a cozy, a scarf, and the cutest little turtles you have ever seen

Been busy knitting lately.

A mug cozy, take 2 for my sister's bridal shower (which is not until next April). The first one I made went to my future brother-in-law, when he and my sister were visiting earlier this month. That one was a ribbed cable (can't remember if I ever posted it here). This is just a ribbed pattern with knits and purls, a little different than your standard knit/purl rib. We'll see what else I come up with, and in what colors (they're a great stash-buster, especially because my "stash" is mostly leftovers from previous projects. I'm definitely not a "ooh, that's pretty yarn let me buy it!!" person, I'm a "how much of this yarn do I need for this project?" person.)

My Wakefield Scarf. I made it much wider than the pattern, and added some fringe to the end. I wanted to use up the entire amount of this yarn I had, and I succeeded. :) It's a lovely wool-silk blend, and it's the first really nice yarn (read: expensive) I've treated myself to. I used the first half of the skein for the swallowtail shawl I finished this summer, but already this scarf has gotten way more use. Simply because- when do I ever wear a shawl around?

Say hello to Sheldon #1. One of the girls at work pointed me to this pattern. I guess it started with one of the guys at work, his girlfriend made him one of these and he brought it into work as a desk decoration. Then my friend made one, she even made a mini version using sock yarn and size 0 needles. The shell comes off. It's adorable. I made these for a friend's baby shower, she's expecting a little girl in January. And since she already has a little girl (age approx 18 mo?), I made two. I could sit and knit these cuties all day.

 Sheldon #2:

Sisters. :)

Current projects: more mug cozies, the tomato sweater from interweave. I finished those kitten mittens (a la "it's always sunny in Philadelphia"), and sent them to Nick. If he sends me a picture of the cats, I will post it, hopefully they aren't too traumatized. Future projects include a blanket for my sister's wedding present, and a few more baby shower gifts...

I would like to sit around and knit all day, except I don't think it would really make me as happy as I would hope. But I'm contemplating opening a store on etsy.com. Except my list of things to knit is already quite long. (People need to stop having babies. And stop getting married. Except, not really, because babies and marriages are wonderful things. I just wish I had the time to knit something for everyone.) And I have the suspicion that knitting is not really my calling in life. Not quite sure what my calling is. If someone tells you, let me know, cause I'm still searching.

I haven't been baking much lately. I made a batch of orange chocolate chip cookies a week or so ago (they were fantastic). And I have plans for a pumpkin cheesecake for thanksgiving. But it's hard to be motivated to bake a lot because baking is meant to be shared and it's best to share it when it's fresh but that's kind of hard for me to do right now. I don't want to give my friends stale cookies or leftover cake. Again, probably not my calling in life. 

On a light-hearted note, thanks to Becky for this clip that indulges my super nerdy side:

random little knits

Recent adventures in knitting-land:

Fingerless gloves for my brother.

 

Look how excited he is:

 He totally needs a shave and a haircut though.

Baby set of hat, sweater, and booties, for a friend's baby shower:

Kitten mittens for Nick. A la "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia". He asked, I had time (and yes, they're a shorter version of the baby booties in the above photo). I only hope the cat doesn't get tortured too much.

a pick-me-up

Caramel. A bit of sugar + heat. And it turns into this ooey-gooey goodness.

Add a little bit of red wine and it becomes this fantastic, complex but sweet mixture. Then add some chocolate and it's like heaven.

I have this recipe for a toffee apple tart that I'd previously improved by adding red wine to the toffee topping. Tonight I made it that much better by stirring some chocolate into the hot caramel sauce. And it was heaven on a plate.

I have about 1/2 cup of the caramel sauce left over. I could have poured it all over the tart, but then I wouldn't have any left to do things like dip the stickies made with the leftover pie crust and pour it over ice cream (another night). Or just spoon the stuff into my mouth.

