Arriving at end of the internet

This is my 101th post and the one-year anniversary of starting my blog.  Seems like a good time to press the pause button and give it a (permanent) rest.

I've learned so much and I've really enjoyed trying new crafts and ideas.  This turned out not to be so much of a blog that others read, but a journal for myself and a way of reflecting on projects I've made to give to the people in my life that mean so much to me (that's you, family and friends)  You all have been very tolerant and supportive of my efforts  "Oh good!?  Another knitted thing...Gee, we really needed that whatever it is!?"  So sweet.

The coming year brings challenges (health, jobs/retirement? etc) and joys (that's you,  Baby Baller)  Who knows??  I may post some goodies along the way, but for now, it seems like a good place to stop.

One last project....it's a surprise photo box!  Each flap will hold a photo and it will "pop" open when the lid is lifted.  That's a good metaphor for the coming year.  SURPRISE!  You never know what will pop up at you.  :-)

Deck the Halls

 In an effort to be a little less "bah-humbug", we've added some greenery to the front of the house.  It's so hard to be excited about the holidays...I haven't even finished my turkey-induced naps yet!

Still, the weather is good, so it's time to add some color to the outside of our "dried-leaf brown" house.  In a few more days the dirty brown might be covered up with a fresh blanket of lovely snow.  We'll add some twinkle lights then we'll be all set.

For today...this is plenty!

Strudel Sunday

I took a strudel making class last fall and haven't had much chance to practice my new skills.  It was a great class from a chef here in NWI that specializes in Eastern European cooking.  She's a reviewer and columnist for a Chicago newspaper - sort of free-lance, I think.  If she ever offers another class, I'd love to take it.  Homemade sausages, anyone?  Just kidding (sort of...)  That's for another time, but today was strudel Sunday.  I started at around 6:30 AM because Gus and the cats were awake.  Me too, I guess.

The dough doesn't have any yeast in it, which surprised me.   It's merely flour, water and a bit of oil.  The key is to let the gluten do it's "thing" and become silky and pliable after resting for about 2 hours.  Mine was beautiful!

After adding buttery bread crumb and cherry pie filling, it was time to roll.  The sheet does most of the work for you, but mine needed a little assistance from John.  Who said "too many cooks spoil the broth?"  Not in this case.  I was glad he was around!  Rolled up and placed on parchment paper it was ready to make for about an hour.

It's beautiful!  I love the color of the crust, but after tasting it, my oven might've been too hot.  It's extra flaky and crunchy, but delicious. Perhaps a drizzle of powdered sugar icing?  Hmmmm.

I've sliced it in half - meaning half for now and half in the freezer waiting for Thanksgiving in Cincinnati.  We'll have plenty of sweets (pumpkin pie and strawberry-rhubarb pie are also on the menu), so if the strudel is too "al dente" to eat, we won't miss it.

Candy!

Homemade caramels!

This recipe is for Apple Spiced Caramels from King Arthur Flour.  Seems like an odd place to find non-bread recipes, but this is one of my favorite food blogs to read.  Not only do the food writers know their way around the kitchen, they have very interesting and fun blogs to read.   Lots of great recipes, too!

Caramels can be tricky.  I've made them quite often, but the outcome is often "ify".  I have difficulty with the temperature - soft ball stage.  Really?  What does that mean?  I get distracted (you know, doing more than one thing at a time) and either let it over cook, or stop before 248 degrees.

The secret to these caramels is "boiled cider syrup" which King Arthur Flour will gladly sell you (for $10 a small bottle)  It can also be made by boiling down regular old apple cider into a thick syrup.  That's what I did which took about 4 hours of slow cooking on the stove.  No need to pay attention or stir.  Just cook until the water is gone and the cider-y goodness remains in concentrated form.  The house smelled great!

The caramels call for the regular candy ingredients - sugar, corn syrup, butter, heavy cream and the cider syrup - with spices thrown in at the end:  cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg, plus a bit of salt.

  Soft Ball stage - 248 degrees.

Cool in an 8 x 8 pan for 12 hours.

