The reason he does this only once a year is because he futzes with the broth for over an hour before he even puts any solids into the stock. Some years he has had to correct the seasoning so much that we ended up with two pots of soup. But this year I forced him to write everything down and I gotta say he done good.

This recipe makes a LARGE amount of soup – we make it in one huge batch and freeze in smaller serving sizes.

Prep Time: 3-4 hours

Tomato Vegetable Beef Soup

Add all these ingredients below in a large pot

3.75 quarts (15 cups) filtered water

3/4 jar 8 oz of “Better than Bouillon” lower sodium beef bouillon

(2) 20 oz cans of tomato sauce

(2) 20 oz cans of diced tomatoes

1/4 cup of red wine

1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce

3 tbsp oregano

3 tbsp basil

1 tbsp salt

1/2 tbsp celery salt

1 tbsp pepper

1/2 cup sugar

5 tbsp onion powder

2 tbsp crushed or pureed garlic, or 5 crushed garlic cloves

1.5 oz fresh spinach (finely chopped) (half a bag)

Simmer above ingredients for 1 hour

Add

2 lbs of beef round roast cut in 1/2 inch pieces

Simmer for 1 hour

Add

16 oz bag of baby carrots, coarsely chopped

1 pound green beans, cut in 1 inch pieces

Simmer for 30 minutes

Add

1 pound fresh broccoli florets

3/4 lb medium pasta shells

Simmer for 30-45 minutes until shells and broccoli are fully cooked

Gorgeous Vintage Peacock Woodcut Art from the Late 1800's - Click for larger printable image

If you like this image, check out my collection of vintage bird hang tags on Etsy!

Retro Crochet Wrap Shawl Pattern in a Lacy Shell Stitch

As promised last week, I’m working on getting more and more of my vintage knitting & crochet pattern collection digitized for this site. I have a wonderful set of 6 capes & ponchos originally put out by Coats & Clark in the 70’s – some of which look just as trendy today as they did over 40 years ago (isn’t weird how that works?!). I’m sharing this shawl from the collection free here – but there are actually SIX styles that came with the original pattern! You can grab them all and download them instantly from my Etsy shop. And here’s a preview of all six – 3 are knit, 3 are crochet:

6 Instant PDF Patterns for Retro Capes and Ponchos, Knitting & Crochet

Shawl measures 59 inches across long edge and 28 inches at center back, excluding fringe.

COATS & CLARK’S RED HEART® “WINTUK” SPORT YARN, 2 Ply (2 oz. “Tangle-Proof” Pull-Out Skeins): 10 ounces of No. 802 Baby Blue, or any sport weight yarn of your choice.

Crochet Hook, Size H.

Starting at long, edge, ch 287, having 19 ch sts to 4 inches.

1st row: Dc in 5th ch from hook-starting V st made; * skip next 2 ch, in next ch make dc, ch 1 and dc-V st made. Repeat from * across-95 V sts. Ch 4, turn.

2nd row: Skip first V st, * (V st in sp of next V st) 3 times; skip next V st, 9 tr in sp of following V st – shell made; skip next V st. Repeat from * 14 more times; (V st in next V-st sp) 3 times; tr in last V-st sp. There are 16 V-st sections and 15 shells.  Ch 4. turn.

3rd row: Skip first V st, (V st in next V-st sp) twice; * ch 4, sc in center tr of next shell, ch 4, (V st in next V-st sp) 3 times. Repeat from * across to within last shell, ch 4, sc in center tr of last shell, ch 4, (V st in next V-st sp) twice; tr in last V-st, sp. Ch 4, turn.

4th row: Skip first V st, V st in next V-st sp,* shell in next sc, V st in next V-st sp) 3 times. Repeat from * across, ending with shell in last sc, V st in next V-st sp, tr in last V-st sp. Ch 2, turn

5th row: Sc in 2nd dc of first V st, * ch 4, sc in center tr of next shell, ch 4, (V st in next V-st sp) 3 times. Repeat from * across to within last shell, ch 4, sc in center tr of last shell, ch 4, sc in first dc of last V st. Ch 4, turn.

6th row: Skip first ch-4 sp, 5 tr in next sc-half shell made; * (V st next V-st sp) 3 times; shell in next sc. Repeat from * across to within last two ch-4 sps, skip next ch-4 sp, half shell in next sc, skip last ch-4 sp, tr in last sc. Ch 1, turn.