My November issue of Food & Wine has a recipe for a caramel croissant bread pudding. Nigella Lawson, you are a genius. Stay tuned. I have frozen croissants waiting in the freezer for such a time as this (thank you, Trader Joe's). And I haven't even gotten to all the Thanksgiving recipes yet. I love the November issue.

Baking makes the world a better place. And it makes the apartment smell good. :)

what do you do when you can't find the sweater you want?

Well, if you're me, you knit it.

I have a cute black bolero that I bought a few years ago to wear with a dress to a wedding, and I love it. Even more so because I bought it at a second-hand clothing store so only paid like $6 for it.

I've been looking for another bolero-ish sweater in another color but haven't found anything, so I modified the pattern for a baby bolero in Louisa Harding's book, Natural Knits for Babies and Moms. (By the way, knitted baby clothes are so freaking cute, but I can't help but feel like it's a bit of a waste of time, because they grow out of them so quickly. I usually knit baby blankets for baby presents, because I can never be sure if the baby will be the right size for a knitted garment at the right time of year.)

Anyway. I added a longer rib to the bottom because I realized it was too short as knit, and I also wanted to give the body a little shaping (I have some curves that babies don't). I also really wanted a sweater with capped sleeves, so I finally looked through the Knitwear Design Workshop that I bought a while ago and used their gathered sleeves. The sleeves are also short, about 3/4 length.

And I have to say, all in all, it turned out pretty well. :D I kept track of the pattern as I knit, and I just typed it up quickly here in case anyone was interested. (Of course, it will only probably be useful if you're about my size. This one was about 34" bust and 13" long. I would imagine it wouldn't be too difficult to modify for larger/smaller but I haven't done the math, sorries!) This is my very first sweater of (mostly) my own design, and I'm pretty stoked. Maybe someday I will get to the point of having an idea, making a sketch, and going from there, rather than modifying patterns, but for today I'm rather pleased with myself.

(to be fair, next time I would shorten the length of the shoulders more, maybe 15-20 sts on each shoulder rather than 25. I forgot to consider how much the edge ribbing would add.)

Next project: either a tomato sweater or some cute mug cozies for my sister's bridal shower in April (the mug cozies, not the sweater). And of course I'm still working on that Wakefield scarf...

projects

a (possibly not inclusive) list of my current projects:

• baking bread (I got the book Artisan Breads in Five Minutes A Day recently. Heather had it, I wanted to try it. I love fresh bread.)
• oil painting
• knitting (currently: a sweater. I'm making it up as I go along, kind of. Also, another scarf/shawl thing. Also on the list: mug cozies for party favors for my sister's wedding shower. Her shower isn't until April, there's plenty of time, and I'm not the only one knitting these.)
• studying the New Testament
• reading for Librivox (starting this up again. Next chapter: Section 20 of "The Antiquities of the Jews" by Josephus.)
• reading in general (on my list: "Walking with God", "Experiencing God", "Restoring Joy", "The Pleasures of God", "When I Don't Desire God")

Sometimes, I wish I didn't have to go to work and could just do fun stuff all day.

I have an eggplant in my fridge and a recipe for eggplant parm that I really want to try (will need to get some breadcrumbs). I just got my October issue of Food & Wine, and I really want to try to roast a pork loin. But (1) when do I have time for that, and (2) who would eat my roasted pork? Anyway.

kimchi time

So yesterday I stopped by the Lincoln Square farmer's market, a series of booths in the small parking lot outside the Western Brown Line stop every Thursday night in the summer. And I decided to buy a very large head of cabbage, because I've been wanting to try my hand at making kimchi. My mom makes cabbage kimchi pretty regularly- it's a bit easier/more forgiving than the traditional kind made with napa cabbage, and it lasts longer.

So, I started with this:

Step 1: make some paste. My mom uses glutinous rice flour, but I didn't have any, so I just used all-purpose flour. I'm going to say I used about 1/2 c water and 3 tbsp flour, but who really knows? (and this was WAY more than I actually needed). Set this aside, let it cool.

