Knit & Nosh

texting mittens

I have forgotten to post links to this particular Patons project.  Scroll down for the whole story.

what's on the needles round-up

Before I get started I have to share the excitement about my next Patons project.  If you are one of my friends on Ravelry (I am dandelion), you may have noticed that I spent a couple of evenings adding brightly colored crochet blankets to my Faves list. I have never tried a big crochet project, but I really want one of those blankets.  Turns out Patons is about to release two new books and one of them is afghans.  Brightly colored crochet (and knit) afghans.  I snagged one for my next project and I can not wait to start.  If you have been to my house you will recognize the colors as the same 6 colors of our Fiestaware plates!  Come on UPS man.

Now for the Round-up.

I have three WIP baskets in the house, two in my office and one in the living room, near the wheel.  Let's start in the living room.

I began spinning this braid of fiber ages ago.  It was set aside when I switched over to the Ennea spinning.  2 ounces have been finished, I have 2 to go and then plying.  It has been so long since I began this project that I have no idea what I had in mind to do with it once it was finished.

The family gave me this basket as a gift.  They purchased it at the Desert View Tower.  The Tower is for sale if you are interested.  This is the basket that holds the projects I need to be working on right now.  Pieces for Patons or test knitting or magazine submissions.  You will notice it is empty.  I should work on that.

This is my main WIP basket.  I bought it from Fabric of Life and it makes me happy every time I look at it.

Longest Night

This has been moved to the top of the basket.  LOVE!  I even had a dream about it last night.  It is already very large, in my dream it grazed my ankles.  I am planning to take out a couple of chart repeats, even then it is going to be huge.

Spirited Cherries

These socks are for Oldest Daughter and she is being so patient.  She chose the yarn.  I think these are another project that was set aside for my Ennea submission.  Until I opened the bag I did not realize how close I am to finishing a sock.  I bet I stopped at the end of the gusset.

Totally Tubular

Best doctor office waiting room knitting ever.  I also knit on these in the evenings that I am in bed watching Sherlock Holmes. The yarn is very softly spun.  It is a good thing I plan to add sturdy toes and heels.

Pretty Thing

Debra bought three lovely skeins of yarn for we three BFFs.  We decided to knit Pretty Thing.  After about 15 rows I came to grips with the fact that I needed to go down a needle size.  I will cast on again very soon. 

Fiddlehead Mittens

This project causes me stress.  It is very pretty, it is not hard, it does take concentration.  Every time I think of it I sigh a deep sigh.  I may never return to them.  But I must, I had to buy like 8 skeins of yarn to make one pair of mittens.  I MUST return to them.

The only other project is too big to photograph.  It is the Sock Yarn Blanket and I do not think it has been taken off the shelf since last spring.  There are little balls of leftover sock yarn spilling out of jars and boxes, waiting for their turn to be added to the blanket.  It will be good winter knitting.

 

 

 

its getting closer

I have returned to an old flame, Longest Night.

I love this project all the way down to my toes, and am so happy that my brain has decided this is what it needs to knit right now.  It would be great if I could have it finished in time for the real longest night, but it does not look good.  The rows are loooooonnngg and getting longer, but I am leaving it sitting the couch, which means I pick it up as often as possible.  Maybe.

Looking through Flickr to find a photo of Longest Night I see that I have not been posting much knitting on this here knitting blog.  Lots of jars, but the knitting has all been for Patons.  Tomorrow I will post a "What's On The Needles Round-up"

Can Jam November 2010 - pommes

Apples, pears, quince.  Those were the Can Jam choices for this month.  I made myself, and everyone around me, a little crazy searching for quince.  No luck.  Apples were turned into sauce and pie slices last month.  That left pears.

I have been wanting to try a batch of Carmel Pear Butter since the first time I stumbled across the recipe. I drool a little every time I type the title.  The original recipe can be found here.  I changed it a bit and my recipe is at the end of the post.

