Stupid Human Trick

Have you ever hypnotized a rabbit? My brother and sister and I used to raise 4-H rabbits and I don't know how we ever figured this out. It must involve nerve endings or something, but if you hold a rabbit with his feet against your chest and pet him at the base of his ears on the top of his head, he will lean back and just stiffen in your arms. You can then lay him onto his back on the ground and tuck his ears underneath his head and he will lie there like that until you nudge him over! It is the funniest thing! OR you can gently squeeze his mouth where his jaw joins and he will do that Cadbury Bunny chewing thing and you have a ventriloquist dummy! That was always fun too! We could always amuse ourselves as kids and loved playing with the rabbits in the house. Our poor mother, however, was allergic to rabbits and always knew if there was one in the house by the way her eyes would begin to itch and her uncontrollable sneezing. It wouldn't be long before Mother would appear in the doorway, rubbing her weeping eyes and shrieking, "Get that RABBIT out of here!" For the longest time we thought she was omnipotent, or at the very least psychic! This is my friend Summer's bunny and if memory serves me, it is a Dutch breed. My amateur eyes seem to think it has very good markings since Dutch rabbits can be a fussy breed to raise for shows. It is a very good tempered rabbit though and it was fun to be around one again.

Knitting Pilgrimage

My first stop was at Kristen's Knits in Rochester. I picked up 5 balls of worsted weight superwash wool for a pair of holiday legwarmers I'm dying to make. Yes, I said legwarmers. I also purchased two balls of olive drab/tan worsted superwash wool for helmet liners to send to our troops overseas via Operation Helmetliner. The final two balls of yarn are superwash self striping/patterning sock yarns. I started knitting a pair from one of the balls when I ran out of yarn at Melissa's knitting night the other day. I am really liking the way it's knitting up!
These three fabulous skeins came from Austin's Angora Goats and Mohair Farm. This is just the neatest little shop! They have locally produced handspun yarns, roving for spinning, mohair locks for crafting, goat hides, mohair socks and blankets and sweaters, fur lined slippers, Christmas ornaments, goat cheeses, goat milk soaps, goat sausages, etc. There is literally something for everyone in there. Some of the items are a bit spendy, but they are well worth it. You can also pet and feed some of the goats in the visitor pens. Whenever I visit my brother, we plan a trip to the goat farm. There are also plenty of Amish shopping opportunities and activities in the area.
We stopped at a Scandinavian gift shop along the way and I purchased these two books I have been coveting for some time. The Viking pattern book is almost a Nordic take on Aran patterns. There are charts and explanations of the different "cable" designs and what they represent. The Scandinavian knitting book is more of a chart sourcebook for colorwork. Also pictured are 4 bars of hand milled scented soaps that I bought from an Amish woman. I am a sucker for bars of soap and always try to pick up exotic ones in my travels. Soap Day is always a big day at my house when I pick out what new bar of soap will grace my shower. These were lavender and rosemary scented and made all my yarn smell lovely!
And last but not least, I successfully navigated myself to Charles City on my way home and stopped at The Knitting Korner on Highway 18. I hadn't been there in years and wasn't really expecting to find much of anything I needed other than maybe some Lopi. I found 10 balls of this Cascade Merino/Alpaca blend for a cabled sweater I've been eyeing for my older niece. This will be the most ambitious project I've yet undertaken, but the sweater size is still small enough where it isn't daunting. They also had light up knitting needles!!! I have seen these in my magazines but never thought I'd come across them here in the local area! Did I need them? No. Could I live without them? No. You can even knit with them in the dark although I've not yet tried to. And best of all, the very nice lady who ran the store rang up my items and the total came to over $70. I handed her my credit card and she told me that she didn't accept credit or debit cards. I told her I did not have my checkbook with me. This woman actually handed me the bag of merchandise and told me to "send her a check when I got home"!!!! Good faith is alive and well in northern Iowa! I sent the check off yesterday with a thank you card and a promise to bring my knitting friends along for a yarn field trip sometime soon! Plus, I know there is an ostrich farm nearby! Do I hear mutant Ukrainian eggs anyone?

Who You Gonna Call?!?

My niece and I made these "suckers" from white chocolate baking chips. The sucker sticks can be purchased at any craft aisle or store. We traced the outline of a large ghost cookie cutter onto heavy paper, laid a piece of wax paper over it and spread melted white chips into the shape of the ghost. Press in and cover your stick with more chocolate, add some mini chocolate chip eyes and a mouth, allow to harden, peel off the waxed paper, and Viola! The best part? You get to EAT any mistakes you make! Num num!

