Birthday Weekend!

How cool is this?  

Unfortunately, I couldn't make "screen capture" work, so I took a picture with my phone. 

Technologically challenged? Yup. 

Yesterday was my birthday - 48!  It was a great day. I went to Ann Arbor, MI (just an hour from here) for pedicures and lunch with good friends. I don't get a pedicure often, and I'm not sure why. It was lovely. We sipped hot tea, relaxed in comfy reclining chairs, and let them massage and pamper our tired toes. After pedicures, we went to Zingerman's Roadhouse for lunch. So delicious! Warm spinach and mushroom salad...artisan cheese with bagel crisps and roasted balsamic grapes...I even had an ice cold beer.  Now I'm not usually much of a beer drinker. I prefer wine - and nothing sweet. But this was wonderful. 

I was home in time to make dinner...and decided to make Mushroom Stroganoff. Sorry, no pictures, but it was delicious.  The tradition here is for my husband to bake my cake. It is always the same - Angel Food, from scratch, with fluffy, seven minute frosting. The fun part is he usually makes a mistake and we get to laugh at the various disasters. Yup, I'm serious.  One year, he mistook tsp for tbsp, and let's just say I've never had such a salty cake in my life!  With years of practice under his belt, I think he has finally mastered the art.  Here's what's left of the cake today.  The picture doesn't do it justice - so light and airy.  Nice work!

Tricks to the perfect Angel Food cake: don't use your freshest eggs. I get better results when they are at least two weeks old. Bring them to room temperature before starting.  If you are lucky enough to have one, using a standing mixer. The egg whites need to whip a long time to get stiff.  We actually bought a standing mixer because we love Angel Food cake so much.  I don't regret it at all.  Folding in the ingredients is not the same as mixing. Folding allows you to gently combine the wet meringue with the flour/powdered sugar, without losing the air that's been whipped into the batter.  That air is what makes the cake so light and fluffy. Take your time - practice. If your first one isn't perfect, try it again.  It's so worth the effort. 

Of course, if you bake an Angel Food cake, you have a dozen egg yolks staring at you. I can't bare to throw  them out or feed them to the dogs - my hens worked hard laying those eggs! What else could I do but whip up some lemon curd? I followed Martha Stewart's recipe, which was quick and easy. The curd came out just perfect. But now I suppose I need something to put it on.  

Just for fun - here's a picture of eggs from our hens.  The palest ones are not white, but a soft greenish blue.  So pretty! No need to color eggs for Easter around here. 

And finally, my husband thinks he is really funny. Here is one of my gifts this year:

If you always wondered, "who buys this crap" when seeing such "lovely" items in the stores, well, now you know.  

Hands off ladies - he's all mine! HA HA HA HA HA!

Mixed Stripes, Update 6

A little more progress...

My last update stopped with the row of Meadow - DC clusters. So we will pick up here with the yellow.

1 row hdc - Saffron
2 rows hdc - Wysteria
Star Stitch - Shrimp
1 row hdc - Aster
1 row sc - Fondant
2 row sc - Magenta
2 rows hdc - Spring Green
Outline Cluster - Lipstick & Sherbet
2 rows hdc - Cloud Blue
1 hdc - Pomegranate
1 hdc - Spring Green
1 hdc - Wysteria

As of today, this blanket is 7 1/2 feet wide and 4 1/2 feet long. I'd say that makes it about half way done.  I feel like I've accomplished so much...but it will never be finished. My tendency has always been to make really big blankets.  When I was a kid (high school!) I made a giant broomstick blanket - ambitious for a teenager! Working with the broomstick stitch across long rows was not easy. Thirty years later, I still have it somewhere. Anyway, the point is, I like big blankets!  (I feel a new blog post coming on.... "I Like Big Blankets, and I Cannot Lie!")  I've just never had a project take so long.  I started this four months ago and it's only halfway.  My groovyghan is just as big, and was finished in 3 months.  Oh well, I do love this project, so I will just keep going....and order another pack of Stylecraft DK from Deramore's!

The edge was curling in, so I'm holding it flat for you to see the stripes.  That happens to me when the rows start from the same side, instead of flipping the work and going back and forth.  When I do 2 rows of the same color, I always flip the work. Sometimes, I flip even if I'm doing one row and changing colors. Sometimes, I don't flip it. I've made those decisions as I go, depending on the look I want.  I have not indicated whether I flipped or not in these instructions, but most of the time, I do flip it.

In this picture (from an earlier spot in the blanket) I worked single rows of sc, switching colors for each row, and flipping the work.  You can see when the rows were worked on the wrong side, sandwiched between rows worked on the right side, less of that color shows through.  The shrimp and meadow were worked on the wrong side - so they appear as thinner stripes on the right side, even though it is all the same stitch. Does that make sense?  It gives a little different look.  Compare it to the picture above, those last three rows are all hdc, all worked on the right side.

At the end of the day, it is personal choice. I really like the variety of widths in the stripes in my blanket.  I like that some stripes barely show through, and others are wider and bolder.  

I would love to see what other people are doing.  If you are following Little Woolie's CAL, too, post a link to your blanket! 

Bring It On Down to Veganville

I have to share this clip from Saturday Night Live this weekend. It's hilarious - and I appreciate the nod to Justin's vegan lifestyle.  Trust me, it's worth waiting for the commercials to get to the clip.  I hope you enjoy it, too!

March 9 - Justin Timberlake

My Week in Pictures...

Stripey progress... (I'll post the specifics later!)

