way before Christmas! I made 2 pairs of socks at our small group get together a week and a half ago and one of them was for a commission. Woo, hoo, I got paid to make a pair of socks. My friend bought the yarn and then I made them on the machine for her. The yarn is Tye dye socks and it just happened that it matched like that. The other pair is from a cone of brown sheep sock yarn that I got last summer.

Then last Saturday we had the St. Cloud sock machine get together that Deb organizes. Deb showed us how to make cording or i-cord on the machine. Basically you remove all but 3-5 needles and crank it around and around with the yarn in the heel spring. I made a little coaster with my cord. I can think of lots of uses for this, but the drawback is that it's time consuming to sew the cord together. Then I put all the needles back in and made another pair of socks. Many of the people that come to this event are new sock machine knitters and Deb and Pete are always busy helping everyone.

The machine that I used in St. Cloud is a new one to me. I bought it last fall from an ad on the sock machine list and I'm very happy with it. Both of my machines are 1922 Gearharts so the parts should be interchangeable - as much as antique parts are. This means that I can have one of my machines set up with a 72 slot cylinder for fine sock yarn and the new one set up with a 60 slot cylinder for heavier yarn. The machine made some fine looking socks! These are made with yarn that I dyed with easter egg dye. I haven't mastered the ribber yet so all my socks are made with hems. But I like them that way. The few times I've used the ribber it seemed just as fiddly as when I've made hem top socks. And yes - they do stay up without ribbing!

That Hat

2009-01-15T20:04:00.003-06:00

I've been knitting away here. It seems to be the craft of the month for me. But I signed up for a weaving class that starts next week and I'm hoping they get another student so that the class will happen. I've had my floor loom for many years now and it's time that I put it into use. It's been taking up space for long enough. I took a weaving class a long long time ago - maybe 20 years ago - and I can't remember much from it. Any way, if the class goes, then weaving will have to take over from knitting for a time because it's an intensive class.

I've started several projects and finished a hat. I'm teaching a class called "knit along with Ann" at Double Ewe and we're all making the Rambling Rows Afghan (ravelry link) a Cottage Creations pattern. I didn't look at the finished sizes before starting mine in the size large and so I'm going to end up with an afghan that will fit the top of our bed! My first clue should have been the large quantities of yarn required but I was on a mission to bust some stash and didn't think about it. I even had to buy more yarn than what I had because I'm making it in acrylic so it's washable and I just didn't have as much of it as I thought. I gave away a lot of it over the years. This one better get finished, otherwise I'll have actually added to the acrylic stash! I've also started a super secret project. It's something I'm test knitting and all I can tell you is that I'm really enjoying knitting it. And I'm making it blue.

But I can show you the hat that I made.

I've been getting a lot of use out of it with our waaaay below zero temperatures this week. The yarn is Ivy and it's alpaca and merino so the hat is very warm and it has just a little bit of glitter. Kelly designed it and the pattern is free at the shop or online. It's the kind of hat that stays on your head but doesn't mash your hair down. Perfect. And it was fun to knit besides.

Let's Talk About UFO's

2009-01-06T15:32:00.006-06:00

Or also known as unfinished objects. Actually I’d rather not but ever since I mentioned the possibility of me working my pile of them down, the Compadre has been cackling with glee! He’s been trying to interpret my rash statements in his own way for his own purposes. He of course doesn’t see any reason to start another project when you haven’t finished the one you are working on. He just doesn’t understand at all. So let it be known that I have been getting things done – you’ve seen that in my previous posts and also let it be known that since that last rash statement everything that I’ve started I’ve finished. And I’ve resurrected a very old sweater project and am making progress on it. But I reserve the right to make my own rules. That means that when I’m working on a big, long term project, I can start something else – a girl has to stay sane you know. I made a list of as many UFO’s as I could remember (and I have kept running across more since then) and the number is awesome. And some of them are unfinished quilts!!

So, here are some more knits that I finished for Christmas. I actually made three of these Bulky Cable scarves. They are so cool – you can tuck one end through the “hole” that’s made by the cable crossing and then the scarf stays on. And made with bulky alpaca and merino yarn they are so warm. I hope the nieces like them and that they keep them warm on the cold treks between classes. This pattern is one that I got with a kit that I bought from Bella Lana, a yarn store that was demonstrating at the Knitter’s Guild. I don’t know if the pattern is available elsewhere but it’s just an easy braided cable done with bulky yarn on size 17 needles. Fun and fast. Oh, and the third of these scarves – it’s mine and it's done.

