No, I haven't abandoned this blog

Things are really busy and I'm wraping up the school year. last week I had a concert for Roberts class and a band concert for Anja. Today I went on a field trip to the zoo w/Michael and later will go to a band awards thing w/Anja.

Trying to wrap up Girl Scouts and prepare for our trip to Great Wolf Lodge.

I have some things I want to post but will need to do so when things settle and I have a bit more time.

I've been working on a new Gail shawl and started a broomstick lace scarf. Still working on the afghan and other things.

Knitting Gail

So I knitted up Gail (AKA Nightsongs) and I love the pattern! It did take a bit to figure out and I had to make a couple minor mental changes to the pattern to make it work for me. Not really changes to the pattern it self but things to make it "click". You can get the pattern free on Ravelry but I don't think it's available off the Rav site (though Ravelry is free to join).

For starters the pattern has a left and right side chart. You don't need both these charts as the shawl is symmetrical and one chart works for both sides. And as for the double YO's at the peak, I purled into them so as to twist each stitch. this worked much better than knitting and purling, makes a cleaner, more consistent stitch.

Then the pattern says to repeat it 7 times. I had one skein of yarn so did 6 repeats as one is not quite enough to get 7.

It says to repeat the chart. But you will make the full chart on the 1st repeat and then after that you will only need to repeat rows 23-37. I made a line to mark this on my chart. This is a small clip of how I drew my lines for the repeats. I repeat the center part as many times as needed and when headed twards the peak or end I then followed the chart to the edge (ignoring the stitches in the yellow poriton). This is my marked on chart but you can transpose the lines to your chart.


The pattern says to repeat and end on row 33. I ended on row 35. On the last 2 pattern rows you need to do the peak slightly different. On row 33 make 1 YO instead of 2. and at the peak on row 35 I did yo, k1, yo. this will set you up to easily make the border.

Because by knitting up to row 35 you will need to start the border chart on row 5.

Here is a photo before blocking. You can click on them for super sized images.


And after blocking. I, again, used my steamer and blocking this way was really fast, I was able to unpin it as soon as I was done steaming it.

Sausage gravy and biscuits

One of my son's (and mine) favorite breakfasts! Easy to make and well worth it.

For the gravy I brown and crubmle a 1lb. roll of sausage. I always make this in one of my cast iron skillets. When that is browned I add 1 stick of butter and pour milk into the skillet to reach the bottom of the pour nub indents on the sides and simmer. I dissolve several tablespoons of corn starch into cold water and add to the gravy till it's the desired thickness.

For the biscuits I use this recipe. You can add some flavor by substituting what ever amount of the shortening for reserved bacon fat/drippings if you happen to save them for cooking. I also like to sprinkle in some garlic powder and Italian seasonings. If I have it I also like to shred in some cheddar cheese. I generally double this biscuit recipe when I make it for the family as we are a family of 5.

I prefer to roll the biscuits in my hands and drop them onto the baking stone (I bake on stones). But you can also roll them out and cut them with round cutters or what ever you desire.

I like to hard fry an egg and break open a biscuit or 2 and then smother the plate in gravy. I used to buy white gravy mix till I was reading the side of my corn starch box and realized how simple it is to just make it.

Baking Powder Biscuits

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 12 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Breads Breakfast
Side Dishes

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups all-purpose flour -- see notes
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tabelspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk

1. Heat oven to 450

2. Cut shortening into flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in medium
bowl, using pastry blender or crisscrossing 2 knives, until mixture looks
like fine crumbs.

3. Stir in milk until dough leaves bides of bowl (dough will be soft and
sticky)

4. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead lightly 10 times, Roll
or pat to 1/2" thickness. Cut with floured 2 1/2" round cutter. Place on
ungreased cookie sheet about 1" apart for crusty sides, touching for soft
sides.

5. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove from
cookie sheet. Serve warm.

Source:
"Betty Crocker's NEW cook book"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 165 Calories; 9g Fat (50.3%
calories from fat); 3g Protein; 18g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 2mg
Cholesterol; 307mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain(Starch); 0 Non-Fat Milk; 2
Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

NOTES : *Add a bit of extra flavor to your biscuits by stirring in
2 teaspoons chopped fresh or 3/4 teaspoon dried dill weed
or basil with the flour.

*If using self-rising flour, omit baking powder and salt.

Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0 0

My son loves to help make this and here is a photo of him kneading the dough.

Irony

So last night at work we decided to get subs. There is a 24 hour Subway not to far from work. A lady called them to see if they would be open at 3am (I work 3rd shift and that's before last break).