Lace Baby Cap

Soft little baby heads need something to cover them and keep out the cold! This cap was knit from yarn I spun and plied from the remainder of a Tussah silk roving I used for Mom's Elizabethan hose. I suppose it is a fingering weight yarn and I have plenty left to knit a pair of thumbless baby "mittens" to match. This pattern comes from the book "Homespun Handknit". The hat has a star knit into the lace which is begun at the top and center of the hat with the lace increases branching outwards. The sides are then knit in a straight lace and ended with a few rows of ribbing. And you can never see too much baby neck, now can you?

Field Trip!

This last weekend was my turn to stay with my brother and his family to help with the new baby. I started out north and west to do some shopping with my sister which included stops at two yarn shops and the international grocery store. We also stopped at the athletic center to visit my brother in law on the job as it was his birthday the following day. My route then turned eastward and it is such a pretty drive to get to my brother's neck of the woods! The fall colors were just starting to turn and it was lovely and cool weather. My niece and I took a little day trip to Austin's Angora Goats and Mohair Farm where I bought some fabulous yarn (more on that later) and just down the lane is an Amish farm where baskets, quilts, preserves, honey, soaps, cereals, etc. are sold via the honor system from a shed alongside the road. We also saw several Amish buggies just parked along the road with women selling items as well as roadside honor system stands selling gourds and squash. My niece and I did some baking together and of course the baby is the best entertainment of all! And did I mention that I drove up there all by myself with the aid of my trusty map AND didn't get lost NOR did I kill anyone? Way to go Katie! I even found my way home via an alternate route so I could stop at another yarn shop!

Stromboli

My good friend and coworker hosted a campfire/get-together/slumber party for our crew. It was kind of an informal potluck and we were planning on camping in tents in the backyard since this was likely to be our last warm weather for the year. We WERE able to enjoy the campfire...until the sky tore open like a gaping wound and pelted us with a thunderstorm and we moved the party indoors. My friend brought a crockpot full of potato soup along and I baked stromboli to go with it. I found this recipe years ago in a magazine and it was called, "Stromboli For A Crowd," which is false because I believe it could, in fact, feed a small army. The recipe called for frozen bread dough but I just make the dough from scratch. You need two loaves worth of dough (whichever you plan to use), roll out each loaf into an 18 x 12 inch rectangle, sprinkle with garlic powder and then top with sliced ham, mozzarella cheese and parsley. You don't want to pack it too full, but you want enough to munch on though too (this technique is known as the 'dump method'). You can use pastrami, pepperoni, prosciutto, etc. but I always just use sliced ham. You roll up the dough, crimp the edges, brush with an egg wash (I always beat together an egg and a tablespoon of water), make a few slashes for the steam to escape, and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or so. It's a good food to pack for a "little lunch" as we say in the midwest. Bring your thermos with coffee or some koolaid and you're set!

Isn't she beautiful?

My sewing machine isn't exactly new, but she still feels new to me because I'm still getting to know her. I sewed three new scrubs on Friday and am finally getting the hang of her. It took me a while to get used to having to change the stitch width every time I switched from a decorative or interlocking stitch back to the zig zag or straight stitch, but I think I'm catching on. And I think I will just name her Martha and be done with it because she IS a lovely shade of Martha Blue after all. I thought I had some more time to sew that baby blanket, but after this morning's arrival I got busy working on it. I am VERY pleased with the way it turned out and am really enjoying this sewing machine. I'm trying to decide if I want to put stickers all over her or leave her as she is. Hmmmmm. And boy do I have a lot of crap on my table?!

Look What Arrived Today!

Today was certainly a Red Letter Day! My new niece arrived early this morning and Mom and Dad and I drove over together to meet her. My sister and her husband met us there along with the baby's other siblings and we had a nice afternoon together. She is such a content little baby and she cooed like a dove all afternoon. We took so many pictures of her and with her and I felt bad every time the flash went off because she would furrow her brow! She is just so cute and so TINY! It's hard to believe we were all that small! I gave her my booties and now I need to knit on her little sweater so she can wear it for the cold weather that is just starting. Mom is done sewing the baptismal gown but I need to remind her that she needs to start sewing a Christmas stocking for her!

