Who Says I'm Not Knitting?

In a great spurt of creative energy after I finished France Socks, and after a prod by my knitting and travel buddy, off I went to Ravelry to find out about "The Beekeeper's Quilt." I was fascinated!

Back in my old days of going to The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival I amassed quite a collection of Koigu sock yarn. This was back in the day when Koigu had a booth selling . . . I forget their name for it . .  . end of dyelot, end of run, end of the road, mill ends? Well, you get the idea. They were less than full skeins and were sold at 10 cents per gram. Rule of thumb: 100 grams needed to knit a pair of socks. Can you believe it? A pair of Koigu socks for $10!!! You could spend hours searching through overflowing baskets of multi-sized skeins tagged with color and dyelot numbers and find enough of one color to make a pair of socks, sometimes enough of one color to make a sweater. Of course the shading might be a little off if your color choice consisted of different dyelots. Some of the shading was not discernible and certainly wouldn't matter in a pair of socks. But a sweater? I wouldn't venture that far unless I was going for a Joseph's-Coat-inspired sweater and picked many different colors. Dyelot would not come into play. But I digress.

I would return to my motel room after a long day of fiber overload and band my little skeins into 100 gram bundles visualizing how the socks would be knit, darkest shaded dyelot to start and working down to lightest at toe, or vice-versa. The socks would have to be knit two at a time so that the shadings matched. I'm very anal about matching handknit socks.

So back to The Beekeeper's Quilt: I went to Ravelry for the pattern, researched the history and nuances, (I'm also anal about researching patterns and yarn.) and made the commitment to start knitting "hexapuffs," the little hexacombs the quilt is made up of. In the end I wasn't sure I wanted to dismantle all my Koigu 100 gram bundles, although they had been laying fallow for years in a decorative basket as part of my "comfort of yarn" collection. I found an online vendor who was selling "skeinettes" of Koigu supposedly big enough to knit one hexapuff. I'm not referencing that vendor because my $25 Grab Bag order of what was pictured as being many blue hued skeinettes contained mostly non blue and each was too short on yardage to make a whole hexapuff, even though they were supposed to have been made just for that purpose. Grrrrrr!

a skeinette that ran out before hexacomb was finished
 

Using the closest match to finish didn't appeal to me.

 

 

 

 

    So I started using my comfort of Koigu.

The Beekeeper's Quilt continues on at a snails pace. I complete a puff a night when I'm on course. But here's the thing, during the process I learned a neat cast on and found a great video to help me get the hang of it. (I'm left handed living a right handed life. Some things are awkward for me.)

Once I had that cast on down pat I decided my Beach Socks 2012 (being knitted in 2013, far from the beach and in the winter) would be toe up, two on one long circular. I never like doing two at once on one needle but thought the challenge would be good for me. Go figure.

There is a ridge. It works for hexapuffs but for toe up socks you might prefer Judy's Magic Cast On.

Anyway, who says I'm not knitting?!!!


Bona Fide Knitter

Down But Not Out

Written January 6, 2013:

It's been just a whisiper less than a year since I last posted a blog entry. Life's challenges have been hard and time consuming. Sometimes you just have to drop out.  What I've always liked to do is write and what I've also liked to do for the last decade is knit. I didn't do much of either in 2012, not much knitting and the little writing I did here was to bemoan the fact that I wasn't knitting. I apologize to my Dear Ones on the doll list and to my friends here. I plan to do better in 2013.

I made an attempt and composed the following draft back in July 2012 while on vacation on Cape Cod. I left it unposted because I found I could not add the pictures I referenced. High tech is great except when you don't have access to all the necessary components when you need them. And to add insult to injury, Blogspot changed its format. Another hurdle for me to jump! So here it is at last, four months and an extra five days later, with pictures:

July 2012

Hello! Is there anybody out there? Do you remember me? I've got eight months worth of happenings
and non-happenings to report. I'm going to start here and work my way back. There will even be knitting content. So let's get started.

I'm going back now--way, way back in my life.

