Spinalcat's Crafty Adventures

FO Roundup: Epic pink/purple edition!

2013-03-23T19:28:00.000-05:00

I've got quite the backlog of projects to show here, and all of them are pink and/or purple!

First up, Old Forge by Steven West from the book Westknits 3.
Yet another bandwagon project...
I probably never would have given it a second thought if Teri hadn't made her shop sample in Madelinetosh yarns. The original (from Westknits Book 3) is super huge and rustic. There is a lace pattern that I omitted for several reasons- too rustic looking (although some people have changed it to stockinette instead of garter), not lined up correctly with the rest of the pattern (although there is a modified chart floating around that corrects this flaw). Instead, I kept going with the stripes, spacing them further and further apart. I really like the effect and it pretty much matches what I had going on in my head when I planned it. With everything all bunched up on the needle, I couldn't really tell if it was going to give the effect I was going for (sort of a pond ripples thing). The only problem was dealing with the jog at the beginning of the round. I think I did a pretty good job tidying it up with the loose ends as I wove them in. I can tell it's there, but it's not jarring.
I used Madeinetosh Tosh DK on size 8 needles in Vermilion, Opalline, and Duchess. I might make the Bedrock hat from the same book sometime since I picked up a couple of skeins of Terra in Black Walnut before we closed it out. Any other ideas?

Mudra cuff (and necklace) by Laura Nelkin
This project is so much fun and it's been great fun teaching others the technique. Once you get the hang of it, you can make one of these in a couple of hours. I love the color combos Laura Nelkin came up with for these kits.

Snowflake sweater by tincanknits
We got a couple of sample skeins of SweetGeorgia Superwash DK before the main shipment showed up in the shop. We'd also recently started carrying tincanknits pattern, so I volunteered to make this adorable sample sweater! The 2 colors she sent us worked so well together, there are many customers using the same exact combo. I started making another one in my leftover Tosh DK in Opalline and Duchess from my Old Forge blanket. Maybe next winter I'll make a me-sized one.

Scalene by Carina Spencer
I resisted the Madelinetosh Merino Light for a while, but the Spectrum colorway came in soooo pretty and there was a great bright pink (Persian Rose) that the rep said was discontinued, so I went for it! The Scalene pattern is really cool and makes a super wearable scarf because the keyhole(s) keep it in place. This is definitely a piece I'll get a ton of use out of. I'm sort of considering making another one in different colors!

Recipe- Texas Style Spiced Pecans

2012-12-23T14:19:00.000-06:00

My husband's family often sends us goodies from a local (Houston area) nut shop for the holidays. They mostly do sugary pecan concoctions, but they have a couple of savory varieties, too.
Unfortunately, (or maybe fortunately cause now I figured out how to make them myself) they have hydrogenated sunflower and soybean oil.
The biggest hurdle is getting really really good raw pecans. I've been making my spiced nuts with Trader Joe's pecans after having a bad experience with a package from Whole Foods recently. I just discovered that the Collins St Bakery sells raw pecans online, so I may have to try those. I don't know if anyone outside of Texas is familiar with them, but they are a major player in the mail-order fruitcake business!

Anyway, here's my version-

8oz raw pecan halves
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp smoked paprika (I use Penzey's)
1/2 tsp onion powder (I use Penzey's)
1/4 tsp garlic powder (I use Penzey's)
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp to 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tbsp ghee (clarified butter), butter, or coconut oil

Preheat a skillet (I use my Le Creuset enameled cast iron) over medium heat while you blend all spices together in a small bowl (salt through cayenne). Dump the pecans into the hot skillet in a single layer to toast them, moving them around with a spatula to avoid burning. When they are warm and fragrant but not burnt, add the ghee to the skillet and stir until pecans are coated in melted ghee. Add spice mixture and stir until evenly coated. Dump spiced nuts onto cookie sheet to cool/dry.

FO: Berry Cute Hat & Pumpkin Hat

2012-11-30T15:23:00.001-06:00

These are both Fiber Trends patterns that are ostensibly for kids, but have rather large sizing. They are constructed the same way and the berry hat has a really cool stitch pattern. It's not bobbles- it's a lot easier. You basically drop a stitch several rows then knit into the row where you stopped dropping. I realized that the same technique is used for this Madelinetosh cowl pattern that Susan (the new owner of Yarndogs) is working on as a shop sample. In 2 colors (as in the cowl), it looks even more complicated but is still incredibly simple!

About the sizing- the smallest size would fit a big kid at 19" around (probably 8-10 years old), and the largest easily fits most adults. When customers want to make a baby size, I've been having them buy DK weight yarn and size 4 and 6 needles and make the smallest size. The pattern calls for worsted and size 6 and 8. I used Madelinetosh Vintage for all my hats so far. (Moorland and Lolita for the berry hat, and Moorland and Terra for the pumpkin.)The berry one is a shop sample (in size small) that I had intended to go to a baby when it was done being a sample, but I'll probably need to make a smaller one. The pumpkin one is all mine! It's hanging out in the shop right now cause it hasn't really been cold enough to wear it much.

