Seeing Red

I got a bunch of strawberries for $1.19/quart and made a bunch of freezer jam using this recipe.  Dave's mom makes this all the time and assured me it was easy. 

It was SO easy!  Mash your fruit, add your sugar, mix up you pectin and pour into jars.  I made 4 batches of strawberry jam and one batch of raspberry jam using the last of our raspberries in the freezer.

It is all safely tucked away in the freezer for a rainy day and for gifts.  I want to eventually get out to a strawberry patch for some field strawberries but I am busy for the next week and a half.  I have some gjetost in the fridge and I am hungry for it with this jam on some Ezekiel bread.  This is great as an ice cream topping too!

 In other news...I finally finished my red sweater!!!  I started knitting this over a year and a half ago when we still lived in the apartment.  I'd gotten this yarn on clearance at Micheal's and kind of went a little crazy and bought BAGS of the stuff.  It is a very soft fingering weight yarn with large gradually changing stripes of color.  I got a couple different colorways and wanted to knit a cardigan or a jacket out of it.  I used a free Drops pattern and starting knitting the pieces.  Because it is a fine yarn and small needles...it took forever.  The other caveat is that it is knitted in pieces and then seamed together.  It took me almost 3 days to sew it together and a lot of frustration.

The yarn is almost a boucle and bunched up while knitting so I had to keep sliding the lumps down the length of yarn.  I tried seaming with the yarn and quit after about 4 stitches because it was doing this.  This yarn is also very gossamer-y and I was afraid it wouldn't hold up and keep the sweater together. 

I remembered I had a large ball of leftover sock yarn and used that for the seams.

Invisible seams are kind of like lacing a shoe.  When the stitches are pulled tight, you can't see them so really I could have used neon green yarn to seam it.  Here are some of the stitches held open so you can see.

Here they are pulled tight and hidden.  This was a slow going process.  As eager as I was to get it done, I had to get up after a seam and come back to it.

Here is the final sweater!  The yarn reminds me a lot of Kauni but is much softer.  I haven't sewn the buttons on yet but I kind of like it without.  Now I just can't for it to get cold!  I was sweating to death while taking the pictures!

I love the stripes of color.  The back was knit in two pieces and sewn together up the middle.  The angles are produced from almost a mitered increase on either side of a marked stitch.  I have a blue/teal/purple colorway that I want to make into another one of these but I also want to knit a Little Sister's Dress and a Wingspan.  I will have to see how much I have and how far it will stretch.  This poor sweater was the first thing to get pushed to the back burner as baby, birthday and Christmas knitting came along.  Am I patient enough to wait another year and a half for a blue one?

Saturday Ritual

Tonight is another working Saturday so I baked treats to take along.  I worked evenings yesterday, slept last night and got up this morning and dinked around.  I usually lay down for a nap around 1300 and then report to work at 1900 and that first night is always the worst.  By 0300 you're fighting to stay awake and drinking pop and coffee and get almost nauseous from being so tired.  Some oatmeal fortified chocolate chip cookies will keep us energized and moving tonight.  Tomorrow I will crawl home and sleep like a baby.  My Sunday nights always go so much better.

 As usual my little helper stayed close to the kitchen in the eternal hopes that I would accidentally drop some food.  She is such good company!  Such a pretty Lopi dog!  MPTV is having pledge drive so I didn't get to watch my regular Saturday morning treat shows but USA is having an Indiana Jones marathon!  Yesssssss!!!

I started knitting these socks in Reno while watching Dave bowl.  I'd knit a pair of these for John a few years ago after he deployed.  They are "Soldier Socks" but we called them "Sailor Socks" in his case.  These are for no one in particular (but they'll probably go to  my sister in law because she is just as much a sailor as John for holding down the fort while he was gone!) but I wanted to enter them in the fair this year.  As soon as the weather warms up, I start getting eager for the fair!  I have so many things lined up to knit and I have most of next week off to get some serious knitting done.  Dave is done with school for a week before summer school and we might go fishing one of those days.  He can fish and I can knit!

 This is mint.  It grows like a weed and is a sure sign of spring!

 And if you steep it in boiling water, you get lovely mint tea.  Num num!