A long time ago, when I was a child (I did say it was way, way back, didn't I.), my mother used to regale me with a recitation memorized in French. She studied French in high school and excelled at it. She loved it. Her teacher called her "Marguerite Clement" giving her name, Margaret Clement, the French pronunciation and making my mother feel very special indeed. Anyway, here is the English translation of the beginning of  Mar's recitation, "When you take the train from Paris to Avignon you will arrive at the station at . . . " Little did I know way back then that on May 26, 2012, I would actually take the train from Paris to Avignon. Yes, when you wondered where I was in June, I was in France.

I left here on a Friday evening in May and landed in Paris Charles DeGaulle airport on Saturday morning. From the CDG airport I took the TGV (high speed train) to Avignon. I could hear my mother's perfect French (according to her account of her teacher's high praise) reciting from her long ago assignment.

When I arrived at the station in Avignon, my travel buddy and knitting mentor, Kathryn, who was there three weeks ahead of me, met me on the platform and we were officially on vacaaaaaay together!

Kathryn pointed out Avignon landmarks

 

Avignon's Bridge To Nowhere

 as she drove from the train station to a SuperU, a French supermarket, to pick up something for dinner.  And then on to our rental house in the little town of Sablet in the Provence region, 45 minutes away.

The house was perfect, exactly as pictured. The ground floor bedroom with en suite bathroom was
mine. The second floor master bedroom room was Kathryn's and the other bedroom was Lynda's, our other housemate who was arriving a few days later.

Kathryn and I spent that first evening catching up over our dinner of rotisserie chicken, salad and wine. Aside from our last meet up at Stitches in 2008 in MD, almost all our communication had been via email. We don't see or talk to each other nearly enough. There was a lot of catching up to do. We talked late into the night, until jet lag overcame me. And that was the beginning of my French adventure. I will throw in some of the highlights of my trip in the coming weeks, but that's enough for now.

On the knitting front, in the last eight months I haven't done much--knitting or otherwise. I've thought of doing a lot and even accumulated patterns, but as I am the first to admit, I am full of "getting ready" and not much on "carrying on." "Getting ready or carrying on" are terms used to help determine for tax purposes whether a person is starting a business or actually in business. Although knitting is not a business for me, years of tax accounting make me think in those terms. Lately I have not been "carrying on" much. I finally finished Beach Socks 2011 on May 12, 2012, just in time to start France Socks.

 

Beach Socks 2011

 France Socks (sock #1 is still on the needles) and it's time to start Beach Socks 2012!



 (Update: The France Socks were completed November 10, 2012 and are pictured below. On November 13, 2012, Beach Socks 2012 were started here at home in my living room. More about them next time.)

 

France Socks

(Can you discern the Eye of the Partridge Heel?)

My knitting nemesis, Volt, the shawl I love to hate, still lies mouldering in its project bag. I can't seem to bring myself to continue the three needle bind off that caused me so much disappointment during the winter. Should I continue the less-than-perfect looking last side of the bind off or should I frog that part and try again? The indecision has paralysed me. 

As evidence of my scattered state of mind these days, remember I bought green Birkenstocks to wear with the shawl when it is completed? Well, I forgot all about the shawl and the sandals and bought another pair of green sandals in France. Actually they are are a better color and I'm trying not to wear them to death before the shawl is finished.

Okay, so much for what I wrote months ago. I wanted to get something posted before I had to say "I haven't posted in over a year!" This is it. More to follow sooner rather than later. I promise.

Happy New Year 2013!

Bona Fide Knitter

Need My Knitting Mojo Back

For months I've been putting knitting catalogs in the recycling container without even opening them. Last week I opened one. I started thinking maybe a new project would bring my mojo back. I almost convinced myself buying something new rather than starting one of the new-still-in-their-packaging projects I have would really get me back to knitting. The culprit catalog is KnitPicks newest, Winter 2012. There's a garter stitch afghan, Viola Afghan Kit, that keeps calling my name.