My Paleo Thanksgiving- Year 2

2012-11-30T15:23:00.000-06:00

For breakfast, I made this pumpkin bread french toast from PaleOMG, which was completely amazing!
The other new thing I made this year was her carmelized onion & sausage stuffing.
I really like it, but Bryan thought it wasn't casserole-y enough. I realized that we have totally different eating styles (at least for Thanksgiving). I like to get a bit of everything on the fork, and he likes to completely finish one thing at a time.
Everything else was the same as last year-
roasted brussels sprouts & bacon
braised turkey legs
sweet potato casserole and cranberry sauce from Paleo Comfort Foods
stuffed dates
pumpkin chai bars

FO: Big Snowy Owl

2012-11-20T16:18:00.000-06:00

So this is the Big Snowy Owl from purlbee.com. It's another one of those fads that was going around the shop and I really wanted to make one for some reason. The pattern calls for Blue Sky Bulky alpaca/wool, but I used Encore Mega instead. It was super fast and fun and cute, though I'm still not sure I need a huge stuffed owl around the house. Right now it's sitting on top of my crafty bookshelf. I know the eyes are crooked, but I'm not sure I care enough to go back and fix it. Maybe eventually.

FO: Lamb by Susan B. Anderson

2012-11-03T12:35:00.000-05:00

I've been wanting to make this little guy since Itty Bitty Toys was published several years ago. I love the pompadour hairdo! I was never quite sure what yarn I'd use for the body until we received the Rowan Purelife Sheep Breeds Fine Boucle at the shop a few weeks ago. This is a newer yarn that is thinner than the original Rowan Sheep Breeds Boucle (which I am not familiar with). Many people on Ravelry used the thicker Rowan boucle, but thought it was a bit too thick. This one worked out perfectly. This colorway is Masham stripe, with subtle stripes of the different natural colors of the Masham sheep. That's a breed I'd never heard of before!
The yarn for the legs and head is Blue Sky Cotton, and the whole thing is done on size 4 needles.

The legs are i-cord stuffed with drinking straws so the lamb can stand up on surfaces that aren't too slippery. I'm going to try sticking coffee stirrers through the straws and into the body to give more support so it can stand up on the tables at the shop. It was really fun and easy to make and very easy to sew together. Each piece is done seamlessly in the round or as i-cord, and the boucle texture hides any minor uneveness in the whipstitches use to attach the pieces to the body. I'll be teaching a class on this project several times this month.

Recipe Resource Master Post

2012-10-01T17:55:00.000-05:00

Here's a quick guide to where I find recipes. You can expect these sources to be free of grains, soy, and legumes. Some of these sources may call for dairy in some recipes. If you are on a strict challenge (hi, CFWG buddies!) or are dairy-free, you can always substitute coconut oil for ghee or butter and you can usually substitute coconut milk for cream. Skip the cheesy stuff (sad, I know).

Websites-
chowstalker.com
http://www.chowstalker.com/
recipe aggregator with most of the popular blogs and some obscure ones (like mine!)
Try one or both of the following tags if you are completely avoiding dairy-
http://www.chowstalker.com/dairy-free/
http://www.chowstalker.com/whole30/

Nom Nom Paleo
http://nomnompaleo.com/recipeindex
This is the site that kind of started it all for me. She's a local Bay Area blogger, so a good place to get the scoop on restaurants and local markets too! She tends to do a lot of protein sous vide which I'm not currently interested in, but there are a ton of fantastic slow cooker (and pressure cooker) recipes and great side dishes. I don't have her iPad app yet, but I'm planning on getting it.
Top picks-
Roasted broccoli & bacon
Slow cooker Korean grass fed short ribs
Slow cooker roast chicken & gravy
Paleo krabby patties
Slow cooker kalua pig

The Food Lovers Kitchen
http://beta.primal-palate.com/category/recipes/
Tons of recipes from the authors of Make It Paleo. It looks like most of the recipes in the book are on this site for free.
They tend towards grilling, which is great if you have a grill. There's a ton of baked goods for all special occasions if you're into that.
Top picks-
Jamaican jerk salmon (can easily be baked instead of grilled and you can experiment with other spice blends using the same method)
Smoky lime rib steaks
Dates stuffed with goat cheese (better than any baked good, IMHO)
Cinnamon coconut butter truffles (just coconut butter, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla!)

PaleOMG
http://paleomg.com/
a little heavy on the treats sometimes, but always entertaining!
Top picks-
Pistachio pesto chicken pasta
Mexican-inspired burgers

Jan's Sushi Bar
http://www.janssushibar.com/
I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't tried that many of her recipes, but I have most of them bookmarked!
Top pick-
Fig and chevre stuffed chicken breasts (utterly amazing!)

Books-

Well Fed (my current favorite)
http://www.amazon.com/Well-Fed-Paleo-Recipes-People/dp/061557226X
Getting bored? This book has tons of fun stuff with flavors from all around the world. Highly recommended.
You can download a 30-page sample PDF here, and follow the author's blog here.
Top picks-
Chocolate chili
Bora Bora fireballs
Cinnamon beef stew with orange gremolata
Morrocan meatballs

Practical Paleo
http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Paleo-Customized-Whole-Foods-Lifestyle/dp/1936608758
This is way more than a cookbook. Really awesome resource. It just came out, but I'll be cooking my way through it in the coming weeks during the nutrition challenge at CrossFit Willow Glen.
Top picks-
pumpkin pancakes
spiced lamb meatballs with fig compote
lamb chops with olive tapenade
(I've been cooking a lot of lamb since I took the lamb butchery class at 4505 Meats!)

