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.