She gets to Subway and.... they are out of bread! How does a sandwich shop run out of bread?

Walpapering the van

Or, Contact papering the Woodie!

So we have 2 Voyager's. The newer one ("99" is mine "88" is DH's) So the 88 is a "woodie" meaning it has wood panels on the sides. Well the trim around those panels had gotten rather ratty looking so DH took the better part of 2 days and removed the panels, cleaned them very well and covered them with wood grained contact paper before putting them back on.

So, I suppose you could say that our van has been freshly wallpapered!

And this is not the 1st time he has done this. But the last time he did not take off the panels before adding the contact paper so it didn't last long at all. Although I don't know exactly how long you can expect this to last.

He calls the van his Woodie. He doesn't like calling it a van. I think he just likes to say he drives a Woodie. Oh well.

I would like to add that the Woodie only cost us $500 and we have had it for at least 4 years now... one of the benefits of marrying a mechanic!

Here's a photo of the newly wallpapered Woodie.

Book: Blue Ribbon Crochet

This is a wonderful book and I would recommend it to anyone w/a divers taste if what they like to crochet. Wide range of projects. You can find it at Amazon . I have scanned the cover and chapter pictures page, click on them for a larger view if you like.

This is not a book to learn by, many of the patterns are rather advanced but well written and easy to follow.

chapters include:
*Judges' Choice Afghans - 9 designs
*First Place Fashions - 9 designs (sweaters, purses, earrings, shawls and more)
*Heirloom Masterpieces - 9 designs (doilies, curtains, coverlet/bedspreads and more)
*Best-In-Show babies - 8 designs (blankets, clothing, bibs and more)
*Award-Winning Dolls & Toys - 5 designs (puzzle, stuffed dolls, animals and cloths for them)
*Home Accessories Showcase - 9 designs (pillows, afghans, rugs, place mats and more)

Crocheting to skydive

So guy at work is all excited and wants to go sky diving. I did it about 8 years ago (2 times) and wouldn't mind doing it again but realistically with a family of 5 there are other things I can spend my $$ on than jumping out of a plane.

Well this guy also wants to pay me to make him a crochet ripple afghan. I told him that I got a deal for him... he pays for me to sky dive and I make him an afghan. He was all for it. So we will just have to see how the follow through goes with this one! So often with these sort of things they tend to loose steam before they are realized. But i told him that if he really wants to do it he knows I wont back out cuz I have already done it.

I guess this is what happens when your interests are truly all over the place... you end up trading crochet for skydiving. I suppose it just goes to prove that I'm quite the diverse person.

I wrote a poem about the last time I went skydiving and you can read it on my poetry blog.

5,000 feet

I do love me a good zombie movie!

Ah, last night was movie night (if you couldn't tell) and I also rented Zombie Land. That was a really good zomibe movie IMO. Don't worry, no spoilers here.

But seriously, it's a zombie movie and I bet you can already guess what happens.

What makes a good zombie movie?
special effects - keep them "old school" no need to get all technical and fancy, get a good makeup artist and you must have LOTS of rotting flesh and blood. Not to mention the occasional broken bone sticking out for effect.

humor - seriously, they are zombies and it's been done before. Lets not pretend to be all serious about the whole thing. The more gruesome the effects are and the better and cheesy the humor is the better the movie is. Sure, there are some good serious zombie movies out there. But at this point in the history of zombie movies, humor is where it's at.

And I expect some good zombie action in my zombie movies.

I loved this movie. Had all the right stuff for a great humorous zombie flick. The zombies were faster and more energetic than your average zombie but it was a nice touch.

I can't pass up a zombie flick when I see one, no matter how bad or good they look like they will be.

Another AWESOME zombie movie that is funny is Shaun of the Dead! A must see IMO.

Why is there always a donut?

So I just got done watching 2012 (not half bad, a bit over the top, but pretty good) And of course they have a scene where everything is getting ripped apart and a big donut goes rolling down the street.

Just makes me wonder why movies with disasters or creatures ripping up the land seem to work in the rolling, larger than life, donuts.

Maybe I watch to many of these movies. But it's become quite a matter of .... "Oh look, there's another donut rolling down the street"

Anyone else notice the extensive use of giant rolling donuts in movies? Or is it just me and my weird taste in movies that brings me to the ones that use giant rolling donuts?

I do enjoy disaster movies, zombie movies, sci fi and weird humor.

Beer Bread

This is is quick and easy bread to whip up. I often make it to go along with my Lemon-Herb-Chipotle Roasted Chicken. Also great with chilies and other dishes. My kids love this bread!