 

Before I even began, I halved the original recipe.  I have put up so many jars of jam and fruit butter this year.  A small batch of goodness seemed prudent.

I started with local, organic, Bartlet Pears.  Their smell is better than perfume.

I did not peel the pears. I cored them, becasue I was not certain if the seeds would add bitter flavor to the pot.  I was not worried about the fruit browning.  Not only does fruit butter have a deep color of its own, I was going to be adding brown sugar.  The finished product was going to be brown.

Once the pears were really soft I put them through the food mill with the smallest screen.  The puree went back in to the pot with the sugar and then bubbled away until it was good and thick.  Very easy.  SO tasty.  I stirred the last little bit in to a bowl of oatmeal and it made me weak in the knees.

Salted Carmel Pear Butter

makes four 1/2 pint jars

1/4 cup of apple juice

5 tablespoons lemon juice

3 1/2 pounds pears, cored and quartered

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

3/4 teaspoon good salt

Combine apple juice, 3 tablespoons lemon juice and pears in a large, heavy bottomed pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat.Lower heat, cover and cook until the pears are very soft. Press pear mixture through finest blade of a food mill.  Return to pot, add remaining lemon juice, sugar, nutmeg and salt.  Bring to a boil and stir until sugar dissolves.  Reduce heat to medium-low and cook uncovered until thick, about an hour.

Ladle pear butter in to prepared 1/2 pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.  Process in water bath for 10 minutes.

Everyone I know wants a jar.  I may have to make more.

how do you twist?

The winter edition of Twist Collective is live.  As I was flipping through the "pages", I realized I have a ritual.  In some ways it is very much like holding a paper magazine.  I quickly flip through just to see what is inside.  Then I flip backwards, more slowly, and stop at the things that caught my eye the first time.  While doing this backwards flipping I also have Ravelry up so that I can either fave or queue the things I really like.  Usually I will buy one pattern right off the bat.  Tonight it was Lara. I can not wait to make this for Oldest Daughter.  Then the magazine will be set aside.  It will be a day or two (or more) before I relax and take the time to pour tea or wine and flop on the couch to read the articles. 

What about you?  How do you read online magazines?

free Knitters anniversary mag

Just in case you missed the announcement. 

victorian writers and knitting

Woolgirl has a new club up, Victorian Writers.  I will not be joining this club, but I can not wait for the patterns to be available as stand alones.  Sherlock Holmes inspired socks and a wrap to cozy up in while reading Dracula, what could be better?

I used to belong to all sorts of fiber clubs.  There was a constant parade of yarn coming through the mail.  This year it was just one, Shakespeare In Lace.  This is my second year and I have committed to next year as well.  SIL is all about big lacy shawls and I expected it to once again be my only club, but Anne is starting something new, the Shakespeare in Lace Accesory Club.  Smaller lace projects with a tip of the hat to old Will.  Luckily there is an installment plan available.  So its two clubs next year.

quince please

Dear Fellow Canners, 

Can you please tell me where y'all are finding the quince?  Every canning blog seems to contain pictures of their yummy goodness.  I have scoured the neighborhood, bugged friends, checked the most likely stores, nothing. I am Seattleish. 

Thank you,

Terri

elderberry vodka

A couple of months back I was gifted a bunch of elderberries.  Most of them became Elderberry & Peach Preserves, and some of them were combined with lemon peel to be added to a bottle of vodka.  The concoction sat in the back of the fridge waiting patiently for Halloween.

Some of the berries floated and some sank to the bottom of the jar.  No idea why.  The color is perfect for a Halloween cocktail.

The berries were strained

and poured in to a pretty bottle. 

Because of the whole gluten thing I did not actually have a cocktail, but I did taste a spoonful and it was delicious.  For each drink I used 1-2 ounces of the infused vodka, a small splash of simple syrup and then topped it off with San Pallegrino bubble water.  Perfect.

 

 

good name for a jewish rock band

The title is what someone typed in to Google and my blog came up.  This makes me laugh.