7th row: Sc in first tr of next half shell, ch 4, (V st in next V-st sp) 3 times, * ch 4, sc in center tr of next shell, ch 4, (V st in next V-st sp) 3 times. Repeat from * across to within last half shell, ch 4, sc in last tr of half shell. Ch 1, turn.

8th row: Sc in first sc, ch 4, (V st in next V-st sp) 3 times; * shell in next sc, (V st in next V-st sp) 3 times. Repeat from * across to within last ch-4 sp, ch 4, sc in last sc. Ch 1, turn.

9th row: Sc in first sc, ch 4, (V st in next V-st sp) 3 times; ch 4, * sc in center tr of next shell, ch 4, (V st in next V-st sp) 3 times; ch 4. Repeat from * across, sc in last sc. Ch 4, turn.

10th row: (V st in next V-st sp) 3 times; * shell in next sc, (V st in next V-st sp) 3 times. Repeat from * across, tr in last sc. Ch 4, turn. 1 V-st section and 1 shell are decreased at each end. Repeat 3rd through 10th rows for pattern. Work in pattern until 4 V-st sections and 3 shells remain, ending with 10th row.

Now work as follows:
1st, 2nd and 3rd rows: Repeat 3rd, 4th and 5th rows. Ch 4, turn.

4th row: Skip first ch-4 sp, half shell in next sc, (V st in next V-st sp) 3 times; shell in next sc, (V st in next V-st sp) 3 times: half shell in next sc, tr in last sc. Ch 1, turn.

5th row: Sc in first tr of next half shell, ch 4, (V st in next V-st sp) 3 times; ch 4, sc in center tr of next shell, ch 4, (V st in next V-st sp) 3 times; ch 4, sc in last tr of half shell. Ch 4, turn.

6th row: (V st in next V-st sp) 3 times; shell in next sc, (V st in next V-st sp) 3 times; tr in last sc. Ch 4, turn.

7th row: (V st in next V-st sp) 3 times: ch 4, sc in center tr of next shell, ch 4, (V st in next V-st sp) 3 times; tr in top of turning chain. Turn.

8th row: SI st in first V-st sp, ch 4, dc in same V-st sp, (V st in next V-st sp) twice: shell in next sc, (V st in next V-st sp) 3 times. Break off and fasten.

Edging: Attach yarn to upper corner of left side edge, ch 1, sc in same place, working along left side edge, last row of point and right side edge, * ch 4, skip ½ inch, sc in next st. Repeat from * to upper corner of right side edge. Break off and fasten.

Fringe: Cut 4 strands of yarn each 14 inches long. Double these strands to form a loop. Insert hook in any ch-4 loop of edging and draw loop through. Draw ends through loop and pull up tightly to form a knot. Knot strands as before in each ch-4 loop of edging. Trim evenly.

Over the years, though, my love of knitting has blossomed into a rather large collection of vintage knitting pattern books. And today I had an ah-ha moment – why not try to do some OCR scanning to see if I can convert these vintage patterns into blog posts?

Viola! IT WORKED!!!

You have no idea what that means for this blog – I have, like, ten years worth of blog posts just in vintage knitting, crochet, and tatting patterns to share with you!

LET THE YARN FLOW, BABY!

Vintage Baby Wrap Sweater Pattern for 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years

BABY SURPLICE SWEATER
Style No. 5369 found in Bernat’s Handicrafter Vol XVI No. 2 from 1947
Sizes 6 months, 1 and 2 years

MATERIALS: BERNAT Baby Wool or BERNATIZED Super Baby Wool or BERNAT Laurelspun or BERNATIZED Argyle Yarn for Socks- and Sweaters.

For all sizes, 3 balls

Knitting Needles: One pair straight No. 2 (Standard) ; one double point (D.P.) No. 2 (Standard)

ACCESSORIES: 2 small buttons, 1 snap fastener

GAUGE: 8 sts. = 1 inch; 12 rows = 7 inch

PATTERN STITCH: MOSS st. (K 1 and P 1 across the row. On return row, K above the P st. and P above the K st.)

Note: Underline or circle the numbers applying to the size desired. The first number in each group is for size 6 months, the second for size 1 and the third for size 2.