We just got home from Fargo this evening after driving up yesterday and staying overnight in a hotel with my parents and my sister and her family.  We visited my grandma and then went on to Hitterdal for my cousin Kjirsten's graduation luncheon.  I knit her a pair of beaded pulsewarmers and finished them in the car on the way in typical Katie fashion.  We'd last seen everyone at our wedding almost a year and a half ago and we hadn't seen Grandma for 2 years.  We had beautiful warm weather for the trip.  And we made it into town yesterday just in time to hit Prairie Yarns and I got a few goodies.  I am such a lucky girl because I got to go to two FABULOUS yarn shops in less than a month.  This also means I will be going on a yarn diet for a while!

Reno 2014

Last week we flew out to Reno for Dave's bowling tournament at the National Bowling Stadium.  The weather this year was much better for traveling other than our landing in Reno.  The mountain crosswinds made it pretty turbulent as we made our descent but we were also dipping and wobbling.  We got right down near the ground to the point where you start to brace yourself for touchdown...only to have the pilot gun the engines and pull us up at the last moment and take us up and around for a second attempt.  We were pitching and wobbling too much for him to make a safe landing on that first try.  On all the flights I've ever been on, I've never seen that before.  We were happy to finally be safe on the ground!

We rented a car and got great use out of it.  We stayed at the Grand Sierra Resort this year which was a fabulous hotel but it was little over a mile away from the downtown where all Dave's bowling was.  We were able to park for $5 a day at the bowling stadium and walk to whatever we wanted to do.  I loved how all the overpasses and highway barriers had these western themed embellishments.

We also drove around Lake Tahoe which was some seriously beautiful scenery but the roads were a bit treacherous in places.  Dave had to concentrate on the road and didn't get to enjoy the view.  Note the absence of guard rail in this photo.  There was mountain on one side and CLIFF on the other.  The roads were quite windy with a maximum speed limit of 45 mph and then you had to share the road with all the mountain bikers.  Did I mention that it started SNOWING and RAINING halfway through?  The temperature also dropped from 45 to 32 degrees and poor Dave did nothing but ride the brake down the mountain for the second half of the drive.  We were just sure we'd go right off the edge!  Turns out we drove through winter storm Zephyr and lived to tell the tale.  I felt so bad because I'd made Dave stop twice so I could pick up giant pine cones when the weather was still nice.  We had no idea that yucky weather was coming.  The pine cones were worth it though.  I grabbed a sack full of them and they're bigger than softballs. 

I got to go back to Jimmy Beans Wool.  They had opened up this whole other back room since the last time I was there.  We visited a little with the owner and she let us go back into the warehouse to look around!  I jokingly asked if we could roll around in the yarn and she told us that at one time, they'd had an empty jacuzzi back there full of yarn!

The warehouse was HUGE.  I had no idea that space was even back there but it made sense because they do so much internet and mail order business.  You can see the ladies on the computers taking and picking the orders.  This store was a real treat yet again.

I came away with a lot of Madelinetosh and some Lorna's Laces.  I also got the Beekeeper's Quilt pattern and the object of every traveler's desire--a patch!

We got kind of sick of buffets if you can believe that so we went and had breakfast at Bavarian World one morning.  I'd found it online and wanted to check it out for their deli and bakery.  We had a great breakfast and I got some teas and hornsalt in their deli.  This was my favorite goodie from the bakery.  It was horseshoe shaped and rolled in crushed slivered almonds and dipped in chocolate on the ends.  The woman behind the counter warned me that it was made of marzipan which was fine with me.  It seems people either love almond or they hate it and I definitely fall into the former group.  I took one bite...and it was the same flavor and texture of kransekake!  I had to quick take a picture of it before I ate it all!

And of course Dave had his bowling time and I watched and knitted.  This year's trip was much better than last year's.  Next year the tournament is in El Paso so I will have to start looking for extra curricular activities to check out there.  Do they have yarn in Texas?

Fleeting Spring

 Spring is here, sort of.  And I can prove it: chives!  These babies have been coming up for a couple weeks now and I have been eating them like crazy in scrambled eggs, soups, sauces, and my favorite vehicle for them...bacon-cheddar-chive scones from KAF!!!

Scones are not fussy.  If you can make biscuits, and everyone can, you can make scones.  These are a beautiful tri-color quick bread with the yellow cheese, the maroon bacon and the green chives.  I served these as the bread in our meal on Friday when my brother and in-laws came for supper.  We grilled some fabulous BBQ seasoned pork chops my brother brought and I made from scratch baked beans, potato salad and Julia Child's bread crumb broccoli.