Baptismal Booties

My mother has made a BEE-yewtiful baptism dress for my niece on the way. Mom is a very talented and patient hardanger embroiderer and has made scores of beautiful things. She found a baptismal dress pattern and altered/charted some hardanger panels to sew into the skirt border, bodice, and bonnet and they are absolutely glorious! I will be sure and post pictures of it the next time I am home. I knit these little booties out of homespun silk left over from Mom's Elizabethan stockings. The cuffs are simple stockinette stitch and so they naturally roll, but I thought some trim sewed onto them would be pretty. I just hope they aren't too off-white in color so as not to go with the dress.

Knitting Night (official)

Tonight was the official Knitting Party Night and Melissa and Summer came for the festivities, as well as our friend Randi. And Zak showed up too, you know, to supervise. Well you can't have people over and not feed them and I haven't baked bread in a long time, so I baked two loaves of cheese bread. That is a yeasted dough with shredded cheddar cheese kneaded into it, allowed to rise and then baked. I especially like it toasted. I also baked a batch of kringlas and made little fall leaf souvenirs out of them. I only have a few slices of the bread left here because I gave it all away (I can't eat a lot of bread due to my baroque figure). The weather is FINALLY starting to feel like fall and I have every window in the house open. There is a lovely cool/cold breeze wafting through and it is especially pleasant to stand in the kitchen next to a warm oven!

Melissa is making so much progress in her knitting! She had some 30 stitches on her needles tonight instead of a beginner's 16 and she must have knit a good three inches on her new dishcloth! She is getting faster! She is also learning to recognize the twist of the stitches and how they should "look" and knowing when she has dropped a stitch, etc. We have a slumber party this weekend with all of the gals from work and I can't wait to see her progress then! We will be having a Knitter's Corner at the get together for anyone who wants to learn!

Look What Melissa Made!!!!

Melissa called me at 2300 two nights ago after being flexed home on call. We went to get some lunch together (it was coming up on lunchtime for us nocturnal shift workers) and stopped at the store to pick out some yarn and knitting needles. We sat on the couch together, practiced and practiced casting on and knitting in garter stitch, and she labored to produce this "coaster". That little square took almost 6 hours to knit, but I still say that is VERY good considering how awkward it is to first learn how to hold the needles and figure out where to hold your fingers so your stitches don't slide off the ends, and how to wrap the yarn and maneuver the needles through the loops, not to mention the propensity to knit very tightly when you first start. She gave me that coaster and some day, when she is bashing out socks and mittens and sweaters and what not, I will give that coaster back to her! Another knitter is born!

SweetPea!

It dawned on me that I have not yet made a baby blankie for my niece-in-the-making so I stopped off at the fabric store on Sunday to find something appropriate. I wouldn't have thought of green as a girly baby color, but I absolutely fell in love with this flannel print! I was also able to find some buttery yellow blanket binding and matching thread to finish it off. That perle cotton and the white beads are for a pair of lily of the valley lace wrist warmers/bracelets that I would like to knit. That pattern was in the summer issue of www.knitty.com I think I should make myself an adult sized baby blanket with satiny binding! I just love the way that feels against your cheek!

Pins and Needles

These are my lovely antique rolling pins. I thought I'd post a picture of them now that I have what could be considered a "collection". The top pin belonged to my grandpa's mother and was hand carved out of a branch from a tree on the family farm. When I started making lefse 2 or 3 years ago, Grandpa dug that pin out and gave it to me and I almost started crying because out of all the grandkids, he chose me to have that pin. The other two pins were recently purchased by my dad for $1 each at our community second hand store. The middle one is a hobnail pin and it and the handles are one solid piece of wood. The lower pin is used for rolling oats I believe. It is missing a handle on one side but has a large nail in it's place. The nail is etched and quite pretty really. All three are sitting on my fabulous babushka fabric! I love nesting dolls and I don't know what I will do with this fabric but I bought a LOT of it! I was thinking that I could keep the middle one under my bed for protection! Who needs a baseball bat when you have something like THAT in your house! ;)

Accessories!

I wanted to post pictures of all my wedding finery! That burgundy fabric is actually my bridesmaid's dress and it is GORGEOUS. The shoes had copper and burnt orange in the beadwork and wide heels for those of us foreign to high heels (think training wheels). She bought us butterfly hair clips and burnt orange butterfly necklaces as well as tiered gold earrings. We were a fashionable group!