LEFT FRONT: On No. 2 needles cast on 64 (72-80) sts.
Rows 7 and 3: Rib in K 1 and P 1 for 56 (64-72) sts. K 8.
Rows 2 and 4: P 8, rib in K 1 and P 1 for 56 (64-72) sts.
Row 5: Rib in K 1 and P 1 for 56 (64-72) sts., slip next 4 sts. onto D.P. needle and drop to back of work. K 4, then K 4 from D.P. needle.
Rows 6-8 and 10: Same as Row 2.
Rows 7 and 9: Same as Row 1.

Repeat these 10 rows for pattern st. Work even for 1 in. Still keeping 8 border sts. in cable-pattern, work remaining sts. in moss st. At the same time, dec. 1 st. next to the cable border, every other row, until the piece measures 6″ (6 1/2″-7″) . Still decreasing at border edge every other row, at the seam edge only, cast on 9 (10-11) sts. every other row 4 times — 36 (40-44) sts. for sleeve. Continuing to dec. 1 st. at border edge every other row work even at seam edge until the sleeve measures 3 1/4″ (3 1/2″-4″). Leave pattern sts. on a holder and continue in cable st. on 8 border sts. for 2″ (2 1/4″-2 1/2″). Bind off. Work right front to correspond. Now work in pattern st. across left front, cast on 37 (39-39) sts. Work in pattern st. across right front. Work even in moss st. for 3 1/4″ (3 1/2″-4″) ins. Bind off 9 (10-11) sts. at the beg. of the next 8 rows 36 (40-44) sts. for each sleeve. Work even in moss st. on remaining sts. until back measures the same length as front to top of ribbing. Rib in K 1 and P 1 for 1 in. Bind off in ribbing.

CUFFS: With the right side of work facing you, pick up 40 (44-48) sts. Rib in K 1 and P 1 for 1 in. Bind off in ribbing.

FINISHING: Join seams. Join ends of cable border and sew to back of neck. Make 2 loop-buttonholes on edge of border of left front. Sew snap fastener to underlap on right front. Block to size.

And he took pity on my soul, he did:

I immediately got to work planning and planting my garden – and I based how many plants I wanted of each vegetable based on the yield from the last time I planted a garden. But I made a pretty big rookie mistake. That last garden was in 2012, the hottest summer on record in the Chicago area. So when I thought I needed 18 pickling cucumber plants, I actually needed only about 8.

Ooops.

Yeah, in this cool, wet summer, they started coming in droves…

In sheer desperation, I turned to my internet friends for recipes:

@emom this is my favorite refrig. pickle recipe http://t.co/CdwQ5X7zpX #pinterest #crossingstreams

— Michael Gray (@graywolf) July 11, 2014

Which was great! For about 48 hours until my next harvest was ready. Did I mention they were coming in droves?

So I bought this on Amazon, and the skies parted in jubilation. Really!!

And I spent the next 7 days canning something every. single. day.

Since my hubs made me the garden beds, and since I had still have cucumbers coming out of my ass, I figured it was only fair that I try to make his favorite kind of pickles – Claussen’s Garlic Dills. It took a little experimentation, but this recipe is pretty darn close.

The bonus part? Fridge pickles are infinitely easier to make than canned/preserved pickles. Plus you need no special equipment. Just ingredients, jars, and your fridge. This recipe is adapted from the Refrigerated Dill Slices in the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving: 400 Delicious and Creative Recipes for Today (aff). Of all my cookbooks sitting on my shelf, this one DOESN’T sit on my shelf: it’s constantly on my counter. It’s that good.

Crunchy Garlic Dill Refrigerator Pickles

Crunchy Garlic Dill Fridge Pickle Recipe

This lovely young lady comes from my Victorian trade card collection. She promoted corsets for the Worcester Corset Company. The other cards in the scrapbook I found her in were dated in the late 1880’s. It’s amazing to me to think that these old scrapbooks held up so well for about 130 years. Especially because ‘acid free’ paper and glue weren’t exactly a thing back then. Some of my scrapbooks are indeed crumbling, but this particular card is in fantastic condition.

And isn’t she beautiful?? I love the art from the late 1800’s. Women were drawn in such a scrumptious way – always voluptuous, natural, and sexy-but-innocent. Such a far cry to the way women are portrayed in advertising today. But I suppose a corset ad was somewhat risque for the times back then – considering showing off one’s shoulders or knees was pretty much scandalous (HA!).