Step 2: cut up the cabbage into manageable pieces. Salt liberally. Recipes for napa cabbage kimchi tend to say to soak it in saltwater for 6 hrs - overnight, but it isn't really necessary here.

Step 3: assemble the rest of the ingredients. Scallions (green onions- I used 4), garlic (about 5 cloves), ginger (about 1.5 in piece), red pepper powder (the Korean kind, probably about 2 tbsp?), and fish sauce (maybe 3 tbsp?). I cut the scallions into about 1 in pieces, and minced the garlic and the ginger. [So I basically made these proportions up. The recipe I had said to use 1 tsp of garlic and ginger for 1 head of napa cabbage. I didn't think that was possibly enough, so I upped the amounts.]

Step 4: Add the above to the cabbage. I also added maybe 2 tsp of sugar. Mix it all together, adding about 3 tbsp of the paste as you do so. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Voila!

One head of cabbage got about 1 gal of kimchi. I hope it tastes good tomorrow, haha.

baby cupcakes, free to a good home ;)

Chocolate cake, orange buttercream, topped with a dried blueberry.

I think I finally found a buttercream recipe that I like. American buttercream from the "Cooking for Engineers" site. Only downside is that the vanilla version is a bit more yellow than I'm used to (because the recipe includes the egg yolks). Can't win it all, I suppose.

please note: delivery not available. Sorry, no refunds.

oil painting

So I took an oil painting class a few weeks ago (it was a 5 week thing), and came out with 4 paintings. Now the question is, what do I do with these? I also bought more canvases. Hmm.

Lesson 1: basic shapes

Lesson 2: still life

Lesson 3: different still life

Lesson 4: abstract

dobby socks and some fingerless gloves

Dobby Socks:

Yes, I'm a Harry Potter fan. And who doesn't love Dobby the house elf, who will take all mis-matched socks he can get? I was determined to finally use up my stash of sock yarn (I use the word "stash" rather loosely- remnants would be a more appropriate word, I suppose, as these were the last bits of various skeins left after finishing other projects).

These were all toe-up socks. Once I started, I loved it. These were made with knitty's Figure 8 toe tutorial (the last example of starting a toe-up sock), on size 2 dp needles. I can't really tell you where the yarn came from, but it's mostly acrylic or acrylic/wool blends of sock yarn.

Rough sock pattern:

Start toe-up pattern with 8 loops on each needle, as described in the Figure 8 toe-up sock. Once you're knitting in the round, increase the toe until there are 48 stitches total. At this point, the toe is complete, and you can throw in a pattern if you'd like. Continue knitting in the round until the foot reaches the start of the heel/ankle.

For the ankle, repeat the following 2 rounds 7 times (62 stitches total):

round 1: k11, M1, K24, M1, k11.

round 2: knit.

For the heel:

On the next round, k6, turn. Repeat the following 2 rows until you're back at the original 48 sts:

Row 1: purl 11, p2tog, turn

Row 2: knit 11, k2tog, turn.

Join in the round again, knit in the round (continuing any pattern) until the ankle is at the desired length. Bind off all stitches loosely.

I kind of made up this heel because I didn't like how any of the heel patterns looked for toe-up socks. Now I have 6 lovely, mismatched socks!

fingerless gloves:

I actually made these a looong time ago (almost a year?) on the train to/from work. I use them at work all the time (more in the summer than in the winter because of the A/C). The pattern is knitty's Fetching gloves, but I continued the cables up the back hand of the glove because I like cables.

Currently working on the Wakefield Scarf, using the rest of my super-nice Helen's Lace yarn used for my swallowtail shawl. Once that's done, I'm going back to stash-busting, this time with something felted. I'm thinking felted bag, but we'll see.

knitty knitty

Sara's wedding was this past weekend. And it was absolutely lovely.