Make it Paleo
http://www.amazon.com/Make-Paleo-Grain-Recipes-Occasion/dp/1936608863
highly recommended if you have a grill and enjoy using it. May not be so useful otherwise.
Top picks-
Smoky lime rib steaks
Jamaican jerk salmon
dates stuffed with goat cheese

Everyday Paleo
http://www.amazon.com/Everyday-Paleo-Sarah-Fragoso/dp/098256581X
lots of good stuff in here. don't expect perfect photography
Top picks-
shrimp tacos
Red curry beef stew

Paleo Comfort Foods
http://www.amazon.com/Paleo-Comfort-Foods-Homestyle-Gluten-Free/dp/1936608936
Spectacular for beginners who want to satisfy their cravings without wrecking their gut, people from the South and/or Texas , impressing family, and holidays.
Top picks-
homemade breakfast sausage (this has become my quick breakfast staple)
coconut flour tortillas (used this to make traditional Tex-Mex enchiladas)
sweet potato casserole
pork tenderloin p,b,&j
osso buco

Recipe: Chicken No-tortilla Soup

2012-09-15T21:06:00.002-05:00

Slow Cooker Chicken No-tortilla Soup
about 5-6 servings
This recipe is adapted from some recipes in a slow cooker cookbook I own. It leaves out the beans, corn, and tortilla chips from the typical tortilla soup and adds some other vegetables. This is incredibly easy to throw in the slow cooker before work!

3-4 chicken breast halves
2 15-oz cans Mexican stewed tomatoes or Rotel tomatoes
(I used 1 can regular stewed tomatoes and 1 can tomatoes with green chiles)
1 cup salsa (I used a tomatillo-based salsa)
1 4-oz can diced green chiles
1 15-oz can tomato sauce
1 cup green beans, cut into bite-size pieces (I used up some frozen green beans. You can add whatever vegetables you like.)

Combine in slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours. Check for seasonings when done. If you do not use tomatoes with Mexican spices, add 1tbsp each
chili powder
dried cumin

top with sliced avocado and cheese and sour cream if you do dairy.
Homemade root vegetable chips would be really cute as a topper, too, if you want something crunchy.

FO: Mondo Cable Cardigan

2012-04-21T17:50:00.000-05:00

I finished this Mondo Cable Cardi a few weeks back when there was still a little bit of cold weather left. It was another sort of impulse sweater I'd been considering doing one for a long time, and we got an especially nice dye lot of Dream in Color Classy in Gothic Rose in the shop. I alternated 3 skeins to make sure they were well blended. I was planning on doing a crochet edging down the front to cover up the sort of loose edge stitches from switching skeins, but I couldn't make it look very good. After blocking, the edge looked fine anyway. There are no buttonholes on this- just snaps with buttons sewn on top. Teri from the shop has the idea to use magnetic closures instead of snaps. I'm very curious to see how that turns out. I already made a hairline crack in one of my buttons from the pressure needed to snap the snap. This is the tallest collar option and I modified the ribbing at the bottom and cuffs to have more purl stitches for less tendency to roll than the original. I think that's the only change I made.

FO Roundup: Portland Hoodie Cowl, Tardis Socks, Shawl Collared Cowl

2012-04-13T22:12:00.000-05:00

I cranked out this Portland Hoodie Cowl in a couple of days after seeing it pop up on popular new patterns on Ravelry. Really simple and cute! It took 2 skeins exactly of Madelinetosh Tosh Chunky in Tart. I might just have to make another one in Opaline. (The batch we have right now is sooo pretty!) Now I have something for my black t-shirts that don't go with my purple set (more on that in a minute) and I can get some use out of my leather jacket maybe. Usually I just grab an actual hoodie.

I finally finished the 2nd Tardis sock! More on the pattern and my modifications here.

This was done a long time ago, but I didn't get a pic of the buttons for a long time. It's a Shawl Collared Cowl (another recent Yarndogs favorite) in Misti Alpaca Chunky to go with my purple set- a Capucine hat in Aquarella and Maine Morning Mitts in Road to China. The buttons on the cowl reflect a pretty copper color that goes with the hat.

I'm still cranking along on my Spectra Scarf. It may be time for an in-progress blocking to see how much further I have to go. I was messing around with some 2-at-a-time socks for the first time in ages and of course I had to rip them out and start over because I had the wrong needles. My needle gauge lied! It may have been a little white lie (the next half size up in a different brand still made it through the hole) but still! So I picked up another languishing sock. I also picked up my Siamese mittens for a few rows and I'm about to start a Featherweight Wrap to Knit (really a cardigan, but not the more famous Featherweight Cardigan, but pretty similar) from Dovetail Designs in Blue Heron Bamboo Lace as a shop sample. Bryan's out of town and I've already done some damage at Sur la Table, so I should have plenty of knitting time this weekend!

Recipe- Curry Chicken Salad

2012-03-30T20:58:00.000-05:00

Here's a tweaked version of my tangy chicken salad recipe. I started putting curry powder in my chicken salad just because I recently bought some from Penzeys, then just a day or two later I found curry sauerkraut from Farmhouse Culture (my favorite!) at the Ferry Building farmer's market! So I feel it's evolved into something that deserves its own post.