Vintage Women's Lingerie Ad from the WCC Corset Company

Vendors at our (quite incredible) market sell luscious hand crafted soaps, body scrubs, bath oils and there’s even a local beekeeper who sells his own freshly harvested beeswax. I decided to start making some homemade cosmetics for myself, and then had a problem: that dang book was nowhere to be found. Thankfully, after a few weeks of searching, I found my now-forty year old book still packed with my sewing pattern books, and I read it with a newfound respect for it’s wisdom.

The first recipe I tried yesterday was for a homemade cold cream. Was it lovely? Yes. Was it like cold cream? Hells no. I wanted to post that one today, but I’ll have to rework her ingredients to actually make a cold cream and not a waxy paste. So I tried something that looked a little easier: hair brilliantine. I just had all my hair chopped off a few weeks ago and paid an embarrassing $26 dollars for a tiny tube of (admittedly very nice) Bumble & Bumble Brilliantine. I felt a little foolish spending that much in the first place, but now I feel like an absolute SUCKER after making this recipe. It was mind-numbingly EASY to make, works even better than the salon version, and the total cost? Maybe$2.00, and that includes the jar I made it in.

Make Your Own Hair Brilliantine That's Better Than Bumble & Bumble's

What You Need to Make Your Own DIY Hair Brilliantine

• A 4 oz. mason jar
• A microwave
• 1/2 teaspoon melted beeswax (not paraffin)
• 2 tablespoons plus 1/2 teaspoon sunflower oil (canola is fine, too)
• 1 tablespoon pure lanolin (sold as Lanisoh for breastfeeding mothers)
• 2 teaspoons water
• Essential oils for fragrance (I used a heavenly combo of orange oil, bergamot oil, anise extract, and a tiny amount of cinnamon oil)

This really is an easy, easy product to make for yourself. It’s also nearly mess-free, because you make it IN THE JAR you will keep it in! Seriously, if you’ve ever thought about making your own beauty products, this is a fantastic way to start.

Step 1: Grate the beeswax into the mason jar, or just break it into small pieces. Natural beeswax has a honey scent and melts quite easily. Put the sunflower oil and lanolin into the jar and microwave it in 30 second increments until it’s all melted together. Swirl it GENTLY to mix it together once melted.

Step 2: Add the water and screw on the jar lid. Now shake it for a few minutes until the water is incorporated into the oils and emulsified. Step 3: Add fragranced essential oils and/or flavor extracts to your liking. They are strong, so add them a few drops at a time until you are happy with the scent. You can add a single scent, or mix them up. A few tried and true sent combinations: lavender & lemon, orange & cinnamon, or just add a little vanilla extract: the honey scent of the beeswax will create a wonderful honey-vanilla combo!

Just in case you were wondering…

How do You Use Hair Brilliantine?

Hair brilliantine adds both shine and texture to your hair – it slightly separates waves and makes it super-soft. Guys used to use it in the 50’s to get that iconic slicked back Danny Zuko from Grease look. But these days most people use just a tiny amount instead of a whole greased back head of hair. This particular recipe cools to a solid that turns back to a liquid almost immediately when your rub it between your hands.

I use it two ways:

On Wet Hair: Take about a quarter teaspoon of brilliantine and rub it between your hands to melt it and make it easier to apply to your hair evenly. While hair is still wet, apply all over, especially to layers and ends. When you blow dry your hair, the brilliantine helps to protect your hair from the heat, plus stays put and helps to control flyaways. You know how your hair feels when it is just the tiniest bit wet and you vstill have a lot of control over how your hair lays on your head? Using brilliantine is like that – even when your hair is dry. It isn’t like a gel or hair spray, but does add control, softness and SHINE.

On Dry Hair: Apply same as on wet hair, but keep it on the top layers of your hair and ends. I try not to use it on my bangs, because the brilliantine seems to make them look greasy too quickly for my liking. If you have wavy hair, use the product to separate locks and define your curls. Here’s a photo showing the difference on my hair when applied dry:

Dry hair with and without hair brilliantine added fro shine and definition.

First of all, let me back up a bit and tell you about how I started the project. Since my power tools are limited, making an end grain cutting board was out of the question. Also, the main use of the boards was not intended to be an everyday chopping block, but more for cutting bread or serving things like cheese. And I had fallen in love with some slab cutting boards I saw at an estate sale. So I was set on the idea to simply cut the boards out of 1″x8″ planks, or slightly larger if I could find it.