The Third Knit of Christmas

2009-01-05T20:00:00.006-06:00

Well, Christmas is long past now and so I need to get busy and show you the rest of the knitting I did. This project was requested many months ago and in fact I originally intended to give it to Peter for his birthday last fall. That didn’t happen and so it moved to urgent Christmas knitting since a winter ski hat needs to be used for the ski season! Peter chose the colors and the pattern and so he knew about the project but didn’t see the finished result until Christmas – that was why I didn’t want to blog about it. I knew that Peter reads this blog.

This was my first successful project with stranded knitting. The St. Moritz Hat made with Brown Sheep Nature Spun sport weight yarn. The hat is made from a Dale of Norway pattern and let’s just say that there are not a lot of words to explain what to do (it is in English though). I think that the main reason that I procrastinated so much was that I was intimidated by the idea of doing colorwork. I shouldn’t have been. I had a lot of fun knitting this hat and learning the new technique of two handed color work knitting. I used the video at Philosopher’s wool to learn the technique and the gracious help of Mary (knittingchemist on ravelry). I did catch the floats every other stitch on most rows – exept for the pesky 3 color row – so that there aren’t many long floats to catch on things. Once I got the method down I had lots of fun – but I noticed that my tension is a little wonky in places. I got better as I went and the wonky tension did even out with blocking. I hope you don’t mind Peter that you basically got a beginner project with this hat! My sister reports that he is enjoying wearing it on their ski vacation.

I’m looking forward to making more projects that involve stranded knitting. Maybe not a sweater quite yet but mittens are looking good.

The Second Knit of Christmas

2008-12-31T18:49:00.006-06:00

This is the second Tulip sweater that I’ve made and I’m sure it’s not the last. I love this pattern as do many, many, others. Ravelry has 678 listed and it’s in 584 queues. And that’s only the ones listed on ravelry. I enjoyed knitting it both times because of the ever changing colors and its amazing cuteness. It’s also very easy to knit which is a big plus. I’m not against knitting challenging things but I love mindless knitting too. I bought a kit for this one at Yarnover – the big knitting extravaganza that the Minnesota Knitting Guild puts on every spring. The kit came from a yarn shop that I’ve never been to – The Coldwater Collaborative in Excelsior MN. So I used the yarn that the pattern called for in this one – Dream in Color Classy. The yarn comes in huge hanks and the pattern uses many colors so it would be very expensive to make this sweater if it wasn’t for the availability of a kit. My previous one was made with a substitute yarn but still – I had to buy 8 skeins and didn’t use all of any of them so it would be an expensive sweater too. But I will use the rest of those 8 skeins and reverse the order of the colors and make another tulip. Hmmm, maybe with a purchase of one more skein I could make the next size (size 2) for Abigail. I told you I like making this sweater. This one is size 12-18 months and I made one small modification. I used the rest of the blue yarn to add length to the sleeve – the instructions said to just continue on in the purple. I thought that would look strange. I wish that the kit had had more blue because I would have added length to the body of it with blue if I had had some. When I make the size 2 I’ll definitely be adding length in the body.

We took pictures of Abigail wearing this sweater at the last minute before they left for the airport. She was distracted and not very cooperative. I was feeding her cheerios one at a time to keep her happy. What is it about little ones and cheerios? Abigail sure loves them.

The First Knit of Christmas

2008-12-30T08:33:00.006-06:00

I sort of put my finishing resolution on hold during the holiday knitting frenzy. It was funny, Miss T asked me if I had any knitting I was doing for Christmas and at the time I said oh, not much, just a hat. That was fatal. I then proceeded to decide to start several more gifts. But I have to say that I did finish all the knitted gifts. The last time I said that I had finished all my gifts the Compadre took issue with me. He did get an IOU for a bathrobe that I’ll sew for him. But hey, that’s not knitting, it’s sewing. So I’m OK. Well, I’m always OK but you know….

So the first thing I did was to re-appropriate the multi directional scarf into a gift. My sister had asked me to make it for her way last February I think and I decided to give it to her for Christmas even though technically we don’t exchange gifts. We do occasionally and this was one. So there.