Amazing, delicious cheesecake! Every couple of months, I have a girl's night out with my dear friends Rose and Alice. We drink a bottle of wine, eat delicious food, gab about our kids, and relax.  Love it!

Spring is coming!

Granny Patch progress...

Let the Granny Patch Begin!

In the real world, I run an emergency shelter for homeless families.  It's rewarding and challenging work. A wonderful man has offered to host a fundraiser for us, complete with silent auction, and he says I don't have to do a thing to help.  What a gift! Well, I can't very well sit back and do nothing.  This granny patch afghan will be my contribution to the silent auction.  I'm using bits and pieces left over from my Stylecraft DK 17 colour pack, plus other colors of Stylecraft I recently ordered.  

Details:  I'm making each square 4 rounds, and using a JAYG (Join As You Go) method of connecting the squares.  Right now, I'm putting 10 squares in a row, using random color sequencing.  I'm quite sure I'll end up adding on to that, perhaps doubling it at some point. We shall see how it goes! 

Lemon Marmalade

What do you do when you find yourself with a gallon of cut up lemons? Lemon curd? I already have some in the freezer.... Lemon meringue pie? Love it, but I'm likely to eat the whole thing.... I settled on lemon marmalade. Processed in a canner bath, it stores easily and can be shared with friends.

Using a micro grater, I tried to get as much grated peel from the lemon pieces as I could. This was challenging, as the chunks were hard to hold onto. The yellow peel is an important source of oil and flavor.

Next, I cut the lemon pulp away from the rind, making sure to remove the white pith and seeds. The pith is bitter, so I was careful to keep it out of marmalade. I ended up with about four cups of lemon.

Dump the pulp and four cups of water into a heavy duty pot. Bring to a low boil, reduce the heat and simmer. I let it cook down for a good hour or two. Add four cups sugar, stir until dissolved. Let simmer another hour.

It's important to cook it to the "jell" stage, so that it thickens up to a good jam consistency when cooled. I'm lazy, so I just guess. Other people (cooks who aren't lazy) put a plate in the freezer ahead of time, so they can test the jelly by spooning a little onto the frozen plate. It cools quickly this way, and you can tell if its jelling appropriately.

Tonight, I'm having fresh baked bread with butter and marmalade, with a cuppa tea. Delicious!

Mixed Stripes, Update 5

The last update ended with the bobble row. Here's what I've added since:

2 row hdc - fondant

1 row hdc - sherbet

1 row hdc - aster

1 row sc - shrimp

1 row sc - wisteria

1 row sc - meadow

1 row hdc - fondant

Chevron stripe - plum and wisteria

2 rows hdc - aspen

1 row sc - aster (hard to see in this picture, but it's there!)

1 row hdc - citron

1 row - 4 dc clusters - turquoise

1 row hdc - clematis

1 row - 4 dc clusters - magenta

1 row hdc - cloud blue

1 row - 4 dc clusters - meadow

A word about color choices - I have a bag filled with small balls of this yarn. I'm trying to use some of that up before I open the lovely NEW yarn, that is waiting - and calling my name.  I made an exception for that chevron row in plum. I needed a bold color and opened the new skein.  So what does this tell you about the order of colors?  I have NO plan! I open the bag and grab a ball that looks big enough to make it through the stitch I want to use next.  That's pretty much it.  And I think that's working out nicely.  

The blanket is starting to get really big - covering about half of my king sized bed. I'm estimating, when all is said and done,  it will have used up more than 30 skeins of yarn. It's heavy - with nice dense stitches - so definitely a winter blanket.  I hope I am able to finish it before summer arrives! 

Happy Things...

Bombing Progress

Yarn Bombs

I've been wanting to make a yarn bomb. Something about it is so appealing...not just making the city more colorful and cheerful with our crazy crocheted rainbows, but the sneaky part... the bombing.

In April, as part of child abuse awareness, our city will be bombed with blue yarn.  I'm in. When this granny gets to 20 inches, it will be big enough for the lamp post.  I'm close, but not quite there. My intention is to make 3 of these squares, to be attached vertically - and cover about 5 feet.  The lamp post is 10 feet tall.

Please ignore the imperfections in this square... I do realize the edge along the bottom of the heart started out one granny cluster short of the other sides. I fixed it in the first navy row.  Since this is for a bombing, and will eventually be thrown away, I'm letting it go. If it were for an afghan, I would have ripped it out and fixed it in the first square round.

The center heart was simple:

Begin with a basic granny square for round one - 3 double crochets on each side, 2 chains in the corners
Round 2 - make 7 double crochets on each side - 2 chains in the corners.  This means 2 DC in the corner, 1 in each of the 3 DC from round 1, 2 DC in the next corner, 2 chain, and repeat for the next row. Slip stitch to the first stitch to end.
Round 3 - make a triple crochet in the middle DC (4th DC from the hook), then make 6 DC in the same space, plus 1 more triple, slip stitch to the next corner, repeat on the next side - this makes the 2 "humps" of the heart.  And you're done!

My square is not precise, but basically I did a round of single crochet, with 3 sc in the stitches that became the top 2 corners, and 3 in the point of the heart.  Subsequent rounds are traditional granny clusters, every 3 stitches.  Corners have 2 chains in between. The mistake in this one - 5 granny clusters on each side, except the bottom edge, which only has 4. Next time, I'll count and make them even.  (I have to keep reminding myself - it's a bomb. It's okay that it isn't perfect.)

One important note - the two corners at the bottom have triple crochet, not double crochet. It helps even things out.

Time for me to get busy. I need to make some tea and cookies...Downton Abbey is on this evening, and I want to be ready!