* Exported from MasterCook *

Beer Bread

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 10 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Breads Cooking With Beer

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
3 cups self-rising flour -- *see Note
2 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons butter -- melted
1 can beer -- warm
4 tablespoons butter -- melted

Preheat oven to 375

mix all ingredients except the last 4 tablespoons butter in a bowl and
pour into a greased/buttered bread pan.

Bake 45 minutes

Take it out and pour the 4 Tbs melted butter over the top

Return to oven and bake another 10 minutes.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 238 Calories; 10g Fat (37.7%
calories from fat); 4g Protein; 32g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 25mg
Cholesterol; 572mg Sodium. Exchanges: 2 Grain(Starch); 2 Fat; 0 Other
Carbohydrates.

NOTES : 1 C self-rising flour = 1 C all purpose flour +1 tsp
baking powder + 1 tsp salt

Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0

Lemon-Herb-Chipotle Roasted Chicken

This is a family favorite. This chicken is nice and juicy thought with a rich flavor. The chipotle rub gives it a wonderful flavor and the chicken is not to spicy. All my kids eat this up!

Left overs make a great chicken noodle soup. Make the soup with the skin for added spice, remove the skin for a milder soup. As of course I always make home made egg noodles for my soups!

This is also excellent with Beer Bread.

The original recipe called for 2 smaller fryer chickens but for simplicity of only working with one bird I use a large roaster. In my post about Smoking a turkey you can see what I mean about spreading the seasoning under the skin.

For left over chili pure, freeze in ice cube trays and then transfer to a zipper freezer bag for storage for future use.

This recipe can be found in the Chevy's fresh mex cook book. I really like this book!


* Exported from MasterCook *

Lemon-herb-chipotle Roasted Chicken

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 6 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Mexican

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
5 pounds whole chicken
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
6 sprigs rosemary
6 sprigs oregano
1 whole lemon -- cut in half
4 large garlic cloves -- cut in half
2 tablespoons chipotle chile canned in adobo -- *see Note


Preheat the oven to 350. Remove the giblets from the body cavity, and trim
away the excess fat. Rinse chicken inside and out under cold running water
and pat dry.

Combine the olive oil, salt, and pepper in a small bowl.

Spread the seasoned olive oil under the breast skin. Place garlic clove
halves under the breast skin on each side and down into the legs if
possible. Strip the leaves of the remaining sprigs of rosemary and oregano
and mince; distribute evenly under the breast skin.

coat the cavity generously with the remanding seasoned olive oil. Strip
the leaves off 3 sprigs rosemary and 3 sprigs oregano and mince; place
inside the cavity. Place 2 each of the remaining sprigs of rosemary and
oregano (leaves still attached) in the cavity. Squeeze the lemons into the
cavity and stuff the halves into the cavity.

Sprinkle pepper and salt over the entire chicken. Truss the chicken drum
sticks, closing the cavity. Or with a wooden skewer, pinch the skin
together over the cavity and pierce through the skin and work your way up
the body "sewing" the skin together. Rub outside of chicken with the
chipotle puree.

Place the chicken on a roasting rack in a roasting pan and roast until the
thigh juices run clear when the skin is pierced with a knife, about 2
hours, basting with pan juices every 30 minutes, or until the thigh meat
registers 165 on an instant read thermometer.

Carve and serve.

Source:
"Chevys & Rio Bravo Fresh Mex Cook Book"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 748 Calories; 58g Fat (69.6%
calories from fat); 49g Protein; 8g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 235mg
Cholesterol; 2082mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 6 1/2 Lean
Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 7 1/2 Fat.

NOTES : Puree the contents of a entire can of chipotle chile in
adobo sauce. Or you can make your own.



Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Zebra's new sweater

So, Robert (my middle child) came to me and asked me if I would make zebra a sweater because he was cold. I asked him what color zebra's sweater needed to be and he said he zebra wants a gray one.

So I whipped up this little sweater for zebra and I think he's quite happy ;)

Lacy Vine Scarf

Lacy Vine Scarf

So, I found this stitch pattern for a lacy vine stripe I cast on thinking this would make a really pretty scarf. But it appears that most of the decreases and increases were slanting wrong for my taste. they did not create the same look on both sides so I had to do some tweaking. and after all was said I really like the new look of it. I like my stuff to look the same on both sides when they are supposed to look the same.

I have made this available as a PDF file.

3-12-10

I finished the scarf and blocked it. My Dad was over and watched it being blocked. He agrees, blocking knit lace is like magic! He was really surprised at how large it was after being blocked compared to it's size when simply finished knitting.

Do people really fall for this junk?

