Summer Knitting Reboot

 After a week of decompressing after a tough semester of teaching orchestra, I am ready to take a look at some summer knitting. I unearthed a half finished cowl/hat made from Shady Grove Dark Star, some cool painted yarn I got for my birthday a few years ago, and a sock pattern with yarn. 

Not sure what’s first, but I’m looking forward to being productive in some other non-teaching way. 

Happy Summer! Is anyone else freezing? Maybe I should knit a sweater instead…

So. Close.

When you’re trying to use up all the yarn in your stash, the potential for playing yarn chicken is high. Note the nine unbound stitches remaining. NINE. Ugh! I do not want one pattern repeat of yarn left over AGAIN in the stash. 

By some miracle, I had leftover yarn from my Shalom Cardigan (2009) that was a precise match, though not quite the right thickness.

The yarn substitution worked out perfectly, and after a nice wash, I have a cozy, squishy new lap blanket. 

And I can’t tell which corner has the substitute yarn for the last 9 stitches!!

Yarn is hand-spun by Anne Cohee for the 1990 Maryland Wool Show. The sheep was a brown Romney named Helga. I had 10.5 skeins of yarn, which was held double for this project.

So, the sixth Done by Monday blanket, the “Basketweave,” is ready for someone’s lap. Finally cut the ends off today, but the knitting has been complete for a month… 

These blankets have a true and recorded legacy. So fun!

And finally, a few baking projects. These sourdough rolls are wonderful, and I keep losing the recipe. So here is the LINK. I reduce the sugar to 1-2 Tablespoons. 

And for Easter I finally baked the gluten free Hungarian Hazelnut Cake. Prepare to drool and fantasize eating a slice every day! I took some suggestions from the comments and wrapped/refrigerated the baked cake over night. The apricot jam in the middle and whipped cream (with a little added powdered sugar) on top is also very good. I decided to freeze a few slices, and there was not harm done to taste or texture when I ate them a week later. I do think that I will split the layers next time and try the cake with whipped cream in the middle. Other suggestions were to add vanilla to the cake batter and some flavored liquor such as Frangelico to the whipped cream. 

New Hobby Unlocked

Watch out world! I do in fact have a new hobby, and it’s crocheting. Thankfully, I already have so much yarn to use, but may need new patterns, kits, and hooks. Who is scared for me?! (Me. I’m scared! Haha!)

When I started teaching my niece to crochet a few weeks ago, I idly started knitting a longer thin strip. It looked like the brim of a hat, so connecting it in a circle seemed like a good next step. Picking up stitches was pretty easy and then I improvised the decreases. I’ll have to pull up a video to see if my strategy has a name. 

Trying it on after every other round was helpful to see if I was deceasing at the right pace. I started decreasing every 11 stitches for 6 rounds, then decreased every 4th stitch every third round for several rounds. Finally the decrease was at every stitch, making the top of the hat a little hole-y, but I’m pondering whether to add a Pom Pom. 

Fun, no-brand yarn has interesting color choices, but since it was free, I’m calling it “whimsical.”

And for my record keeping, some spring flowers that are blooming around the house. 

March 28

March 25

March 22

March 20

March 13

March 13

This tree came down in a storm on March 15, and our neighbor saw it and shoved it into the woods with his tractor. My neighbors are amazing!

Crochet? Why Not?

Everyone who knows me a little bit also knows that the last person to need a new and unique hobby, is me. I am also a prolific knitter and crochet only under duress (when the edges of something fancy demand it). I had a terrible time learning it as a child and was not interested in the frustration. I could never get the gauge right. Imagine my trepidation when my niece wanted to learn over spring break. And then imagine my surprise when I was able to make a quick swatch using THIS video almost instantly.

My niece is six, and so I decided to focus on the chain stitch first. We kept attaching it to the swatch when it got too long and dangling. 

This girl has so much grit! After I showed here with my hands on hers a few minutes, she was ready to do it herself. But she was very tense, which slowed things down considerably. I think we sat together at least 30-45 minutes before her first break. 

It’s too early to see if the hobby will stick for her, but I may have started a hat…

We were also delighted to visit the baby farm animals on our visit. My brother and sister-in-law had recently welcomed four Saanen goat kids and one Nubian goat kid. We were happy to cuddle them and sample incredible dairy products. 

The Farmer may also have a new hobby goal??

In spite of a freak blizzard during our stay, it looks like spring weather is starting to return this coming week as I go back to school. Enjoy!

No Adornment Needed

As it was a mast year last year, I processed several cups of acorn flour in the fall. I am starting to get worried that the flour might get rancid, so this morning I decided to finally make acorn pancakes using THIS recipe. 

I used 1/4 cup almond flour and 1/2 cup white flour for the white flour part, and 1/2 cup almond milk with the rest water for the milk part. 

The pancakes turned out so wonderful that they didn’t even need any sort of topping. The sugar in the batter made them sweet enough to leave off any syrup, preserves, or honey and the flavor was rich enough that there was no need for cheese or yogurt sauce. 

Of course I got curious how the batter would react in my waffle maker. The waffle maker did bake a little longer since pancake batter is typically more watery than waffle batter, but the flavor and texture was also outstanding in this format. I do recommend not overfilling the waffle iron so all the batter stays inside of it. 

Finally, nothing says helpful quality control like your cat sitting on the new blanket your are knitting! I’m about 1/3 finished and love how smooshy this blanket is turning out. 

Happy Weekending!

 

New Year, New Blanket

The first month of the year is gone, but not before I started a basket weave blanket last weekend! I was surprised, but then I remembered that this is the sixth blanket I’m making from the Done by Monday book. So relaxing and lovely…

Yarn is hand-spun by the friend I never met, Anne Cohee. I’m not sure she did anything but spin in her retirement, but I’m not sad. Yarn is held double and knit with size 13 needles.

Yarn and pattern are a dream to work with. With a source that is a Romney Brown named Helga, this should not be a surprise, either.  I foresee a quick finish!