Farmhouse Culture is only available in California or a couple spots in Nevada. Diane from Balanced Bites came up with this recipe for making your own fermented raw sauerkraut after she moved away from the Bay Area.

For every 2 cups of cooked chicken-
4tbsp homemade mayo from the previous recipe, with or without the additional spices and lemon. I originally used an olive oil/avocado oil blend, but then I couldn't find avocado oil and used macadamia oil for half the total oil instead. Either one is great.
1/2 cup broccoli slaw (easier and more interesting than celery!)
2 tbsp curry raisin sauerkraut (Farmhouse Culture)
1 tsp Penzeys Tandoori Seasoning
1 tsp Penzeys Sweet Curry Seasoning (there's no sugar in it- it's just called that for some reason)
1 tbsp raisins
a few pecans or walnuts
chopped wedge of tart apple

WIP Roundup- Spectra Scarf, Mondo Cable Cardi, Tardis Socks

2012-03-19T23:33:00.000-05:00

I'd been toying with the idea of starting a Spectra scarf of my own for a long time, and even dreamt about it once, but never quite decided on the right yarn and colorway. After pouring over other people's Ravelry projects, I really fell in love with this one color of Zauberball. Then I realized we had that color on the shelf, the shop started carrying solid colors of Kauni, and we got in an awesome shawl pin that matched the colorway perfectly! Everything fell into place and I started on this very addictive pattern about a week ago.

So technically I finished this Mondo Cable Cardi last night and wore it today, but here's a still kinda in progress photo. I am thrilled that we're having another cold spell so I can wear it a lot. I made it in Dream in Color Classy in Gothic Rose. I alternated 3 skeins at a time, 1 row each. That was a little weird at the front neck cast on area, but I managed it with minimal weird floats. It wasn't an issue to keep things from tangling on the body, but I was getting a little impatient having to untangle the yarn balls every so often on the sleeves. I'd still always recommend alternating skeins.

I'll probably be finished with these Tardis socks later tonight. The first one looks funny here because they are sized for Bryan but I only have an Amy-sized sock blocker. I think the pattern was for 72 stitches but I bumped it up to 81 (80 for the ribbing and foot) by spacing out the words a little and adding an extra 9-stitch repeat of the window colorwork and texture. The yarn is my Merino/cashmere/nylon sock that I dyed just for this.

FO Roundup: 3rd BSJ, Hemp Market Bag

2012-03-16T23:51:00.000-05:00

Here's a Baby Surprise Jacket I made for a high school friend's baby. It's my 3rd one, all in Claudia Hand Painted Sport. This colorway is Eat Your Veggies.

I also recently finished a Shop 'til You Drop bag from Lanaknits Designs in Allhemp6. I love it so much! I made the medium size and had to get a 3rd skein of yarn to finish the second handle. The official site says there are 2 sizes, but I swear the pattern I bought at Yarndogs had 3! I need to get an action shot because it stretches out super huge and holds a ton of stuff!

Here's the only (kinda crummy) photo I have of the woven scarf I made from Creatively Dyed Steele in Cumin. I'm always shocked at how little yarn weaving takes! It's a good stashbuster, but it creates lots of leftovers. This is the project you can see me starting at the last spin in I made it to.

Recipe- Tangy Chicken Salad

2012-02-21T18:12:00.000-06:00

Here's the deets on how to make my favorite lunch- chicken salad with paleo-friendly (ie, non-canola) homemade mayo.

After I got friendly with fat but before I started avoiding industrial seed oils, I was in love with this stuff called Lemonaise. Now I have a homemade version that I think is even better because the oils I use now have actual flavor. A lot of paleo mayo recipes call for "light tasting" supermarket olive oils. After reading Extra Virginity, I am pretty squeamish about that. Even if it does actually contain olive oil and not seed oils(staggering amounts of fraud in the industry), it is probably a lesser grade product that has been deodorized and refined. The whole point of making my own mayo is to avoid "vegetable" and seed oils, so I've gone with a mix of avocado oil and the Artois Ranch EVOO by California Olive Ranch that is naturally a bit milder than some EVOO, but still very flavorful. It might not be for everybody, but I've grown to enjoy the olive flavor and with all the spices I add it isn't overpowering in the final mayo or final dish.

I use the process and more or less the basic recipe from The Clothes Make the Girl/ Well Fed for the base. I used a 50/50 mix of the avocado and EVOO.
1 whole egg (room temp)
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup + 1 cup 50/50 blend of avocado oil and EVOO

Blend all ingredients except the last cup of oil in the blender for 20-30 seconds.
Add the rest of the oil extremely slowly.

Once I've got the basics, I tweak the spices to my liking. This time, I used-
1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
pinch of cayenne pepper
another couple of squirts of lemon juice

And on to the chicken salad.
1 cup shredded chicken meat- I usually use the slow cooker chicken recipe from Nom Nom Paleo. It comes out super moist and you have all the juices to make a gravy or save for another recipe.
2 tbsp of the mayo described above
1 tbsp raw sauerkraut- I love Farmhouse Culture horseradish + leek. I really don't taste the horseradish in the final dish- it's just more tang and crunch. You can use chopped pickles instead. I hear good things about Bubbies brand.
1 celery rib, chopped
1 green apple wedge (about 1/8 of small apple), chopped
a handful of walnuts or pecans (or omit if you are geeking about about reducing Omega 6 consumption, but my philosophy is nuts are ok and I just make sure to take my fish oil)
about 1/2 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves
a few hits of freshly ground black pepper

It's great served with tomato wedges and/or avocado slices. I was out of both, so I just threw in some sprouts.
This actually evolved out of my tuna salad lunch. The only other difference is the tuna version doesn't have rosemary and usually has pickles.

