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Why is everything miniature so cute and adorable?
I made the Beanstalk Yoke Sweater from the Knit Picks Snow Day kit exactly as the pattern prescribed, except this time I went down one needle size to a US Size 1. It's only slightly smaller than the first not-so-mini-miniature sweater. But never fear, I have a solution. I will purchase one of those oversized outdoor wreaths and add all my creations to it - thus making them all look smaller.
Please! Pet me, Please!
How can I resist this face? She's my girly-girl and every day companion.
I had so much fun with my new Snow Day kit from Knit Picks that I simply had to put all other knitting aside to try my hand at one of the miniature sweaters. I picked the Chunky Cable Turtleneck - and chose the red (aka serrano) instead of the hot pink (aka cosmopolitan) and cast on. My gauge was spot on... but my miniature sweater is not as miniature as I would have guessed. Still, it turned out nicely and I'll find a good home for it, just not the decorated wreath I had originally planned.
Finished Chunky Cable Turtleneck
It's nearly the size of my cell phone.
Maybe it's a cell phone cozy.
Here's a paper cut-out of my target size for future sweater ornaments. I'll have to adjust the pattern to suit my needs. Perhaps I should design my own miniature sweaters. Now that's a novel idea!
It's not even Halloween, and I got the itch for holiday knitting. I don't know how many rules I'm breaking by doing that!
Of course, my Knit Picks catalog came and I immediately fell in love with the Snow Day Kit by Nina Isaacson. How cute is this? Miniature sweaters; penguin; felted gingerbread man; sled; string of lights; and a popcorn/cranberry garland. Too cute for words. This kit comes with 9 skeins of palette yarn and the patterns for all the aforementioned ornaments.
I bought two kits: one for me and one for my inspiration - Estella. You'll remember she is far ahead on getting the miniature sweaters knit up for her holiday wreath. Remember this picture from last year?
So I'm taking a little break from the Faery Ring to knit up at least one ornament. They're really too cute for words.
Do you knit Christmas ornaments? If so which are your favorite patterns?
This weekend, BF and I were in NYC - specifically Soho - when we passed a shop that was entirely decorated with antique sewing machines on every inch of wall space.
I snapped this picture with my camera phone. Sorry about the fuzziness. It was just too fabulous not to share. I don't even remember which store it was - that's how focused I was on the sewing machines. There must have been nearly 200 lining the walls.
Very, very cool. I love New York!
Really? I know. Probably not the best idea, but I wanted to show you my progress on the Faery Ring sleeves. I'm past the elbow on each sleeve and in the home stretch. Probably about another 2-3 inches on each sleeve before I knit the perpendicular cable cuff. I can almost feel the finish line.
OK - maybe I should hold off on the enthusiasm until I've fussed and the sun has come out.
Hopefully you can feel my excitement, too.
She said go buy a pickle
But I didn't buy a pickle
Instead - I bought bubble gum
Bazooka-zooka Bubblegum
Bazooka-zooka Bubblegum
That's how the camp song goes.
But this artist - Johnny Swing - did something entirely different with his nickels. He made an entire sofa out of nickels!
Here's BF's hand on the armrest of the sofa.
This gives a whole new meaning to the rhyme:
Find a penny
Pick it up
All day long
You'll have good luck.
Now if there were just this same sofa made of pennies, I'd probably have the perfect place for it in the house.
It's Friday and I took a break from the Faery Ring to finish an object in my queue.
For all of those who take self-portraits in the mirror, I am in awe of you. I found it very challenging.
I laughed my head off!
... and tried again.
Focus, focus
OK - that's about as good as it gets. This is much more difficult than it looks.
But the good news is that I have correctly knit Odessa this time (patient counting was the secret to staying on track!) and it's ready to go to my friend to warm her during her chemo treatments.
Be well!
The other day I was perusing Ravelry's Kaffe Fassett Lovers Group page and I saw Katri63's KF Swatch Blanket and instantly fell in love.
They're so beautiful being laid out as swatches.
And even more stunning assembled into the completed blanket. Katri - you're amazing!
I was so moved, I polled my knitting friends to see if they wanted to do some sort of Kaffe Fassett Sample Blanket KAL in 2011.
