I Knitted . . . and made red velvet cupcakes

I made the Red Velvet Cupcake recipe from Ina Garten's How Easy Is That. The cupcakes are good. I'm not jumping up and down about them. They are a little dry.

I don't know if I left them in the oven too long (don't think so) or they dried out while cooling (maybe). They don't have as much flavor as I would like, not chocolatey enough. That could be because instead of the name-dropped Pernigotti unsweetened cocoa powder, I used my home state's Hershey's. Or maybe red velvet is supposed to have a subtle chocolate taste. I never had it before.

The cream cheese and butter frosting is yummy, but the recipe made enough to frost quite a few more cupcakes than the 15 the recipe called for. So there I was with with 12 leftover cupcakes to store. I didn't think they were worthy of gifting.

How to store them in the freezer to keep them fresh as I keep consumption down to no more than one a day? I dug out my old Tupperware large cake keeper/transporter. It's a plastic tray (harvest gold colorway from the 70's) with an opaque white, deep, snap-on airtight lid. I placed cupcakes on the tray, but not enough fit. Stacking was messy and unstable. Hmmmmm. I turned the lid over and placed the cupcakes in layers inside. The side of the deep lid kept the layers stable and less messy. The tray became the lid. I snapped it on and had airtight cupcake storage for the freezer. Am I resourceful or what?!!!

However, the big, round container takes up too much space in the freezer so off I went to Amazon to find something more suitable. A rectangular, three-tier cupcake keeper (in an up-to-date greenish color called lemongrass) is on its way to me along with a vegan cupcake cookbook.

***KNITTING CONTENT ALERT***

I knitted quite a few rows on a purple stocking (Ladies' Useful Stockings) I'm making from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. Yaaaay! I got my knitting mojo back . . . somewhat.

Bona Fide Knitter

Not Knitting

I have not knit a stitch in weeks. Volt lays mouldering in my knitting basket, i-cord edging almost half finished. Deadlines of 2/15, 3/15 and now 4/15 are dead. I'll finish when I finish. Spouse's health status has taken such a turn even knitting doesn't work as my go-to therapy. In fact the i-cord was starting to show my stress. I'm not liking the i-cord along the side. It's not nearly as neat and nice as the top edge. There is a loopy stitch along the right side of the edge.

I'm not even sure my stress is the culprit. It might be just a rogue occurrence. The wrong side of the edge looks fine.

What's up with that? I'm thinking of crocheting a chain stitch into that loopy i-cord stitch, or maybe ripping the whole side out and redoing the i-cord from the wrong side of the shawl so that the good edge winds up on the right side. Are you totally confused by it all and wish I'd move on? Okay!

When the going gets too tough, the too tough gets baking. I've made Ina Garten's apple cranberry cake from How Easy Is That. It was the next choice of the cook-along I'm stalking. I've made the cake twice now. That is just a small indication of how good I think it is. The recipe calls for cranberries and a Granny Smith apple. The tartness of those two comes through and the slight sweetness of the brown sugar that has been tossed with the fruit and the white sugar in the cake are perfect foils for a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on a warm piece of the cake.

Hmmm, hmmm, good!

Ready for the oven . . .

Hot from the oven . . .

First piece cut . . .

Ready for the first taste . . .

I'm going off on my own for the next recipe. I'm doing Red Velvet Cupcakes today. I feel a cupcake phobia coming on. I've been watching too much Food Network's Cupcake Wars. I have two new cookbooks devoted to cupcakes only. Look out world!

Bona Fide Knitter

How Easy Was That!

One of the bloggers I follow is in a cooking club with family and friends. The club is making recipes from Ina Garten's latest cookbook, barefoot contessa, how easy is that? They plan to cook their way through the whole book. I didn't join the club, but I'm sort of a closet member. I have the cookbook and the cute Dutch oven required for their first recipe choice,



so I thought I'd tag along in secret and make the recipes that appeal to me.

The first club selection was easy parmesan "risotto." I'd never made risotto and always wanted to after seeing many a fledgling chef being read the riot act for getting it wrong on Hell's Kitchen. I finally got around to making it today.