 My father-in-law really likes these savory scones but my mother-in-law favors sweet scones.  My brother really liked these and he was going home to his family and my parents who were visiting them so I baked another wheel to send home with him.  Num num!  I tried keeping chives through the winter just for this recipe and had no success.  I've since bought a little acrylic greenhouse at IKEA and will try again this winter--more on that later.  All you need is a measly 1/3 of a cup of minced chives for this recipe and I would love to eat them in the winter!

 Our other joyful news is that our dear friend Hazel gave birth to a baby boy on April 22!  Hazel is my sister's best friend whom she met at her first nursing job at Mayo.  She has the most infectious personality and is an honorary family member and of course we are all thrilled for her.  I have to admit, as a knitter, she was kind of a pebble in my shoe because she didn't learn the sex of the baby prior to the birth.  I didn't dare start working on anything until I knew what I was dealing with!  Of course little Maverick will need a blankie and I found this darling cotton print at Joann's.  I did very well with my coupons that day and also got the backing fabric on sale.  I hope she appreciates my taste, because normally I would have gone for a blue binding--it is my favorite color after all.  But after going through pregnancy and birth with my sister 3 times, I realize that a lot of crafting/knitting/sewing done for the baby is done just as much for the mother.  I bound this with hazel green because Hazel is the mother and I've always loved her name.  You don't meet too many Hazels under the age of 80 and this blanket is for her just as much as it is for Maverick!

 I also did a little knitting for her.  I did some stash busting with the light blue multicolored sockies that are compulsory.  I just knit a pair of these for a co-worker and she just came back from maternity leave raving about them.  My sister always loved these too because they are ribbed and will fit forever and they STAY ON.  I also knit a pair of angora baby booties in a manly blue color.  Winter is thankfully a few months away but I knit an Aviatrix hat from some leftover cotton Boku.

 This is a Baby Surprise Jacket knit from some Blackberry Hills I bought at the state fair 2 years ago.  They are always in the dairy building and the very last thing we visit as we leave.  We get a milkshake and I dig through the yarn.  I'd bought a lot of alpaca that year and my husband was kind of badgering me as to what was I going to use THIS yarn for and of course I had no answer for him.  I bought 3 skeins knowing eventually I would knit something fabulous with it and here it is.  Thank goodness I got it because I don't know what else I would have used.  No offense Hazel, but I think boys are just harder to craft/sew/knit for.  This will need a good soak/block because the dye stained my hands blue as I was knitting. 

Finally I knit a Star Lace Baby Cap and am literally 2 rows away from finishing but I was too eager to post the picture already.  This is some fabulous Tosh Sock yarn I bought with my fair winnings 2 years ago.  I hope to get all these items blocked and packed and sent in the next week.  I am so excited for dear Hazel!  What a great first Mother's Day she'll have!

Adventures in Baking

 I had the last 3 days off and goofed around with a few things here around the house.  While grocery shopping, I asked in the bakery department for some fresh yeast and got 4 oz. for $2.  20 grams of fresh yeast is the equivalent of one packet of dried yeast.



 The weather has cooled down quite a bit the last few days and we had French onion soup for lunch over the weekend.  I baked 2 loaves of French bread using the fresh yeast and my "00" flour I got at Cossetta's.

 We had Dave's parents over for supper on Saturday and I baked these onion poppy seed rolls to go with our meal.  I've had this recipe forever but never tried them before. 

 They were quite tasty!

With all the cotton dish cloths/hot pads I've been knitting, I have a lot of scraps left over.  I always save them and wind them up and joke that it is the Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota and then knit mongrel said dish cloths/hot pads out of my ball of scraps.  They are totally random because I knit both the borders and the fillers from either end of this one ball of yarn.  I can tell you that I've knit a few very ugly scrap ones for my own personal use.

I have to say that the two I knit over the weekend were quite pretty!

Happy accidents almost!

 Dave's sister Theresa and her husband have been so great and helpful to us with our house.  They helped us put up shelves in all our closets, helped us hook up our washer/dryer and built drawers for our kitchen among many other things.  They've even gone to Menards to buy materials themselves and we've been nagging them for the amount we owe them.  They basically said don't worry about it which was so generous but she did mention that their church bazaar was always looking for knitted dishrags so I made her a stack of Warsh Rags from Mason Dixon Knitting.  These were all knit from cotton yarn I already had in the stash and it was a fun challenge to see how many combinations I could get while trying to use each color/way up completely.  I will make her sorry she ever asked for dishrags!