Check out my BOOTIE!

Mmmmmm. Yarn. I knit that brown pair with Berocco Suede and they are meant to look like Ugg boots. I didn't have fluffy enough white yarn for the trim so I just left it off, but I was still excited to be using real, live Berocco yarn! I have quite a few little balls of yarn left over from various socks I have knitted in the past and am using it up slowly on small baby items. The red pair of booties have green and blue layers in them. It is Regia brand sock yarn and they were knit with size 2 needles from a pattern in the book "Socks! Socks! Socks!" I sat up knitting these and watching the new production of "Nicholas Nickleby" and was absolutely delighted by it! SUCH a good movie and top notch cast! I almost called my mother in the middle of the night to gush about the movie. I bought it previously viewed at the grocery store and I am SO glad that I did! Ah Dickens.

Home Sweet Home

I can't nor do I try to claim that I am an Iowa farm girl, but I was on my way home yesterday for my 10 year class reunion and I was just struck by how happy I was to be home in my neck of the woods. There is something about being on that same road I take to get home that just made me nostalgic and I had to stop and take pictures to share with you. I was raised in a farmng community, but I was never reared on a farm. I DID detassel one summer and I DID milk cows in Norway for an afternoon, but that is the closest I have come to "working the land". We have a lot of "windfarms" in our area and I tried to capture a glimpse of them. Labor Day is the summer town "doings" of my hometown and I wanted to get a shot of Main Street with all the flags out, but it POURED down with rain all afternoon. I did run up to the grocery store and before it started raining, I noticed the food stand was already set up, the fire trucks were being polished up, port-a-potties were set up in the park, and many lawns had parade floats parked out front. God bless small towns and all who hail from them! :)

Wrist Warmers

This is my fabulous hand model Summer showing off her new Tibetan Recycled Silk wrist warmers! This yarn is made by picking the thread fluffs off the sari looms in Tibet and India and then respinning it into yarn! The color changes are amazing and they are a lovely thick/thin knitting experience! I bought enough for another pair for myself! I had seen this yarn and the accompanying pattern in www.patternworks.com but I was so thrilled to find BOTH in my local yarnshop! Kembles flowers here in town also stocks yarn in their yarn shop portion of the business, "The Yarn Garden". Way to go local area!

Birthday Baking

My dad just celebrated a birthday on the 23rd of August and I went home to do some baking for him. One of the treats included croissants. You beat 3 sticks of cold butter into a 6 x 6 inch square. Beating them with a rolling pin softens the butter without warming it so you can shape it into a 'package' and then fold it into chilled, yeasted dough. Puff pastry is made similarly, but puff pastry dough is not yeasted, rather a simple pastry dough. You then shape your yeasted dough into a 9 x 9 disk, mark the edges of the butter package, and roll out those selvages into a clover shape. The butter package is then folded into the dough and rolled into a 10 x 20 rectangle, folded into thirds and chilled. This process is repeated 3 times. Then the dough is cut in half and each half rolled out to 10 x 20 and cut into 20 triangles. Each triangle is rolled up from the wide end, allowed to rest and rise, then baked to create buttery, flaky croissants! You can use a wooden spoon to beat interlopers in the kitchen attempting to sample the dough before baking.

My dad also got ahold of some glorious home grown tomatoes and I baked him a tomato tart, why? Because I was feeling tartly. It was nothing more than a simple pastry dough (the same I use for pies) in a tart pan, docked and spread with olive oil and garlic paste, topped with sliced tomatoes and dusted with Cavenders spice mix, then covered in a layer of mozzarella cheese. Dad also bought me those fabulous cloth napkins at a flea market! Those have inspired me to drag out the hand crank pasta machine to make a home-made pasta meal! I have a squash infused pasta recipe I'm dying to try! I'll have to wait til they're in season and have a full blown dinner party! More on that later!

I used the remainder of the pastry dough and some glorious baking apples to make a rustic apple tart! I rolled out a round of dough, layered it with apple slices, dotted it with butter and sprinkled it with cinnamon and sugar, folded up the edges and baked it. Next time I will combine the cinnamon and suger before sprinkling it. It tasted just fine but looked as if it had cinnamon boogers on it. The tart itself took only 4 apples, but Dad sent 6 home with me. I might have to surprise my coworkers with a tart of their very own! Happy Birthday Dad! We grazed on these treats while enjoying his copy of "Little Britain" and "Father Ted".