My knitting guru (You remember who you are, right?) was on a garter stitch afghan knitting spree at one time. In fact she continues to do them in one form or another: log cabin, mitered entrelac, etc. I'm lumping them all together as garter stitch because they're all knit, knit, knit the whole afghan. I was tempted to jump on board then, but I know me, I would never finish it. My guru knitted them all of a piece and ones in squares that needed to be fashioned together. But I know me. Even if I finished all the squares, would I ever sew/knit/crochet them together? I hate projects that need further real work after the knitting is done. That's why I love knitting socks. When they're done, they're done. One day I'll take some pictures of a crocheted granny square coverlet I started when we were negotiating to buy this house . . . 43 years ago. Most of the squares are done, some are even sewn together. However, it's not finished . . . yet.

I have an afghan pattern given to me by my prolific guru a few years ago, Fiber Trends' Home Is Where the Heart Is. I bought the bulky red yarn to make it. In fact I made one false start at it which I prefer to call a gauge swatch. It could be a perfect entree back into knitting since we are coming up on Valentine's Day. (Afghan pattern has hearts, yarn is red, get it?) And it's knit in one piece. But something new into the house might be the answer . . . or not. Oh, I'm such a mess!

But the KnitPicks Viola afghan is 206 squares that have to be put together! And it even needs a backing!! Maybe I'll just finish *Beach Socks 2011.

Bona Fide Knitter

*Beach Socks, for those of you who wonder, are socks I knit while lounging on the beach. They usually have some cotton content and after a ribbed cuff they are plain stockinette stitch, simple enough to knit in my sleep. Beach Socks are usually summer socks, but not for wearing on the beach.

Happy New Year 2012

I'm making 2012 my comeback year. The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and just life in general took me out of commission in 2011. I've not been knitting. My sock machines, looms and dolls remain neglected. But 2012 is going to be MY YEAR!

This was started as a knitting blog not a nit-picking blog so I will not bore you with the details of my trials and tribulations. However, I will give you a rundown on the months since my last blog entry. Could it really have been as long ago as last April?!!! I was in the throes of a cupcake baking frenzy. I eventually gained all the pounds that were sure to follow from being my own cupcake tester/taster/sampler.

After cupcakes, I abstained from fattening hobbies, but I did not go back to knitting. I found that my knitting was suffering from my inner turmoil. The knit project that I still love still lies mouldering in its project bag. That would be Volt. Remember it? Since there are no resolutions for 2012, (I stopped making resolutions years ago.) I can only promise I will finish it. I'm at i-cording the edges for goodness sake!

Someone turned me onto the Dukan Diet and as much as I am against any diet that excludes food groups, (I'm a Weight Watchers woman.) my cupcake-induced bloated belly made me willing to try anything. It works!!! I lost the bloat. My stomach deflated in a week and I lost almost 20 pounds in a few weeks more.

Over the summer and autumn I spent many weeks on Cape Cod. In fact I was there for the hurricane that never quite made it there even though we evacuated from the forest to what turned out to be what I believe was a hot bed motel. We had a few drops of rain, lots of wind and some power outages.

In October, while I was on the Cape for autumn, my contractor was here in my house knocking out walls and turning my kitchen, dining room, living room into a great room. Since my house is small I call it my "mini great room." That's a perfectly accurate oxymoron for the space.

I spent the rest of the year trying to make order out of the chaos my contractor left after working around and through all my homeless cake pans, ice cream making equipment, dishes, glasses, napery, cookbooks, collectibles, memories, mementos, hobby supplies and equipment and other accumulations. Whew! He performed a miracle and it has been up to me to clean, organize and stage it.

Collectibles and Cookbooks

Mementos and Memories

My knitting account above was not quite accurate. I did knit. I started Beach Socks 2011. I didn't get far, but what is summer without a pair of socks knitted on the beach while listening to an Audible book. Okay, so I didn't ever sit or knit on the beach. I did walk on it a couple of times. I started the socks on the porch though and they won't be the first year's beach socks to get finished back home during the winter.

More knitting content to become the norm this year. I promise.

Bona Fide Knitter

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.