Knit & Nosh

houston...

I have been happily knitting along on Sparrow. 

Once it was time to divide for front and back, most of the stitches were put on waste yarn.  This gave me an opportunity to take some measurements.  The answer was not good.  It was big.  Way big.  After consulting my favorite sweater expert, she told me to frog.  So I did.

I hope it speaks well for my character that I recast on immediately.

I knit the first six rows and then began the set up row.  This is where things went bad, again.  About half way through that row I knew what the problem was, but I counted just for make sure.  I had cast on 100 fewer stitches than what I needed.  At that point I backed away from the project.  The across the street neighbor asked me to make her a pair of Korkies.  I think that may be more my speed today.

spicy pickled radish

Last weekend Husband and I were flipping through a magazine when we came across a photo of a martini garnished with a pickled radish.  Husband immediately thought that was a great idea.  Not the martini part, he is not a martini guy, the pickled radish part.  The recipe in the magazine is for refrigerator pickles that are only good for a month.  Fine for now, but what happens when a pickled radish craving strikes in December?

To avoid having  a jar of what looked like pickled eyeballs sitting on my shelf, I used french radishes. 

Two bunches yielded 1 1/2 pints.

Spicy Pickled Radish

Two bunches of radishes, any variety will work just fine

6 dried chilies

1/2 cup white vinegar

1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

Trim the ends off the radishes.  Combine the vinegar, water, sugar and salt and heat until the sugar and salt have dissolved.

Into the bottom of each jar add 2 dried chilies, add trimmed radishes to within 1/2 inch of the top of the jars.  Fill jars with liquid to cover radishes. 

Seal and process in a water bath for 10 minutes.

asparagus egg cups

Monday, after trimming spears of asparagus to fit into jars, I had a lot of ends.  No way I was going to just pitch them, they held plenty of opportunities.  Remembering a post from Food in Jars, I turned them in to Mini Breakfast Puffs. 

I used Marisa's recipe almost exactly.  The only I change I made was to bake the jars in a 9x13 pan that held an inch or so of water.  I lowered the temperature to 325 and let them go until the tops were puffed and brown.  They actually puff up over the tops of the jars, but compact nicely once cooled.

Oldest Daughter now has an easy way to grab breakfast before work and I feel good knowing she is not heading out the door with an empty stomach.  I really need to get over this, she is a grown up after all.

fo - sparkle socks

Boy howdy did the second sock knit up quickly.  I began it Saturday while watching a TKD tournament.  Sunday night I turned the heel.  Tuesday morning I began the gusset.  Tuesday night I flopped into bed to watch Doctor Who and brought the sock with me.  After one episode it was time for the little lace panel on the top of the foot.  Husband came to bed and fell asleep in a matter of seconds, so I figured I would go ahead and finish up the lace repeats.  But then it was toe time and so close to the end that I had to keep going.  Kitchenered the toe Wednesday morning.

One foot has more green than the other.  I love when that happens.  A little reminder that the fiber is hand dyed and hand spun by real people. 

I added the little lace repeat from Babouches.  So sweet.  The socks are now on the top of the present pile where they will wait patiently until a certain birthday rolls around.

carried away

I can not remember to take photos of  fiber before I begin to spin, so I slurped a photo from Southern Cross Fibre. 

My wheel needs a new drive band.  I had been improvising with some jute and the first few yards on the spool worked just fine, the last few, not so much.  It kept stretching and would not hold a knot and had to be replaced twice just to get 4 ounces spun.

But there was no way I was going to let a little string get the best of me. 

 The reward for perseverance is 400 yards of fingering weight Polworth, colorway Carried Away from Southern Cross Fibre.   I chained plyed, not because I was worried about keeping the color changes in tact, but because I wanted the practice.  I am SO glad I did the chain ply.  Even with the short color repeats I have a yarn that I really love.  It has some solid stripes and some barber pole areas and is so soft and airy.  I have not spun Polworth before, I wonder if the fiber always gives such a nice yarn?  I am certainly willing to do some hands on research.

This will be June's hundspun socks.  Husband is very excited.