I happened to see that this month's issue of Martha Stewart Living had an article on caramel making with 4 flavor variations.  She did not mention Apple Cider Caramels, so wish me luck when these have cooled!

Done and Yum!

NOT Taylor Swift

After hours and hours of winding yarn into balls - and untangling messes that come with that process - I finally purchased a new toy to make it easier.  This is called a "SWIFT" and it takes the place of holding the skein of yarn between two arms, on the back of a chair, or even with my own feet! The swift holds the skeins while they are wound up using a ball winder (it has a handle like a cranking car window).

Many yarn shops will wind yarn for you - some for free and some will do it for a small charge.  Either way, it takes quite awhile to wait your turn for the yarn to be wound.  This way, I can do it myself on an "as needed" basis.  I have yet to find a yarn shop on-line that will send the yarn pre-wound.

This will come in handy for the next knitting project getting started - hopefully, this week sometime.


UPDATE:  Here's the swift in action with the yarn ball winder.

Baby Bumpers

The next big project is to make baby crib bumpers.  The crib skirt is all finished and today I completed bumper # 1 (5 more to go!)  The learning curve was pretty steep, but I think I have it now.

We had a tough time finding fabric for the piping.  I decided on a sunny yellow stripe.  Cut on the bias, I think it ties the blue chevron and the green polka dots together.

The first obstacle was to make the bias strips for the ties and the piping.  Measure twice, cut once!  It was tedious, but easy.  A couple of the pieces of cording gave me fits, but I think it will be fine.

The second obstacle was fitting the piping around the corners of the bumper.  Arrgh.  Some bad sewing technique (pinned incorrectly!) caused me to re-do, but now I have pictures of the first bumper.

Matching the crib skirt, perhaps this will be the INSIDE of the crib?

 The flip side:

Hard to get a picture of the whole bumper, but here it is, folded over for effect.

I did not get my house cleaned this weekend, but I loved working on this.  The parts for the remaining bumpers are all cut out and the piping is made.  The other 5 should go together a bit easier.  This was a good day of crafting fun!


UPDATE:  5 out of 6 bumpers finished.  These photos show both sides and in combo

FINAL UPDATE:  The bumpers are ready to mail to Minnesota with two new crib sheets to complete the set.

Baby Steps

The new mommy has decided on some fabric colors and patterns, so I'm starting to make the crib skirt. This is the first panel.  So far...so good!  I'm worried about getting the chevron patterns to line up across the pleat.  It seems easy so far, which makes me wonder what I might be leaving out.

I just need to make two long panels and two short panels then attach them to a middle piece that fits until the mattress.  

No idea if the baby is a B or a G, but these colors are neutral and cheerful for either gender. Love it!!!  After the skirt is finished, I'm going to tackle some bumpers.  That will be quite a project!  I would like to get everything finished to take with us when we visit Minnesota at Christmas.

Hideous Hat

This is a monstrosity, but I love the new stitch I learned.  It's call the basket weave stitch.  It's used a lot on blankets and, apparently, on hats.  I'm not sure what I'll use the stitch for next, but I know it won't be on this horrible hat.  Ugh.

The stitch is made on Row 1 with a yarn over, slipped stitch, knit one, yarn over, then pass the slipped stitch over the knitted stitch and the 2nd yarn over.  On Row 2, you drop the slipped stitch off the needle, then knit everything else.  

That part was fun.  Now to find a decent project to use it on.

There's a Nip in the Air

We're headed for winter, no doubt about that.  Temperatures are expected to drop into the 40s by the weekend.  No better time than nowto bring back the flowered headband/earwarmer pattern and get busy.  A teacher requested one for her daughter (also one of my students), so I was happy to give it a try.  Favorite colors for this adorable 2nd grader?  PINK and PURPLE, of course!

I had just enough yarn in my knitting stash to whip up a cute earwarmer in about 45 minutes.  I'm not sure if I got the length correct, but that can easily be modified.  I kinda like the three colored flower accessory!  Let's hope she does, too!

Here's one for her little sister, too.  The button says "Girl Power!"  So true!!!