CONFIDENTIAL DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY PAYMENT

Dear Sir/Madam,
bla... bla bla bla

In this regards we are going to send your contract part payment of 7.6Million USD. To you via our accredited shipping company and I have secured every needed documents to cover the money. Note: The money is coming on 2 security proof boxes. The boxes are sealed with synthetic nylon seal and padded with machine.

Please you don't have to worry for anything, as the transaction is 100% risk free. The boxes are coming with a Diplomatic agent who will accompany the boxes to your house address. All you need to do now is to send to me your full house address and your identity such as, international Passport or driver’s license and your mobile phone and telephone number, The Diplomatic Attach? will travel with it. He will call you on his arrival to your country's airport. I hope you understand me.

bla bla bla bla
send us your...
1) YOUR FULL NAME.........................
2) PHONE AND FAX NUMBER................
3) ADDRESS WHERE YOU WOULD LIKE TO RECEIVE YOUR fund..................
4) YOUR AGE AND CURRENT OCCPATION........................
5) A COPY OF YOUR IDENTITY............................

Congratulations.
Best Regards,
Lt General John Martins.
National Security Adviser to the President
Federal Republic of Nigeria.

and a follow up message...
After the Board of director's meeting held in Abuja, we have resolved in finding a solution to your problem. We have arranged your payment through our SWIFT PAYMENT CENTRE(UBA BANK).

This is part of an instruction/mandate passed by the Senate inrespect to overseas contract payment and debt re-scheduling. You will be provided with access to an online account in which your funds, Five million Unites States Dollars($5,000,000.00); will be deposited.


And if you are wondering I really am rich... last year I aparently won a Canadian lottery and had het another prince offer to send me $$.

Really, I mean how can PPL actually fall for this crap.

Time to update my spam filters

Cabled balaclava

So I'm participating in the Ravelympics and representing Team PissDrunk. My 1st project was From Russia with love: Cabled Balaclava . It's a really pretty and easy pattern. I chose a wool blend yarn. I would suggest though that if you want to make it I did it on size 8 needles and it's a tad snug for my taste so adding a pattern repeat (18 stitches) is my recommendation.

At one point I dropped a stitch in a cable and didn't realize it till I went to twist the cable again and didn't have enough stitches on the needles. It was 8 rows down! I didn't want to rip 8 rows so I dropped the stitches in the damaged cable and worked my way back up with a crochet hook and sock DPN for aids. 1st time I tried to do a fix in this way before. It was a tad tedious at times but worth it.

I am going to make another Balaclava but have taken a break to make a felted lunch sack. Inspiration from Brown Bag. I'm not really following the pattern cuz it's so basic. I'm making mine much larger than the design so we will just have to see how it works out. I'll also add a handle.

Incase anyone is wondering and doesn't already know... on Ravelry I'm GsCraftsNthing

Here is where I fixed the dropped stitch. This made me a bit nervous but it worked fine.and the finished balaclava. The cables are a bit difficult to see on the charcoal yarn but you can click for a larger image if you like.

If it's not broke... DON'T FIX IT!

This is going to be a little rant.

The boys got 2 sets of Lincoln Logs for Christmas. I got a large comerative all wood set and my parents got them a smaller set with plastic roofs. Lincoln Logs are a timeless classic right? I grew up with them, my Dad grew up with them and my daughter had a set when she was the age the boys are now.

So I just dumped all the sets together and didn't think much of it. Till today.

I was building with Robert and the logs just weren't fitting right. Upon closer inspection they are NOT THE SAME SIZE!!!! The notches are not spaced the same, the roof was completely different and COMPLETELY incompatible! And the diameter of the logs isn't even the same.

Now the beauty of classic toys is they ae classic! you can put 10 year old lego's on todays Lego's and you should be able to build with 10 year old Lincoln Logs along with new ones. So I had to sort out the LL's which, sadly, greatly reduced the size of their set.

Just thought i would also share a couple photos of the differences.

Old logs on the left. New logs on the right.

New log on the left and old log on the right. These are the foundation 1/2 logs and you can clearly see they are not the same size!

steam blocking acrylic

1st, here is an excellent blog post about blocking acrylic.

You can block acrylic

And here is my post.

I figured I would do a more detailed post on blocking the acrylic scarves I have been making. I did another Branching Out using Caron Simply Soft in the Autumn Red color. I really like Caron SS for these as it's a lighter weight and so soft and has good drape. Fancier lace yarns and wool are also great for lacy items but you are not limited to them. They can be quite pricey and higher maintenance. And if I am to gift something to someone i want it to be easy for them to care for. I was speaking with my cousin and she agreed that if she were to receive something that took extra care she would be afraid to use it and I don't want PPL to be afraid to wear my stuff! Now I do in tend to do some fancy fiber lace but this works great till then. And let's face it, if you are on a budget acrylics are very appealing!

