Sweat Shop!

Well maybe not really. I did finish off three fallish/earth tone scrubs tonight though. I have had these cut out and draped over my couch for WEEKS now and I was frankly sick of looking at them. The green ones were finished 2 or so weeks ago but I just hadn't bothered to take a picture of them. My sewing machine had been naughty back in the spring so I never finished the shamrock one in time for St. Patrick's Day and the rest of these are random seasonal ones. The green floral one on the bottom of the pile is for my friend Brenda, but the rest are for me. I also have SEVEN more on deck/in the works including a couple for my friend Melissa. I made pretty good time on them tonight though. I do so enjoy wearing seasonal scrubs to work though because somehow they put me in a good mood :) Two of the scrubs that are in my fabric lineup are Halloween and/or Fall themed, so they will have number one priority on my next night off!

i like socks

One last pair of socks to send off. This is a lovely 100% wool yarn I found at Jo-Ann's. It has a lovely homespun look to it and would also make cozy mittens. Since it is quite lofty, I think they would wear out quick-ish though, so they would be best for bed socks. I needed a fourth ball to finish off this pair, and while I was in Jo-Ann's yesterday, I found ANOTHER wool line and bought 9 (!!!) balls in 3 different colorways! They will knit up quickly which is good because next month is Socktober after all! Last year I think I only finished one pair during the month so hopefully I'll be more productive! I had to stand on my head to take a picture of my feet, and since they were knit for feet bigger than mine, my feet look like Sasquatch!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrr!

We've had a bit of fall weather here! Yippeeeeee! :) The last two nights have seen actual FROST! I am overjoyed of course because this is the time of year that I get to start wearing all the cold weather accessories I knit! I finished a Calorimetry headband a few months back but only last night finally wove the ends in and sewed on a button. This was knit from some of my own hand spun soy silk yarn that I bought as a roving off of eBay. I have a lot left over and eventually would like to knit a pair of gloves out of it. That will be a challenge as I've never yet knit GLOVES. This headband/scarf is ideal for me because I walk to work and wear my hair in a similar rat nest arrangement, so I hate to wear a hat for my commute. I usually wear a scarf as well, but it doesn't quite cover my ears. I am terrible during the summer because I DRIVE (with our heat I am disgusting and sweaty by the time I arrive) whereas in the winter I LOVE the walk. An added plus in winter? By the time everyone has their cars warmed UP, I am usually IN BED! :)

This week I also finished a second pair of socks for my friend in Iraq. These are no frills hunting socks knit from a worsted weight machine-washable 100% wool (Cascade 220). I must say they are quite cozy. I have mixed feelings about the Cascade 220 though. It IS an affordable 100% wool yarn, lots of colors available, machine washable, all those good things, etc. I don't know how it will pill down the line, but I just think it could be a bit softer. However, I DO know these will be worn with hunting boots so maybe the toughness will be a plus in the long run. In any case, it was nice to knit up a pair of these again.

Happy Labor Day!

My hometown held it's 60th annual town doings for Labor Day this year. I went home and spent a nice weekend with just my parents and my sister. This is the first time in several years that I've not had to work ON the day or that night, so it was nice to be at home. All the flags were out on main street and it is such a hometown celebration. It is always neat to drive uptown because there is so much activity and EVERYONE is home! :)

I also made a lot of progress on my sweater. I have almost finished the right front panel. In this picture I have just put in the pocket lining and have the pocket stitches on a holder for later. Of course I FORGOT the back panel at my parents' house, but I'm in no danger of finishing the rest of it anytime soon! I am so pleased with the way it is knitting up! This will give me courage to start my Shetland sweater, dreaded steeks and all, when this one is finished! I'm getting excited because I want to WEAR it this year!

HAPPY LABOR DAY!

We had more fun with puff pastry this weekend! The wonderful thing about puff pastry dough is once it is made, you can freeze it up to 3 months (as IF it will last uneaten for that long!) and just take it out, cut off what you need, and store the rest. In this case I made Jambons. Mom and I ate these at little grocery/delis in Ireland 2 years in a row, but we never saw them in England or Scotland. We would stop off at the Spar store first thing every morning to see if we could get any because they went fast! Some mornings we'd luck out, and some mornings we wouldn't! I even took a picture of one on our second trip to the Aran Islands because I wanted to remember them and try to make them at home!

This is the closest I have gotten to replicating them. They are puff pastry squares with a bacon/cream cheese/sour cream/Parmesan cheese filling. You are literally holding a small stroke in your hand when you eat them! They are SO scrummy though! Flaky and rich! Num num! I'm getting a warm fuzzy feeling just thinking about them!

And if this doesn't make you want to try your hand at home made puff pastry, I don't know what will!

I also made a lemon posset as a birthday dessert for Dad. I had to look up what a 'posset' was. I thought maybe it was a colloquial term much like fool or flummery, but it is technically a milk punch or drink (eggnog for example is in this family). This dessert is in fact set with unflavored gelatin and the recipe called for gelatin leaves. I have a few period cookbooks that I've picked up in my travels or found online and I've read about gelatin leaves before, but I'd never used them. I have searched for them in grocery stores on every single trip to Europe but I've never found them until this year! We stopped at a huge Tesco store in Thirsk where I also got garam masala and yellow lentils for the Indian cooking I want to fool around with! Going to grocery stores overseas is one of my absolute FAVORITE things to do! I look at EVERYTHING!

It wasn't a horribly complicated recipe though. It calls for 4 (!!!!!) cups of cream that you reduce by a third on the stove, allow it to cool and add your softened and dissolved gelatin leaves, add some lemon juice and sugar whipped into ANOTHER cup of cream, and then allow it to set. The recipe said it would serve 6 when in fact it would serve at least 12! It is so rich that you can't eat much! I also made a sauce from some frozen mixed berries--just cooked them to death and strained/sweetened the sauce. The gelatin package said that 2 leaves were the equivalent of 1 teaspoon of powdered gelatin and I just read somewhere the other day that you could use leaf gelatin for window panes in a gingerbread house! I was amazed at how sturdy they were though! For some reason I thought they'd be very fragile and brittle.