EDIT: I recently started drizzling a bit of fig balsamic vinegar from The Olive Bar in Campbell on the chicken salad. Uh-mazing! I also wanted to throw in my tweaks to my favorite dessert- chocolate monkey from the Caveman Cuisine blog. I think I have a thing for little rituals where I assemble the same dish over and over again. Unlike the chicken salad, I have this at most once a week- preferably after my Convict Conditioning and/or Primal Blueprint Fitness (free!) bodyweight exercises. Basically, fry some sliced ripe plantain in coconut oil. Mash and add chopped unsweetened chocolate and cinnamon. I have discovered it is amazing with coconut milk or heavy cream, cocoa nibs, and if you're feeling really crazy, my new favorite treat find- Lydia's Organics Apple Grainless Cereal.

Recipe Roundup- Grain Free Treat Edition

2012-02-19T01:36:00.000-06:00

Oh, hi! I just found this post from the holidays which was languishing as a draft. The season for wintery treats is mostly over, but here it is.

Over X-mas, I tried out a few more grain free treat recipes. These vegan pecan bars were great despite my skepticism about the lack of eggs, even though the crust wasn't initially cooked all the way. We're pretty picky about pecan pie-like treats, being from Texas. "My" antique gas oven is incredibly uneven and I'm just now figuring out how to optimally use it. The top looked fairly brown, so I went ahead and poured on the topping (which initially didn't look voluminous enough but was really fine) and put it back in the oven. After letting it cool, I sliced into the bars to discover an oozing crust! I put a lid on the dish and put it back in the oven on the lowest rack until the crust firmed up.
These pumpkin bars (which happen to be vegan as well if you follow the recipe) were amazing! I couldn't find agar powder, so I used a packet of gelatin instead. They turned out maybe a smidge too firm, but they were delicious! I was skeptical about the crust not sticking so I sprinkled a little almond flour in the bottom of the dish. I don't think this was necessary. They bars didn't really stick to the dish- they peeled off easily once a corner was lifted.

The hands-down winner is still these dates stuffed with goat cheese. Dates are pretty much candy as-is.

Finished Yarns- The Borg and Zombies

2012-01-08T00:14:00.001-06:00

I spun up the singles from my Star Trek SAL batts from A Dyeing Wish several months ago, but I never quite decided how I'd ply them until recently. There were 3 batts- one was black and light gray with red sparkle, one black with red and green sparkle, and one black with red, green, and yellow sparkle. I thought about just using them as singles or maybe chain plying for 3 different but coordinating skeins. Finally I decided just to ply the 3 singles together for a consistently colorful yarn.

My Braaaaiiiins colorway batts from Heavenly Fiber also arrived as 3 batts, but all very similar. I spun up one at a time, splitting the batt lengthwise in strips so each single went from black to gray to light gray/pink. I plied the 3 singles all going in the same direction to get a gradient yarn. I have about 160 yards of worsted-ish yarn. I'm thinking a hat or cowl/scarflet. That may be a little boring, but it needs to be something I can wear a lot and show off that doesn't come in pairs. :)

While I'm talking Etsy shops, I'd like to mention a few others I've fallen in love with. ZooZ jewelry from Greece made my silver bat necklace and is seriously tempting me with the matching earring and the T-Rex design. I recently received some silver and enamel constellation earrings (mine are medium and tiny) from the Montreal-based Mariane Alexandre. They are sold as singles so you can mix and match sizes and colors. I've been a fan of Sunbasilgarden soaps for a long time and loaded up on minty and chocolatey scented soaps just before the holidays. Now she has a ton of adorable Valentine's Day themed soaps (like pink cupcakes!) in her shop.

FO Roundup: Mukluk Slippers, Adipose & Tarn Ugly Rug

2012-01-07T23:38:00.001-06:00

Apparently I have a thing for knitting things for my feet out of Noro Hitsuji. I almost used this colorway for my felted clogs, so I decided to use it for these Mukluk slippers that are quite popular at the shop right now. Most people go for the low tops, but I thought the neon color and high tops had a nifty 80's legwarmer thing going on, especially with the two-piece suede bottoms that make them look like dance shoes. They are slightly ridiculous, but they make me smile and no one outside the house who's not a knitter will probably never see me in them. :) They are really comfortable and warm and will stay on my feet while I sleep, unlike the clogs. The construction is interesting to knit and I love the result, but to be honest the process of knitting chunky yarn on size 7 needles is a little intense. Definitely more of a "little bit every day" project than something to be worked on for hours at a time.

One of my X-mas gifts for Bryan was this knitted Adipose from Doctor Who. The BBC forced the removal of this pattern from the author's blog, but thanks to the wibbly wobbly timey wimey-ness of archive.org, it can be found.