Next up was to choose what kind of wood to use. I did a lot of research, knowing it needed to be a very hard wood that was also foodsafe. Cedar and pine were out of the question, they are too soft (and cedar isn’t really food safe anyway). Oak was my next consideration, but heard that even though oak is hard enough, it can also be too porous for food use. I saw that maple was the most common recommendation on woodworking forums, but all the maple I could find at the regular home improvement stores was bland with very little grain variation to make the wood look interesting. Other woods to consider were cherry, walnut, elm, or more exotic hardwoods. I’m not a fan of cherry (too red), walnut was out of the question because of my son’s nut allergies, elm was impossible to find, and exotic hardwoods were either outrageously expensive or questionable for food use. Which left me with hickory as the wood of choice.

I knew that hickory was a really hard wood, but I didn’t realize how extremely difficult it is to work with until I tried this project. You can sand and sand and sand and sand and sand…. and if you sand a lot more, you just might have a very slightly rounded edge. But the piece of hickory I found at a specialty lumber store was really, really pretty with lots of color variation in the wood grain. So I drudged through the sanding (it was worth it in the end!). The size of my piece was not standard 1″x8 or 1″x10. It was more like a 1.5″x9″. The extra thickness made the cutting boards look much more substantial and much prettier than thinner pieces of wood.

Here is a rough guide of how I cut the tops of the boards – you can easily wing this and adjust it as needed for the width of your own boards. By the way, we used a set of hole cutters to cut out the handles at the top.

Cutting Board Building Plan Template - Click for larger printable image

Anyway, once you’ve cut out and sanded your cutting board well, you probably don’t want it to look so brand-new. I wanted my boards to look like their antique inspirations. But the extent of my existing wood ageing techniques were based on using paints, stains and varnishes – none of which I could use on a food safe cutting board. I stumbled upon the perfect solution somewhere along the way – a blowtorch.

The blowtorch was the 100% perfect solution to coloring the wood without using any chemicals at all. The trick to using it is to constantly keep the flame moving over the surface of the board. If you pause for even a few seconds, you’ll get a big black spot that actually looks like a burn. I just wanted to bring out the grain of the wood and accent the edges. As long as you are constantly moving the flame – and moving it with the grain of the wood instead of across it, the effect is both subtle and beautifully enhancing. I burned the surface area  slightly, and burned it more around the edges and sides. It looked 20 years older already!

Next up was a way to seal the wood while again using something non-toxic. I used an old trick I learned when we had a butcher block in our kitchen from 2 houses ago – a combination of melted beeswax and mineral oil. Mineral oil is sold as a laxative at almost any place that sells personal care items. Target, Walmart, CVS, etc. Beeswax is found at grocery stores by the baking stuff (used for canning).

Scrape off bits of the beeswax with a sharp knife until you have approximately 2 tablespoons of shavings. Put them into a microwave safe (and preferably disposable) container with about 1/3 cup of mineral oil. It takes quite a while to melt them in the microwave – I used a plastic cup and warmed it in 2 minute increments 4-5 times before it was all liquid. Once it is melted and combined, use a soft lint free cloth or paper towel to wipe the mixture all over the cutting board, including the sides, bottom, and interior of the hole. Let  it dry for a bit and use a second dry paper towel  to wipe off any excess. Letting it dry overnight will allow the oil and wax to soak completely into the wood and it won’t feel greasy at all in thee morning.

The mixture will condition the wood, protect it from moisture, and darken it several shades as well. But it’s not permanent, especially if you use the boards and wash them frequently. I reapply straight mineral oil to the boards every few months, and give it another wax/oil treatment every 6-9 months.

Not only are the boards beautiful, but we use them every single day. I have one that is over two feet long, and I simply leave it on the table. It serves our bread and acts as a hot plate for our dinner every night. I store them in a wire basket in our dining room when I’m not using all of them. The before and after looks like they are 10+ years older, but these cutting boards came from the exact same piece of lumber. They are just as pretty to display as they are useful!

So, today I’m sharing an image that is super-sweet and adorable. These ‘love birds’ are sitting on a branch with their little chickies in a nest next to them. I’m not sure if that’s the sun or the moon in the background – either way I love it! The image comes from one of my magazines from the early 1900’s. Unfortunately, I have no idea which one.

Lovely Doodle of Love Birds from an Early 1900's Magazine - Click for printable larger image.