I finished this about a month or so ago, but didn't post because I wanted it to be a surprise when she and Brian actually received it, using a pattern for an aryan sampler afghan. (For the non-knitting folks, a sampler afghan simply means it uses a variety of patterns, giving you a sample of each.) I mixed it up with a few different colors, rather than the monotone the pattern called for. I was also too lazy to do a thick border, sorry guys:

I also knit myself a lace shawl (the swallowtail shawl from interweave)

I need to re-block this. the edging is supposed to be peaked, and I didn't leave it long enough or pin it correctly or some combination of the two, because it looks more ruffled than peaked.

nutella chocolate chip cookies

I was going to make peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, when I realized I didn't really have enough peanut butter. So I made these, kind of making it up as I went along.

1.5 sticks butter (12 tbsps)

1 c brown sugar

1 c white sugar

1 tsp (approx) vanilla

1/2 c (approx) nutella

2 eggs

2 c flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

12 oz chocolate chips

cream first five ingredients until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, blending well after each addition. Mix flour and baking powder, add to sugar/butter/egg mixture and blend. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded teaspoon onto a cookie tray. Bake at 350F for approx 12 minutes. Cool on tray for a few minutes before moving to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Love.

note: next time, I might cut down the sugar slightly. 2 c of sugar is a LOT of sugar. On the other hand, they spread nicely and were chewy but crunchy all at once...

knitting

I just fell in love with knitting again today.

Sunshine, in the book "The Shipping News", tells her dad, "It's kind of a trick, Dad, because it's just a long, long, fat string and it turns into a scarf."

It's like magic. I love it. It's just a long, long string, and you take two sticks and move it around, and voila! Scarves, lace, sweaters, socks, hats, gloves, mittens. And all from two simple stitches: knit and purl. Everything else is really just variations on a theme.

I like crocheting too, but I can do so much more with knitting (perhaps only because I've spent so much more time knitting).

Today, I started a toe-up sock. I may never knit a sock from the leg down again, mostly because I hate the kitchner stitch. (I don't actually know anyone who likes the kitchner stitch, most people I know just kind of put up with it because sometimes you just don't have a choice. Like at the end of a sock knitted from the leg down.) But knitty has a lovely tutorial on starting toe-up socks, and I really felt like the figure 8 method was magic. No slipknots even!

Anyway. My personal "use up my stash" project has commenced, and I'm starting with socks. I have no idea what to do with the odds and ends of worsted weight yarn. Especially because it's a mix of acrylic, wool, and wool blends. And an odd cotton blend thrown in there. Plus some baby-weight yarn. The hoarder in me won't let me throw anything away, even the scraps I only have a few yards of (you never know when you'll need it! and a few yards of yarn hardly takes up any space at all). Maybe I'll make a totally mis-matched blanket. Somehow, when you throw enough stuff that doesn't match together, it kind of works.

colorwork and entrelac

I haven't posted about any knitting in a while. I should be getting ready for bed, but sleep has been a bit elusive and my dreams have been a bit restless (but that's another story for another day).

I made these fingerless gloves for my friend Katy's birthday (which was in February):

It was my first real attempt at colorwork knitting. Next on my list to tackle is a fair isle pattern, but I have another project to finish first. I could maybe claim that I designed the pattern myself, because I took my basic 4-needle mitten pattern and some graph paper to chart out this basic diamond colorwork pattern that I put together after staring at pictures on the internets. What would I do without the internets? I was at one point going to write up the pattern and post it, but I never got around to it. If anyone really wanted it, I might post it eventually.