So here is the scarf on my dining room table straight off the needles. I did tie in my ends but that is it. It's rather scrunched up as these type of things tend to be.
Here's a closer view of the stitch pattern. Hard to see right?

Ahh, and my new toy! It works great! Conair fabric steamer There is not a brush on the head (fine for my uses) and there is not an off switch to keep the steam from flowing freely when not in use but other than that it's great!

I am using a little portable ironing board that I keep stashed next to a shelf. It has a pull out rack on the back which supports the steamer head. I don't iron (avoid it as much as possible) so this is the board I use.

As you work, you will want to stretch the fabric out with your hands. Steam and shape, steam and shape. Do not try to hold it while you are steaming or you may likely get burned!

And here I'm steaming away! Doing small segments at a time so it's easier to handle. don't move on till you are completely satisfied with the shaping of the area you are working on. Notice i'm not using pins? Don't really need them as the stam relaxes the fibers and it's easy to shape them by hand. I'm not actually touching the fiber with the steamer, I'm hovering just above it so as not to squash the yarn.

Here is a good view of a section that has been steamed against the next which has not.


And the finished scarf laying on the same table for sizing refrence. It gew quite a bit!

Closeer view of the stitches.

And as you see the steaming has not affected the drape in any way, infarct I think it made the drape better!

You can do this with a good steam iron as well. just make sure not to touch the iron to the fabric or it will melt it (acrylic is plastic after all).

Happy crafting and don't let your budget get in the way of creating beautiful things!

Cabeling without a cable needle

I thought I would post how I cable w/o a cable needle. 1st, I should remind you I am left handed and knit as such (from left to right) so this may seem backwards if you are a right handed knitter. This method works best when knitting in the round. For this swatch, because I turned the work, I had to slip the cable stitches knit wise to reposition them and then put them back on my right needle. When knitting in the round the stitches are already in the right position for this method so this step is not necessary.

I began to figure out I knit differently while making this post. this was the post that opened my eyes to the fact that I am a combination knitter. This tutorial is done form the stitch orientation of the leading leg being in back so I am knitting through the back loop, but it doesn't twist my stitches.

This is a 6 stitch wide cable and equals a cable stitch wehre it directs you to hold the stitches to the front. For me these cables twist to the right due to the direction I knit.

Here I have my stitches in the right position and am ready to start the cable.


Here I have skipped the 1st 3 stitches, leaving them on the needle and knit into the 4th stitch back.

Leaving the 3 skiped stitches on the needle along with the one I just knit I knit into the next stitch.



Here I have knit my 3rd stitch. You see the 1st 3 skiped stitches on the needle still and the next 3 stitches are actually still on BOTH needles.
Now I pinch the 1st 3skiped stitches and pull out my right needle leaving the 3 stitches i just knit on my left needle.


holding my left needle to the back I put my right needle back into the life stitches I was pinching this is where the cable crosses.

Now I bring my needles back to the normal positions and knit into the stitches that were originally skipped and continue on as normal.

new scarf, new toy

I just got my Conair steamer from Amazon $30 free shipping. I have been working on the Branching Out scarf pattern. If you are left handed you may find it usefull to swap the k2tog for ssk and such to have the proper leaning of the stitches. I am new and it is just easier for me to read the chart as is rather than try to remember which new stitch I should be using instead of what the chart reads. Also I use sssk instead of the sl-k2tog-psso for the mirror to k3tog. sssk is the exact opposite and gives it a smoother look. For those who don't know, as a left handed knitter (knit from the right needle onto the left) our stitches lean the opposite direction as the same stitches done right handed.

I think I"m going to love the steamer! it has alot of power and pumps out really hot steam. it was like magic watching the fabric relax and the design emerge. For acrylics you gotta use steam to reset the fabric so to say. wet blocking doesn't do much for acrylics as it's basically plastic.

Cherry leaf scarf

So I finished my 1st lacy knit project. Cherry Leaf Scarf is a free pattern. I used Carron Simply Soft Eco and I steam blocked it ( as it's an acrylic). This was also the 1st time I grafted 2 pieces together And the 1st time I blocked knitting. I guess you can chalk it up to progress! Anyway, the pattern was fast and easy. I made a few mistakes on the1st half but plugged away and used it for a swatch so I could try some things and iron out some kinks and see how it looked doing it different ways. Then I started on the "real" thing when I felt good enough to do so.



my grafting, pretty good for a 1st try IMO.