Just finishing up the gusset on the second of May's handspun socks and yes, I have ordered new drive bands.  Tour de Fleece will be here before you know it!

bloody mary asparagus

Yesterday morning, between breakfast and lunch, I had a little date with some asparagus.  Last year I only made one jar of spears, they were a big hit and this year I promised to make many more.  What turns a pickled asparagus stalk into one worthy of a Bloody Mary?  Horseradish.  Slices of fresh horseradish in every jar.

I used three bunches, about four pounds, of asparagus to get 3 1/2 pints.  Three jars for the water bath canner and one half full jar that went straight into the fridge.  I will repeat this process again towards the end of the season.

Bloody Mary Asparagus

4 pounds (or so) of asparagus, tops sliced to fit in the jar

2 cups white vinegar

1 cup water

2 tablespoons salt

12 slices fresh horseradish

18 peppercorns

Combine vinegar, water in salt and heat until the salt is dissolved.  To the bottom of each jar add 3 slices of fresh horseradish and 5 peppercorns.  Fill to within 1/2 inch of the top with asparagus spears and top with liquid. 

Process in a wather bath for 10 minutes.

I miss my jars

With the kitchen remodel in full swing I have not been able to do any canning.  Last week, when I had no sink and no real idea of when I would ever have a sink again, I thought about asparagus and panicked.  What if I missed asparagus season entirely?  Last spring I put up just two jars of Bloody Mary Asparagus to see if we liked it.  The answer is YES.  So I had big plans to fill many jars this year.   A person really does need a working kitchen to can.  Before you suggest I move out to the deck with a camp stove, know that the deck was sawing central, sawdust everywhere.  No kitchen, plus fleeting asparagus = panic.

All is well.  The remodel has moved to the cabinet building stage, asparagus are still in season and Sunday I plan to play with jars.  Yeah!

handspun socks

I have finished the first May handspun sock.  Saturday, Youngest Son has a Tae Kwan Do tournament that is going to provide many hours of knitting time, so I am not worried about finishing the second sock before the end of the month.  So, I began spinning for June's socks.

I do not remember the type of fiber,  I will look it up and post the details with the finished photo. I plied the smaller bobbin last night.  It was my intention to ply the other this morning, but my wheel had other ideas.  Sometimes my wheel has a squeak.  A squeak that can not be fixed by oiling or changes in foot position or any amount of swearing.  This morning it decided it was going to be a squeaky day. Since it is 6:30 AM and the rest of the house is asleep, I decided to wait on the plying.

 

do not try this at home

Y'all are so funny.  Your general consensus is that fortifications are definitely in order when dealing with the flowers.  With that in mind, last night I opened the wine and got comfortable with scissors and darning needle. 

After 1 1/2 hours and 2 glasses of wine,  I was done.  I more ways than one.  Sewing down the flowers, adding stems, weaving in ends, left me thinking very unpink thoughts.  Once the last flower was on I breathed a big sigh of relief and set them down for the night.  At that point I needed a break before adding the beads.  Yes, beads. 

This morning I picked up the mitts again and started searching for beads.  I found some little iridescent seed beads that worked.  First thing I did was make sure my needle would fit through the hole in the bead.  Checked and yes, no problem.   So I began stringing and sewing each little bead, one at a time.  While the first bead I tried slipped right over the needle, that was not true for all of the beads.  Some holes were bigger than others and each bead that worked was preceded by several that did not.  Talk about unpink thoughts.

But they are finished and Oldest Daughter loves them.

The beads really do add a nice touch.

I hope that when Youngest Daughter sees them she does not request a pair, because there is no way I am doing that again.

60

You may recall that I had been working on a sweet little pair of pink fingerless mitts for Oldest Daughter.  The pattern was easy, the yarn was wonderful, and they practically knit themselves while riding in an airplane.  There was just one thing left for me to do, and that was to add the flowers.  Each mitt is topped off with three flowers, the center of the flowers have a few beads.  Easy Peasy.  That is I thought it would be easy peasy until I actually started knitting the flowers.  Each petal is knit separately and each flower has five petals.  It was as I was finishing the second flower that I paused to do the math.  3 flowers, 5 petals, 2 gloves equal 60 ends to weave in.  Yes, you read that correctly 60!!! 

Also, those five little petals on each flower need to be sewn together.  Its enough to drive a girl to drink.