Finally, here's the rug I recently crocheted from tarn (t-shirt yarn). It was fun and incredibly quick. Here's the method I used for cutting the shirts, down to the exact same ruler! I cut my strips about 1" and used an enormous size S (20mm) crochet hook. I called it "ugly" because my color joins suck, I forgot to stagger my increases all the time and it started to get a little hexagon-y, and it looks funny where I fastened it off because I did a spiral instead of rounds. I'm a self-taught knitter, but I'm really a self-taught crocheter. Most of the time, I can't be bothered to go look up the best way to do something when I think I can wing it. We'll be having a tarn making party at the next meeting of the Knitspiration guild. Feel free to contact me if you're an interested local who's not already a member!

Food Post: My Paleo Thanksgiving

2011-12-21T00:51:00.000-06:00

Quick note of explanation- Thanks to the Read it and Weep Podcast and Violet Blue stoking my curiosity, I read Tim Ferriss's 4 Hour Body back in May and started the slow carb diet. I ended up adding in more healthy fats and leaving out beans at most meals after being influenced by a lot of paleo recipe blogs. I've had a ton (well, 33 lbs) of success and would highly recommend it to anybody. I'll probably write a post with more details and resources, but I wanted to get this recipe post out there while it's still the holiday season. I wanted to try a grain free Thanksgiving 1) because it would be interesting and perhaps challenging 2) to keep it low-ish carb (lower than traditional Thanksgiving, anyway) so I could enjoy the leftovers and 3) so I wouldn't feel super sick afterwards. I still do the 4HB style cheat day thing, but I often keep it wheat-free if I don't want to feel like crap all day.

Bird- Herb Roasted Turkey Breast with Pan Gravy from Rachael Ray
I probably used arrowroot instead of flour to thicken the gravy, but I don't remember. The gravy was different and good and the meat was good for a turkey breast, which is never all that great. When I ran out of turkey after a couple days and I still had leftovers of everything else, I did braised turkey legs which were sooo good! That's what I'll be doing from now on.

Sweet potatoes- Sweet Potato Casserole from Paleo Comfort Foods, page 200. It looks like someone blogged it here. I'm loving this cookbook, but there's no yield listed on any of the recipes and that makes planning annoying. The recipe I used to use (from Cooking Light magazine) had huge quantities of brown sugar in it. This one has no sweeteners (they're called sweet potatoes for a reason, folks) but is just as good.

Brussels sprouts with bacon- from Nom Nom Paleo. I don't do the vinegar.

Cranberry apple sauce from Paleo Comfort Foods, p 188. Holy crap, this was delicious! It made a ton, and I was eating this for days.

Stuffed dates from Primal-Palate.com. This is one for the cheese eaters. Sooo good! Not pictured because we ate all them before meal time.

Pumpkin pie from Nutty Kitchen. I burned the crust, but we still ate the whole thing. The ancient gas oven in our place is super uneven and miscalibrated by a hundred degrees or so. The other tricky thing about it is using honey as a sweetener. It's hard to get it evenly distributed in the filling. A lot of the honey had sunk to the bottom when I went to pour the filling into the pie, and there was more filling than the pie could handle, so a significant proportion of the honey in the recipe never made it into the pie. I didn't think it was that big of a deal, but Bryan thought the pie wasn't sweet enough. Some sugar free ice cream made it all better. I'll be experimenting with some other bars and pies at Christmas & I'll keep you updated!

Stuffing- this one's a bit complicated. I made a batch of the almond bread in Paleo Comfort foods (p 116). Looks like someone blogged that recipe here. I tried some before cutting it up into cubes and it was surprisingly tasty! I made a double batch of hazelnut bread from Healthy Living How To. The stuffing recipe on that site is somewhat similar to what I did, and the stuffed squash looks amazing, but I wanted a more traditional less chunky more casserole-y stuffing. I took 8 cups total of almond and hazelnut bread cubes and plugged it into an amalgamation of a couple of traditional recipes from the intarwebs. It went something like this-

8 cups almond flour and/or hazelnut flour bread cubes
1 pound breakfast sausage
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 cups chopped celery
1 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp sage
chopped apple (I used only a small wedge or two, but will do more next time)
up to 3 cups chicken broth

Preheat oven to 325 F.
Cook sausage and set aside. Sautee onions and celery until tender. Combine sausage, celery, and onions with bread cubes, spices, and apple. I added chicken broth until the mixture held together and transferred it to a large baking dish. Then I added a little bit more until it seemed properly wet. It turned out I added a little too much liquid, but no biggie! I baked covered for about 45 minutes.

FO Roundup: 2nd Woven Scarf, Capucine Hat, Road to China Mitts

2011-12-20T21:21:00.001-06:00

Here's my second woven scarf. This one is Cascade 220 for the warp and Noro Silk Garden for the weft. I think my selvedges are getting a lot better! I double stranded the edge warp threads and that plus a thicker yarn plus practice seems to have helped a lot.

I had my eye on this lovely purple and gold Malabrigo Aquarella for a while, then I stumbled across the Capucine hat pattern shortly after I bought the yarn. Like many things I've been making lately, it's slightly ridiculous but I love it! The original pattern calls for bulky yarn but uses a size 8 needle. I used SpiderWomanKnits' modifications for a more typical size 11 needle as a starting point, but I found a couple of things unclear. This PDF by RosakaKnit has line-by-line instructions (the first page) that match what I did almost exactly. The only other change I made was a chain selvedge at the edges of the garter stitch section.