Then, I made this entrelac baby blanket for one of the ladies in my small group:

It turned out much bigger than I had expected. Turns out 17 blocks of entrelac in each row is a lot. But it was still reasonable baby-sized, I suppose. My baby blankets keep getting bigger. I think the one I made for Kristina's baby was about 20x20 inches, the one for Keith and Heather's little one was maybe 30x20 inches, and this one was closer to 48x36 inches. Approximately. I didn't actually measure, since I finished edging and weaving in loose ends rather late the night before the baby shower. Actually, I never measured any of the baby blankets I've made. I don't quite see the point of measuring blankets- it's not like it has to fit anything. If it looks big enough, it must be big enough. And if it doesn't look big enough- well, hopefully they're like Kristina, who used it as a car seat blanket. :)

This project was my first real project with entrelac. I started then unraveled an entrelac scarf, mostly because with worsted weight wool yarn in dark purple and off white, it just looked... dowdy. (I actually used that yarn to make Katy's mittens- much better use of the yarn, I think). But I'll have to do better with the bind-off. Or just cast-on more loosely. Because (though the pictures hide this nicely) the bind-off edge was much looser than the cast-on edge, so the blanket isn't exactly rectangular. Que sera, sera. I just did a simple double crochet edging, one round in each color. I find I much prefer crochet for edging blankets, just because it's much easier to handle. And possibly faster, though I can't say for sure. But I'll have to do entrelac again. I think in the right colors and the right weight of yarn it would make a really lovely shawl.

But, for anyone who's interested, that blanket was an 8 stitch entrelac pattern, with 136 stitches cast on, worked for 23 tiers (including the bottom and top triangles). Baby weight acrylic yarn in pink and cream, size 6 needles. I can write out a more detailed pattern but it'll take up space. Again, if anyone wanted it I can pass it on. (It hardly counts as a pattern in some sense- just keep doing the entrelac until it's done.)

I really want to make a nice lace shawl. Only (1) I can't quite pick a color, (2) I have to either buy the right yarn online or go to the local yarn store (not Micheal's or JoAnn's) and the only time I can make it to the yarn store is on Saturdays, and (3) I have another project I must finish in the next month or so. I'm really a one-at-a-time kind of knitter. Maybe two, and that's only if I have a "stay at home because it's big and cumbersome" project and a "take it on the train" project. But I'm rambling.

And finally, not knitting but not really baking either: lemon curd vol au vents. I had the shells in the freezer from... umm... September? Baked puff pastry doesn't keep well, but it's ok.

Lemon curd recipe was from the joy of baking. I liked this recipe (though it's the first lemon curd recipe I've tried) because it only used whole eggs. I get tired of using only egg whites or only egg yolks. I like to be efficient with my baking, and I like to not have leftover pieces. At any rate, lemon curd is marvelous. And easy. It does hit the spot, but it's a different kind of spot than my typical chocolate craving. This would make a lovely tart filling, or even cake filling. With fresh berries, and whipped cream! I have a "strawberry shortcake" recipe that involves lemon curd folded into the whipped cream that sounds fantastic. The downside is that I don't think the assembled desserts would keep very long, and I'm all for the dessert I can make and keep in the fridge for two weeks without being left with a stale, soggy mess. This is part of the reason I love tiramisu- it gets better the longer it sits.

happy birthday daddy!

Today is my dad's birthday. So I made him a cake. This time the frosting turned out much better than my last sad attempt at a birthday cake.

Vanilla cake, vanilla frosting. I used whipped cream flavored with a bit of green tea powder in the layers, but I still didn't have enough frosting to really cover the outside of the cake.

And that frosting worked better than my attempt in February, but it's so ridiculously sweet it's like a diabetes attack. I used this recipe from Gale Gand at the Food Network. I'm still searching for a good frosting recipe that's smooth and creamy without being uber-sweet. I think I might go for a cream cheese frosting, but replace the cream cheese with marscapone. I would do whipped cream, only whipped cream doesn't stay set long enough for my liking. I don't really want to use gelatin (and I've tried in the past- I must be doing something wrong because it never seemed to work quite right).

The cake was good, and has a very tight crumb, but I kind of prefer a more spongy cake, personally. I used this recipe from an old Daring Baker's challenge, but I replaced the lemon zest/lemon extract with vanilla and it was just fine.

Things to work on include my piping skills and my lettering skills. But my cakes are getting better! I even had enough energy to glaze the fruit on top so it didn't dry out. :)