Chevron Pattern Baby Blanket

I've shown the color pallet and and the blanket pattern in other posts (gray, green, and yellow), but here is the finished baby blanket for a friend at school.  Yes, there's a lot of that going around our school!  Two pregnancies - both due in December!

This is for a new little girl whose Mommy loves pink and green.

Something Fun for He and Her

One of the 4th grade teachers at our school is having twins!  A new baby girl and baby boy are expected in early December.  I decided to make a little welcome gift for the babies (and to secretly practice my upcoming Grandma skills), but instead of knitting booties, I made some shoes.  So fun and although so tiny, it was easy. I truly felt like the elves in the Shoemaker and the Elf fairytale.  I made them overnight!

This is for SHE: Pleated toe MaryJanes in pink and purple polka dots

This is for HIM: Baby loafers!

And for THEY:  Stylin' little soft shoes (lined with super soft terrycloth)  The belt and buckle have velcro underneath the buttons.  Hard to tell in the photo, but the soles are only 3 inches long.  Teeny tiny, but I bet they'll still be too big when the twins are born.

  The pattern was free and found at a blog called schwinandschwin.blogspot.com.  John suggested that I make another pair for GUS (MaryJanes for the front paws and loafers for the back??)

Woof and Bow Wow!

New doggie treat cookie cutters!  I have a couple of good recipes for Gus's treats.  By "good" I mean that he eats them in one gulp.  Who knows what they really taste like. 

I have noticed that, much like his owners, Gus has a bit of a "sweet tooth."  He like the treats made with peanut butter, pumpkin, and honey a little better than the savory ones made with beef from baby food jars.  The last time I made the pumpkin treats, he actually sat by the oven door waiting for them to finish baking.  YUM??

Culinary Success!

Have you ever had a meal that was so good that you tried to replicate it at home?  This has been an on-going challenge for me since 2009!

When John and I were in Tortola a few years ago, we stopped by a roadside cafe on our last evening on the island.  We had been trying to explore local cuisine and get a real taste of the Caribbean and we hit the jackpot in a couple of local "dives."  John took a picture:  a simple chicken dinner with beans and rice, fresh veggies and plantains.   What made this meal delicious was the ginger sauce over the chicken and the sweet plantains.

I have been trying to make the ginger sauce for almost two years and I think I finally have it!  The grocery store had plantains in the banana section, so it was time to give it once more try.

Not a very pretty food picture, but trust me, it was yummy.  Tomatoes from the garden, lightly fried and very sweet plantains, rice and peas, and grilled chicken covered with the ginger sauce.


Here's the recipe:

3 inches of minced fresh ginger.  (sorry, I didn't measure in tablespoons)  I suppose this part would be "to taste" anyway.
2 Tbls apple cider vinegar
2 cloves minced garlic
3/4 cup apply jelly (provides great consistency and makes it more "sauce" than "juice")
1/2 tsp (probably more) salt
red pepper flakes - I didn't measure
dash of sesame seed oil - not much - and this could be left out.  I sort of wish I would've stopped before this.  I just thought it needed "something"  eh...not so sure, but you can't take it out once it's in! No harm, it just sort of "clouded" the ginger.  (that's when I added more!)

Pulverize it in the food processor for a few seconds.  This is great on chicken, fish, or pork.  It tastes just like the islands!  We brought home a bottle of Pussar's Ginger Sauce and I used that as my comparison (until it was gone!) My latest version is a bit sweeter and not as vinegar-y as I remember, but highly recommended!

Tomorrow night:  talapia (and more ginger sauce!)

For Tillie

New Bulletin Board

Okay.  It's not the most original idea, nor the prettiest, but it does cover up an ugly spot in my room.  On one side (the far side) of the room, I have acoustical tiles on the wall with choral risers in front. From time to time, I would decorate the railing with a monthly theme or decoration, but it really didn't work very well.  It was too difficult to keep up with the changing seasons or theme.  Also, as the children stood on the risers, the decorations would invariably get torn or knocked down. They're kids.  That's what they do!