We took our Kaffe Fassett books to knitting group and talked about what we were willing to do. Most of the patterns are knit in fingering weight yarn. (YIKES!) I'm not sure I would ever finish an entire blanket of intarsia done in fingering weight in this lifetime, so perhaps a worsted weight yarn would be best? (Visions of the KF Floral Jacket are coming back to haunt me) Of course, I could purchase the entire color Palette from KnitPicks for a fair price, so that is enticing. Some knitters considered knitting a swatch pillow. Now there's an idea.
And so the thought process begins.
Thanks Katri and Kaffe for the wonderful inspirations. Do you want to join us?
This week is one of my favorite weeks of the year. It's apple butter week at my house. This is the first year that I didn't go apple picking to kick off the week... instead I purchased six pecks of locally grown apples at my local store and gave the whole process a jumpstart.
I vary the apples I use every year. This year I used Gala and McIntosh apples.
I wash the apples and quarter them. I cook them in two large pots with about 2 inches of water in the bottom. With the lid on the pot, I boil the apples until they are soft and mushy.
Then I pull out the secret weapon: The Foley Food Mill. Da.da.da! This little puppy takes the cooked mushy apples and separates the wheat from the chaff the apple sauce from the cores, seeds, skins and stems, leaving only luscious apple sauce below. It takes out all the work of peeling apples before the cooking process (and why would you want to lose all those wonderful vitamins?) Speaking of vitamins, all the liquid that the apples cooked in should go through the Foley Food Mill and into the applesauce.
Next I add the flavoring. I add natural maple syrup, apple cider, apple cider vinegar (not pictured), cinnamon, cloves and allspice. Then I cook the applesauce until it boils down to about half its volume and becomes a thick dark brown paste. This takes several hours - for me - a large pot takes about 8 to 8.5 hours on medium heat stirring every 5-10 minutes.
This year I tried something new that I'd read about online - apple butter in the crockpot. Half the applesauce went into the crockpot and half went into the normal heavy bottomed pot.
Not surprisingly, the applesauce in the big pot on the stovetop cooked down much quicker than that in the crockpot. After four hours of no progress in the crockpot, I switched that batch to another large pot.
Yes, cooking apple butter is messy business. I should get some of those splash screens for next year. It takes me about an hour to clean up the stove top, the range hood, the cupboards, the backsplash and the floor after making my annual batch of apple butter!
Next I take my mason jars (this year they only had half pint jars with regular mouth lids (I prefer the pint jars with wide mouth lids). I wash and sterilize the jars according to the package instructions
I usually buy 3 boxes of jars at my local Ace Hardware store: two boxes of the half pint jars and one box of the smaller gift size jars. This year I bought the jars and extra lids in the same size so that next year I only have to replace the lids.
The clean and sterilized jars get filled with hot apple butter. I leave about an inch of space between the apple butter and the top of the jar to allow for expansion. I tap the jar gently to release all air bubbles; wipe the lip of the jar to ensure it's clean; press on the lid and gently close the screw top lid until it's finger tight - but not so tight that air can't escape as per the package instructions.
I put the closed jars in my granite canning pot filled with hot steaming water and gently lower the nesting cage into the pot. I put the lid on the pot and boil the jars according to the recipe instructions for about 5-6 minutes at a full rolling boil. Then with mitts and the special canning tongs (pictured above left), I very carefully remove the jars and set them to cool on a cookie rack.
The three parts of the canning jars: jar; flat sealing lid and the screw top lid.
I remove the screw top lid and let the jars sit overnight to cool. Then I press on each lid to test the seal. If the lid pops - then the apple butter did not seal properly during the canning process. This doesn't mean it's ruined, simply that it must go immediately into the refrigerator to be consumed first. All the jars that are properly sealed get their screw top lid re-attached.
The jars are ready to be stored in the pantry for the next year until they're all consumed (or gifted) and it's time for annual apple butter week once more.
Mmmm - I just love apple butter week. The house smells so good for the three days the factory is in full production.
Click HERE for the full recipe. I made a dozen half-pint jars and nearly a dozen (4-6 oz) gift jars. Somehow it doesn't feel like I have enough apple butter.
Change is Good