As I said earlier this was a really fun scarf pattern to knit. And it went fast because there was always another interesting color to start and another triangle to finish and then start and…. The pattern I used wasn’t really the multi directional scarf pattern – I had gotten a free pattern at Amy’s yarn store (no she doesn’t own it, she just spends a lot of time there, just like I do at Double Ewe) but that pattern is so similar to the multi directional scarf that the only difference I could see is that it uses the knit 2 tog decrease instead of SSK. My sister liked it and so I proved that I do sometimes come through on promises to make something. Now I just have oh, about 4 more promises to come through on. You’d think that with all my copious time now that I’m retired and don’t have anything to do that I would get these things done. Hmm, I’ll try harder this year – how’s that for a resolution.

So, I’m going to drag out this Christmas knitting reveal over several posts because then of course I’ll have more to post about. And as far as the finishing of UFO’s I don’t know where I stand. I think I’ll re-resolve to finish as many unfinished items this year as I can. I don’t know if it’s realistic to finish two before starting one. My list contains many very large projects and I’m a short project kind of person. Maybe that’s a clue as to why there are so many unfinished things hanging out around here. So I think that in order for me to stay on task I’ll need to intersperse the large project finishing with some short project success. How’s that for rationalization!

So today my list includes starting that bathrobe that I promised the Compadre I’d make for him. And I’ve got a hat I want to start and a scarf and I want to start to sew some napkins and a cool tatted snowflake I want to make….. What! You don’t believe I’ll ever tackle anything on the UFO list – just you watch. I will – someday.

Mmmm, Good Coffee Cake

2008-12-27T15:09:00.005-06:00

Amy requested that I make one our family’s favorite recipes for breakfast Christmas morning. It’s called Kwik Peach Kuchen in the Pillsbury’s Bake Off Breads Cook Book. I had already planned to make it and had the canned peaches on hand. It’s one of those recipes that looks really hard but is really easy.

Here is my version of it. By the way this was all that was left when I finally thought to take a picture of it!

Peach Coffee Cake

Prepare the topping first so that you’re ready with it when you need it:

½ c. packed brown sugar
¼ c. flour
½ tsp. cinnamon
2 T. butter
¼ c. chopped nuts (opt.)

Combine the brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until crumble and mix in the nuts. Set aside for later use.

Prepare the dough:

2 c. flour
½ c. sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 pkg. or 1 tsp. bulk yeast
½ c. shortening
½ c. milk
2 eggs
¼ tsp. lemon or orange extract
1 can peach slices (large)

Combine the flour, sugar baking powder, salt and yeast in a largish bowl. (I do this in my kitchen aid mixer bowl and just run the beater for a few seconds). Add shortening, milk, eggs and extract and blend mix for a couple of minutes at medium speed. Spread over bottom of a greased 9x13 pan. Dough will be thick. Arrange peach slices on the top pressing them in slightly. Then take that topping that you’ve already made and sprinkle it on top. Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean in an area between the peaches. It took a little longer in my oven. Enjoy it warm or cold.

Here is how good it is...
Ignore the chatting in the background - they didn't know that I was taking the video.

What happens when I take a break from the computer

2008-12-26T19:24:00.010-06:00

I have 473 blog posts to read!! Really. Some people still do post during the holiday mayhem. I didn’t have time. I also have umpteen e-mails to read and some to respond to. Sorry, I’ll get to it soon.

We get visited by the grandchild and her parents.

We have big family gatherings.

We go out of town to visit the relatives.

We make lots of food and eat lots of food. Urp.

We finish the Christmas knitting. Pictures and details in another post. Really – I will this time.

We bring the grandchild and her parents back to the airport and come home and can’t believe how much we miss them.

Finishing Things

2008-12-10T19:41:00.006-06:00

I’ve been knitting. Yes, and I’ve been finishing things too. I can show you some of my knitting but not all of it. I know that my nephew reads this blog – hi Peter! Maybe my nieces read it too? Anyway now they know they’re getting knitted gifts. Of course that’s if I actually finish them!

I can show you the finished red scarf that I sent off yesterday.

And I can show you the tatted earrings that I was going to exchange at the Minnesota Lace Society Christmas meeting but I chickened out because of a snowstorm. Yeah, I know I’m a Minnesotan but sometimes a little discretion is good. Anyway, these are sort of an original pattern. I started with a Snowgoose pattern and added more beads, and then had to alter the stitch count because of the beads. It’s an easy enough pattern – you could probably figure it out from the picture – if you tat that is! I don’t know if I’ve altered it enough to put the pattern here without getting in copyright trouble.

I haven’t started on the baking and the decorations are not up but there is Christmas music on the ipod and I’m still enjoying the season and haven’t panicked yet.