The recipe is really easy, made in a Dutch oven placed in the stove's oven at 350 degrees. No standing over the pot and stirring as in other recipes. I made only half the recipe (2 to 3 servings instead of 4 to 6) and in the future will remember to reduce the time in the oven as well to avoid having to add a couple of additional splashes of broth to get the creaminess desired.

I used a reduced salt, boxed chicken broth instead of homemade stock. Even so, thanks to a note made by my blogger, I used only a pinch of salt instead of what half the recipe would have required.

The parmesan risotto was creamy and delicious!

What's next?

Bona Fide Knitter

P.S. - Knitting content will return any day now.

No Agitation!

What was I thinking when I let them take my washer away and replace it with a new model?!!! Well, I was thinking that the dryer had died and, like the dryer, the washer was over 20 years old so both should be replaced.



I was not thinking of felting knits. So I guess my felting days are over, not that I've felted anything since the felting fever of 2003 - 2004. Back then I knitted and felted three handbags, knitted one handbag (the Oregon Tote) which still needs a few finishing rounds and i-cord drawstring and handles before felting, and an entrelac tote/bowl that still needs some ends woven in before felting. Oh well, seems like I'd already stopped felting.

How was I supposed to know that new top loading washing machines have no agitator when my last laundry room purchase was when appliances came in Almond (called Biscuit or Bisque now)? The purchase before then was in Harvest Gold. Remember that color? The new color is white (we've come full circle) with a touch of stainless steel. And inside there is just a big open drum.



All I thought in the store was 'hmmm, more room for clothes.' Then there's the water saving feature. The darn thing uses hardly any water! I was always into using less soap and deep second rinses with Downy. Getting all the soap out made everything last and look good forever. The jury is still out on the new washer in that respect.

But back to felting. I think my obsession with it might as well be over. Although I have a Bev Galeskas book, varied and sundry Fiber Trends and Two Old Bags patterns, I no longer have a top loader with an agitator. How agitating! I do have a cheapo little bucket washer bought for my summer place. I wonder would that felt. No? Well, I guess my felting days are truly over, not just on hiatus.

So you wonder why no mention of Volt? Rest assured it is still being worked on weekly. The i-cording never ends. Whew! . . . any . . . day . . . now . . .

Bona Fide Knitter

The Agony of Defeat!

What was I thinking?!!! No way could I complete all that i-cord even if I had a three-day headstart. I needed a week at least. Especially if I planned to eat or sleep during that time and allowing for the everyday interruptions.


So I didn't win the bragging rights. I did get 3/4 of the bind off row completed. Actually I had changed my goal to just finishing the bind off row as my Knitting Super Bowl accomplishment. I couldn't even do that. Around nine o'clock I found myself "sleep knitting." Did you ever do that? I'd start the series of eleven stitches to bind off one stitch and somewhere in the middle I'd wake up and wonder at what point I fell asleep. I finally threw in the towel (sorry, couldn't think of a football metaphor) and went to bed before 9:30 p.m.


Yes, the series of stitches to bind off one stitch totaled eleven--eleven moves made to bind off one stitch! Here's how: (Four stitches were cast on for the i-cord bind off.) k 3, sl 1, yo, k1, pass sl st and yo over the k1, sl 4 sts back to left needle. Do the math: 3 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 4 = 11!



Had I known that before I started I would have known it was not a quick finish to be done on Super Bowl day. I have 395 stitches to bind off on each end and over 200 rows on each side. The ends alone require 395 x 2 = 790 stitches to bind off x 11! It was too much for me to accomplish in a day even with a headstart and without a predawn drive to pick up husband from the ER, physical therapist and cable guy interruptions, stress and sleep deprivation.
Considering, I think I did okay. Better would have been to at least finish the bind off on one end, thus my slight twinge of the agony of defeat.

As for the Super Bowl, who won? I only watched the Black Eyed Peas portion.