 I finished my second jelly roll blanket from my scrub scraps.  I pieced this one using the diagonal seam method and was impressed with it but I held my breath a lot because more often than not, the strip would look crooked.  I used a 1/2" seam when I started sewing the long strip and any imperfections were hidden but you really had to watch.  I also stopped after each long seam to press it open rather than doing it all at the end.  I love the finished blanket but the only thing I don't like is that because of the construction, it doesn't come out with nice right angles so finishing was a little trickier.

I backed this one with a busy green/gold chevron print.  This one turned out a little wider than the last one and I'm very happy with it.  I still wouldn't take something like this to the fair.

Jelly Roll Fun

I saw this video on someone else's blog a while back and have been thinking and thinking about it.  I have made quite a few blankets but I wouldn't call them quilts because as careful and fussy as I am, I can never get the pieces and edges to perfectly match up.  Years ago I made a simple patch work blanket using 6 inch squares cut from the scraps of my scrub tops.  Cutting out the squares was tedious, as was sewing together the individual pieces.  This technique really appealed to me because strips can be different lengths and you only have to measure 2 sides of each piece versus 4.  I also loved the randomness of this method.

 

Here are my 40 odd scrub tops from work.  My hospital changed to color coded scrubs for the various departments almost 2 years ago and these have sat in a bag ever since.  We actually used that bag as a door stop for a while!  I know I am a compulsive saver at times but I really didn't want to throw these away.  They represent my 14 year nursing career and were all made from carefully chosen beautiful prints of fabric.  I always tried to be seasonal with my work tops.

All the strips I cut were 3 inches wide and as long as I could squeeze out of the scrubs.  I cut the scrubs apart first, cut the pockets and neck casings off and then using my rotary cutter and mat, cut long strips from the back panels and middle fronts and then short strips from the arms.  It took me almost 2 days to get through all of them. 

Then I separated out each print and stacked them all up so they were evenly distributed.  I did some fancy math to figure out how many strips I'd need to make a full/queen size blanket and decided I'd need 4 stacks.  Oh, can you tell which scraps were Dave's contribution?

I sewed the strips together end to end but next time I will do the angled method.  This blanket was so much easier and forgiving to piece together.  It was almost mindless which is my kind of project.  When it comes to projects like this, I am a firm believer that busy is better and this is certainly a busy blanket!  I backed it with a very busy chevron print.  I have enough strips for at least 2 more blankets and I just bought 4 more queen size cotton battings on sale for 70% off!  We learned this winter that you can never have too many blankets when company comes and they make such great gifts because everyone can use and enjoy them.

Photo Op

Mom keeps telling me she wants a picture of me wearing my new sweater so I obliged her.  I was on call yesterday and took advantage of my clean hair to take a picture.  Lopi came with me for the photo.  She sat very nicely when commanded but wouldn't look at the camera.

Here is an action shot where I'm trying to get her to look at Dave for the picture.  I just love this sweater!  It is so comfortable and warm over a long sleeve t-shirt.  It is fastened with 3 buttons on the top third of the sweater and the lower fronts hang slightly open.  I used 3 large buttons from Grandpa Maynerd's button box and am pleased as punch to carry a bit of him with me.  I have so far only used his buttons on knitting I've done for his great grandchildren so it was nice to keep 3 for myself.  We miss you Leonard!  :)

My brother and his family came this weekend to stay with us and we had a St. Patrick's themed menu.  I made a corned beef brisket in the crack pot with cabbage, potatoes and carrots and baked a craggy loaf of soda bread.  We had to have something sweet to go with the coffee so I baked green tinted snickerdoodles.  I wasn't sure the green dough would look green after it was rolled in cinnamon/sugar but it looked pretty good.

Here they are all baked up.  Top 'O the Mornin' to ya!

Photo Finish!!!!

I had resigned myself to the plain fact that I was not going to finish my sweater before the Olympics concluded.  I spoke with my mother on the phone yesterday and was lamenting that very thing.  This is my weekend to work and I had run out of time.  But then...yesterday at around 1630 I was in the shower and the phone rang!  The staffing office called to ask if I wanted to be on call the first 4 hours of my shift and if we were still over at 2300, would I want to be on call after that?  My answer of course was, "Boy do I!?"  I then proceeded to knit the rest of this sweater!!!  Oh me of little faith!  Now all it needs is some blocking and shaping and for the buttons to be sewn on.  I was reading on other blogs about people entering the WIP category where instead of starting and completing an entire large and challenging item, you set a goal to finish off a certain number of WIPs.  Maybe I'll do that one next time.  Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go crash into bed!