The other day I was at work when I got a text that the heater at the house was broken, so I came home with a couple skeins of Fiber Company Road to China worsted and whipped up some Maine Morning Mitts.

I'd been wanting to try this yarn for forever! It's extra warm and goes well with my purple Capucine.

FO Roundup: Longhorn Clogs and My First Woven Scarf!

2011-11-23T22:47:00.002-06:00

After I made the Noro clogs for myself, I felt our roommate John (UT MBA) was being left out! I didn't quite finish them in time for his birthday, but it was close. I had a tricky time figuring out how to needle felt the longhorns. I didn't quite trust myself to freehand with unspun fiber or yarn, or even with the kind of template you hold right over the work and sort of fold the loose edges in. I wanted to cut the shapes out from a sheet of felt, but most felt you find in shops is 100% synthetic. Beverly's carried some thick felted wool sheets from Nepal, but not in white. I didn't have much time, so I hand felted my own sheet of Merino felt and cut the appliques from that. John agrees that felted clogs are the best thing ever.

I've been talking about learning to weave for a long time (yay, stashbusting!), and the right time finally came along when Yarnhunter wanted to sell her Knitter's Loom. Here's my first scarf! I need more practice with my selvedges, but I really enjoyed it. It almost feel like it went too quickly and used too little yarn! :P
I still have at least one more scarf's worth of the Regia Hand Dye Effect I used for the weft, and another skein in warm colors. I thought the texture of the yarn would show up a little bit more, but apparently not. I have a lot to learn! I used Cascade 220 Sport for the warp.

FO Roundup: Triana Ruffle Scarf & Noro Felted Clogs

2011-11-11T22:27:00.003-06:00

It only took me a few days to jump on the Triana bandwagon when we started carrying it at Yarndogs this fall. It's one of the more interesting ruffle yarns I've seen, with an almost seaweed-like lacy texture. It also has a great feel and sheen. You use the same sort stabby technique as most other ruffle yarns.
For my scarf, I striped 2 rows of solid black with 2 rows of the multicolor red. I used slightly more than half of each ball of yarn, and it took me about 4 hours. It is maybe a little silly and not so practical, but wearing it makes me laugh. It went great with my devil horns on Halloween.

I was trying to decide which yarn to use for my own pair of felted clogs when we started carrying a new chunky striping Noro yarn called Hitsuji.
I am a big Noro fan and I liked working with the yarn, but I think I would have liked shorter stripes for this project. Not all the colors showed up in each clog. I needle felted bits and pieces of the other colors onto the clogs after felting.
I have used the Fiber Trends suede bottoms for all 3 pairs I have made so far. It's kind of slippery on hard floors without them!

FO: Forest Fiesta Swirl Jacket

2011-10-26T22:45:00.004-05:00

My biggest project of the late summer/fall so far. The book Knit, Swirl! has been a huge hit at Yarndogs since it came out. I knew right away I wanted to knit one but I waited until after Sock Summit to cast on. First, I tried Silk Garden Sock instead of Silk Garden Lite because I was in love with one of the colors. Robin from the shop did this and hers was gorgeous if a bit smaller than expected. It came out like a more typical jacket shape with smaller lapels that couldn't be worn as a hood. I already have 2 jackets with that silhouette, though. I really like the Baja hoodie surfer vibe with the hood. I promised myself this summer I'd take surfing lessons this fall, but moving got in the way of that. I plan on doing it next month, though! I'm already doing pushups to get ready. That's part of a whole 'nother blog post, though!
I swatched and got gauge with the SGS, but when I started the jacket it didn't stripe! Robin's colorway only had about 3 different colors in it, but mine had about 6, so my color runs were much shorter. I set aside the sock yarn (perhaps for Galia from Phatfiber's Madeira pattern) and bought some Silk Garden Lite. Stripes achieved! I'm really glad Noro brought back Silk Garden Lite, but there aren't that many good colors yet. I do like the one I used, but I might like it more without the brown. I always buy extra yarn when I'm dealing with Noro and care even the slightest bit about having the color sequence come out the same every repeat.

Modifications-
Shortened sleeves by 8 stitches either side. This may have been too much of a change, but I'm told they will continue to stretch out. The tutorial on how to cut off the cuffs if the sleeves end up too long spooked me a little. I decided to shorten the sleeves after I tried on Robin's first jacket and measured her sleeves but I forgot she didn't pleat her cuffs.
The pattern will tell you how many stitches per inch on the sleeve so you can make adjustments. It says to space out your changes along the length of the sleeve. I subtracted 1 or 2 stitches from each set of cast ons for the sleeve. You really don't want to change the number of the last set of cast ons, though! This is the number of cuff stitches and should be fixed. If you mess with it, there will be a stair step in the middle of your cuff that will look funny and be hard to seem. Write down whatever changes you make so you can do the same shaping in the bind offs at the end of the sleeve.
Other Tips-
First, check the errata. Even for the 2nd edition. The only mistake in this pattern was in the chart, which I didn't use.
The row gauge on this is pretty hard to get, but really important. Knitting this was a little stressful. First, I was paranoid I might have twisted the CO when I joined it, then I was worried about it coming out big enough because of the row gauge and about the sleeve length. Because of the construction, you can't really try it on as you go. Basically I just went with my swatch and blocked the hell out of the finished sweater.
To get a jacket large enough to wear the collar as a hood, pick one size larger than you might otherwise choose from your measurements. At the beginning of the book, she says all the models fall into the range suggested for a size 1. The pattern info says the model is wearing a size 2 in the photo. I made a size 3. I didn't have any problems with the sleeves being too small. I tried on Robin's size 2 in the sock yarn and the sleeves were extremely tight in the upper arms.