Bona Fide Knitter

Knitting Super Bowl

Well, today's the day! But you know what they say about the best laid plans. I finished the last row of Volt last night as planned and read the instructions for the i-cord cast off and realized I was completely blank on the process. Off to You Tube for a few quick lessons. In the midst of it all I had to drop my spouse off at the neighborhood hospital ER. If I seem flip about it, it's because it's a common occurrence, a place he goes at the drop of a hat. But that's a story for another blog. I drop him off at the ambulance entrance and head back home.

I got all the i-cord information I needed from You Tube upon my return. Special thanks to Kelley Petkun of Knit Picks. But by then it was too late to get my headstart on the knitting. I knew starting knitting then would result in tinking in the morning. The LWDs and I went to bed.

Now remember, I was to start my personal Knitting Super Bowl at dawn. Well, at dawn I was on my way back to pick the husband up from the ER. No, they didn't keep him a few days this time like they did weekend before last. Ooops, again TMI for this blog. I need to save it for my book. Yes, I could write a book about it . . . but I digress.

So now I'm back. I have been refreshed in the i-cord cast off and edging procedures. I am good to go! But now I'm hungry. Time for breakfast and I think I want mini waffles. A little labor intensive and although I heard the Super Bowl will not start until 6:30 p.m., there is a lot, I mean a LOT, of i-cord to get done and I need as big a headstart as possible. I might rethink the mini waffles when I get to the kitchen. More later . . .


It is now later, noon to be exact and I have only three stitches bound off. Count 'em one, two, three. I'm in big trouble. I've lost the game before it starts. However, I will press on! Why have I gotten so little done? You think it's because of the mini waffles?

first pan of mini waffles w/bacon on the griddle in background

a baker's dozen ready for butter (actually "I Can't Believe It's Not . . ." spray) and syrup

They were cooked and eaten in a flash.

What stopped my progress was the physical therapist who came to see the husband today making up for snow days (more for my book) and the cable guy who came and only succeeded in letting me know it would take more skill and equipment than he had to get my two new cable outlets installed and Anywhere DVR boxes set up throughout. He set me up for the "wall wire feeder guys," for whom I'll be charged by the hour, to come tomorrow morning between seven and nine. Urrrrrrrgh!!!

In the interim I found a group of even more helpful videos (my thanks to You Tube and pasticheknitwear) and put a roast in the oven for dinner. Now to get back to my nonexistent headstart.

More much later . . .

Knitting Super Bowl Prep

I'm having my own personal Knitting Super Bowl tomorrow. It's nothing like the Yarn Harlot's famous Knitting Olympics. For one thing, nobody knows about it. Secondly, I just made it up today. And third, it only lasts a day. Here's how it's going to work:

Today I will finish knitting the Volt shawl from The Fine Line.

Tomorrow, day of my personal Knitting Super Bowl, I will (1) cast on and complete the i-cord edging for it, (2) knit, knit, knit from dawn until Volt comes off the needles completed, or when the game's final whistle (horn?) blows, whichever happens first. Do they blow a whistle when the Super Bowl ends or is it a horn? And does anybody know about what time that might be in Eastern Standard Time? As you can tell, my interest in the game is somewhere between NONE and NOT ANY. Perhaps if my home team had made it that far . . . but I digress.

So, it might be prudent for me to get a head start. There is a lot of territory to which to apply i-cord. Volt has 395 stitches for cast-off x 2 to include the provisional cast-on, and 216 rows x 2 for left and right sides. Hmmm, I'd better start today. I have just one last purl row to do before starting the i-cord bind-off/edging. Yep, I'll cheat and start now. After all I will have to stop tomorrow for meals and potty breaks. TMI?

If you have some project that needs just a few more hours to complete and aren't having a big football-watching party or just want something to do while you watch the game, join me tomorrow. Oh, and you can make up your rules as you go just as I'm doing. I'm making it an all-day-into-the-night affair. You might want to start at kick off time and stop when the game ends. It all depends on how much you have left to do on the project you chose. The prize is that when you finish your creation you can say, "I made this during the 2011 Super Bowl Game" no matter when you started it or finish it. It's your own personal Knitting Super Bowl! Rules? Shmules!!!


Bona Fide Knitter