So, in a last minute fit of "inspiration," I traced out a large map of the United States and started filling in "states" with musical instrument shapes.  I am not a good "draw - er" (as kids would say) but I can sketch out some basic instrument shapes.

I put up a title (although it was crooked when I took this picture) and voila!  I have a bulletin board for the year.  Maybe if I get extra inspiration and time, I'll redo it for next year with colored instrument states (instead of using the only black marker I could find at the time)

The children have all noticed and commented.  They like that we live in the state of "TUBA"near where Lake Michigan might be on the map.

Pretty in Pink

A new knitting project for a friend at school who just announced that she will be having a baby girl in December.  The color scheme is wasabi, honeydew, bone, tulip, drift, petal and raspberry.

A+ for the Teachers

  iPad Covers for my Second Grade Teacher Friends.

I can keep a secret

Sure, I can keep a secret.  I just can't keep it for very long!

Someone I know (and whom I love) is having a baby!  Not just ANY baby, but a GRANDBABY! I think the news is still hers to tell as she wants, but now that our family members know (that's YOU, Kim, Tony, Barbara, and Randy), I can post my joy!

I got the first hint months ago (well before the fact) when I was told about a cute baby blanket pattern.  I kept the pattern in the back of my mind until we got the first inkling that a baby might be on the way.  I got out my needles and went to work!

The color scheme matches their home decor with yellows and grays.

TOP to BOTTOM: Lemongrass, lemonade, stone, tulip, drift, smoke and slate

Once I knitted down to the drift color, I wondered if should I stick with grays or possibly put in some blue - just in case? (I'm going on record here saying I had a dream that the baby was a boy.)

Powder and Navy or Smoke and Slate?

Honestly, there's not much difference, but we decided to stick with the neutral gray tones.  When I first saw the pattern, I was not a fan of the chevron pattern.  I thought it would be a pain to knit, but I was sooo wrong.  It was a lot of fun!

So, no matter baby boy or baby girl, it will be a much loved BABY, just like his/her Mommy (and Daddy)  

If we get to know the baby's gender before birth, or even the nursery colors, I have another great blanket pattern I'm excited to knit.  One of the teachers at school is having a baby girl in December, so I may start knitting for that blessed event as my next knitting project.

New School Year = New Skills

I took a short sewing class about fabric art:  Stitch and Slash.  It's not really about sewing, but about working with layers of fabrics to achieve a particular style and texture to your fabric that you can then use to create something.  A lot of times this technique is used in works of art, home decor pillows, or even personal tote bags.  I've never seen it as part of anyones clothing, but I suppose you could.

The lessons were great.  They focus on color combinations, textures, and hues, no matter what the print or design.  I played around with scraps from the stash of fabric and chose 4 fabrics of black and white and prints. I layers the fabric black, black/pink, hexagons, and white on top. I saved the black and white polka dot for a different place in the project.

Next, I came up with a design and sewed it (black thread) through the layers (white on top) I kept my design super simple and used straight lines.  In hind-sight, I think straight lines might've made it more difficult.  FILE UNDER "Things to do differently next time."

Then, came the fun part.  Using a seam ripper, I just started taking off layer by layer.  The idea was to leave jagged edges to create texture and reveal different layers of the fabrics.
Layer 1:

Layer 2:

Layer 3:

And finally:

The final step in fabric preparation was to add more interest/texture with embellishments like ribbons and machine embroidery.  My sewing machine is old, old, old and doesn't have any special stitches other than zig zig, but this is what I came up with.

The ribbon and yarn pieces I attached have a slight silver thread running through them.  Good enough for this project (plus, I didn't have to buy anything else.  That was a priority!)

Now that the fabric is prepared, I decided to  make something out of it.  Again, using what I had on hand in the craft closet, I chose to make another insulated lunch bag.  I'm calling it shabby chic.

 Bring on the PBJ and leftovers.  Lunch is served!

As a final, "over the top" touch,  I added some buttons and beading in the black areas for added texture.  It doesn't show up that well in the photo, but here's the final picture.