FO: Princess Animal Banner

2011-10-26T12:55:00.000-05:00

Kathy wanted to know if I could take the concept from this little double knit coaster with her logo and turn it into something HUGE to hang outside the shop.

So I did!

And in time for Debbie Stoller's visit next month!
It's a party for the Bust DIY Guide to Life book by Laurie Henzel and Debbie.
Here's the info direct from the Princess herself-

Register now at: http://bustprincessanimalparty.eventbrite.com

Who better to create a Guide for Life than Debbie Stoller, Editor in Chief of BUST magazine and author of the Stitch & Bitch series) and Laurie Henzel, Creative Director of BUST. The book is stacked with the best ideas in DIY, health, beauty, fashion, cooking, finance, and way more. Debbie & Laurie will be signing the book, hobnobbing, and leading us in a project from the book--yup, Sno-Globes. Did we mention there's free booze?

This event is FREE, with purchase of the book ($29.95, but you'll also leave with a custom sno-globe and a belly full o' booze, and that's really priceless, isn't it?).

The deets:

Date: November 3, 2011

Time: 7-8p for book signing

8-10p for book celebration and Sno-Globe Bar with Laurie & Debbie

Location: Princess Animal, 803 Valencia Street

Reserve your spot now. This is a very limited event cause the store is small!

FO: Amiga Cardi

2011-10-16T01:21:00.005-05:00

Early in the summer, Knitspiration Guild had an Amiga knitalong. Here's mine. We talked about how to adjust raglan shaping when necessary for a custom fit. I usually do pretty well with a standard shaping, so I didn't make any modifications in that section other than changing the kfb increases to mirrored M1 increases.
It's a Knitty.com pattern by Mags Kandis. I wasn't super thrilled about it in the beginning, but I made a lot of changes to make it more similar to the Featherweight Cardigan from Knitbot (Hannah Fettig). I mostly set it aside during the build up to Sock Summit and I picked it up again in earnest on the way home.
The thing that bugged me the most about the original was the rolled hem that seemed to ride up really badly in the back in the pattern photos. It was pretty cropped to begin with, too.
I added waist shaping, made it significantly longer, and changed the rolled hem to a 1x1 rib. I added decreases to taper the sleeves more and changed the rolled cuff to 1x1 rib. I need to go back and make the sleeves a couple of inches longer. The way they are right now (right at the elbow), they are exactly the wrong length and the ribbing gets really bunched up when I bend my arm.
Other than that mild adjustment that needs to be made, I love this thing!
The Rowan Panama feels great and I was a little surprised how much I liked working with it. It's a little bit splitty, but not as bad as I expected. I love the colors, too! I talked a couple of other people in the guild into using it too. :)
The Dorset buttons were fun to make and I got to add a little pink to the sweater! My first instinct was to do the whole thing in that color, but I got talked out of it. I had just finished a pink-ish garment. I just had to buy 1 ball of pink for the buttons or some other kind of trim! The 2 colors together ended up perfectly matching this dress I got at Banana Republic.
Oh, I almost forgot about my big fail! I have a tendency to just dismiss certain parts of pattern instructions when I think I have a better way. I thought I'd skip marking the button placement before picking up stitches for the rolled neck edge and just do it when it was time to make the buttonholes. Well, pretty much regardless of the length of your needle, it's not going to lay right with the stitches on a cable. I made my best guess but it ended up being way too low and I had to redo it. I didn't rip all the way back to the buttonholes- I dropped down and picked back up to get rid of one of them and dropped down and made another one higher. That was kind of funky, but it was a loose enough gauge (fingering weight on a size US 8) to have some slack to squeeze in a new buttonhole. Yeah, so I should have just tried it on and marked it when it said I was supposed to.

Modification details-
Changed kfb raglan increases to mirrored m1 increases.
Length from underarm lengthened to 16" from 10".
Waist shaping- decreased 2 stitches each side every 6th round 7 times, knit one inch without shaping, increased 2 stitches each side every 6th round 7 times. (I just realized this is a 6" difference and actually twice the shaping I meant to do, but it works for me!)
Changed rolled hem to 1x1 rib.
Decreased 2 stitches every 8th round 8 times for each sleeve.
Changed rolled sleeve hem to 1x1 rib.

Knitspiration Dye Day Photos

2011-10-16T00:47:00.002-05:00

How is it October already?? August and September got sucked up finding a new place to live, moving, and getting my business license in the new place (the hardest by far of the 3 cities I've been in up to this point).
Here are the pics from the Knitspiration Guild dye day I hosted in September. It was great fun and I'm happy to say I should be able to host again in the spring. I know there were a fair number of people who couldn't make it this time. Click the photo to see the rest of the Flickr set.