Swatch

Last fall I acquired 5 skeins of, very delicious and discontinued Worsted Ware (a superwash merino that is as the name suggests worsted weight) at the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Barn sale, I especially love the darker of the blueish ones.



I've been wrestling with patterns trying to decide what to make them into for the last year, and had just started a cabled scarf with it for a test knit. Unfortunately however my cousin who also got a skein of the Worsted Ware, didn't have as much trouble and used it to make a very cute bolero for her extremely cute daughter...

It fulled the first time it was washed, in fact she said it felted better than the Twisted, which is actually intended for fulling.

So I frogged the scarf and, took about 2 grams off each of the skeins, and knit them up into a swatch strip(something I never do) on needles a size larger than recommended. I wanted to make sure that it had plenty of room to full if it was so inclined. When I was knitting it I noticed was that the pale blue is substantially heavier than the other others, I think it may actually be a bulky.

After I'd rubbed, yanked, and swished it around in some very hot Dawny water, I had my results.



While I did get at least a little fuzzing on all of them, due to the extreme mistreatment the colors had endured, the green and pale blue are only two that went for it completely.

NwRSA Spin-in

Well I'm not a spinner but yesterday I attended my first spin-in. It was pretty low key and there was a rather impressive number of vendors there considering the small size of the event.



I got a couple skeins of Super Sock from Abstract Fiber, the green one is Sweet Pea and the other is a Limited Edition.



It was really something to watch some of those ladies spin, almost like magic. I mean I've tried to use a drop spindle once or twice and to see these ladies pulling a fine, even thread from a clump of roving with extremely deceptive ease, was awesome.



Oh yeah, and a dog named Gladys was there too. She was so sweet!

Persimmons & Apples

Ah fall, it's dark most of the time, the leaves brilliantly colored and falling, there is a nip in the air along with quite a bit of rain, and the persimmons and apples are in season.



Persimmons are a fruit I tried for the first time last year, so I don't really know all that much about them other than they are a delicious snack. I do however intend to experiment with them this season, I just haven't made it to my local Asian market to pick up a box.

One tip to keep in mind if you try the Hachiya variety (the one in back on it's side in the picture above) is that you need to wait until the fruit is very soft and has an almost jelly-like texture inside, otherwise it's VERY astringent, the other common variety the Fuyū (the one that looks a little like a flat tomato) is ok to eat when it's still fairly hard and has a completely different texture from the Hachiya, it's a lot like a plum.

I know that traditionally, at least in my neck of the woods, Granny Smith apples are used in baking, but I don't really see the point in using sour fruit and then adding a whole bunch of sugar to it. Instead I like to use Breburn, Fuji, or Honey Crisp, they're all much sweeter, great for snacking, and they hold up well in baking. This year I think I'll experiment with the Pink Lady and Macintosh varieties to see how well they hold up in baking.

One of my family's favorite desserts is Apple Crisp, for the first apple recipe of the season I used Fujis and a basic crisp recipe, but I added a little almond extract & pie spice in with the apples. It was delicious, and completely gone the next day so I didn't get a picture of it. Heck I barely got a piece of it before the apple monster devoured it.

Last weekend I picked up some more Breburns and Fujis and made a deep dish apple pie in a 9"x9".



For this I kind of combined two recipes, Traditional Apple Pie from Sandi Anderson and Super Apple Pie from Alton Brown. The reason for this was that I really loved the Alton Brown recipe but it's was just too fussy for me.

Using the traditional recipe as the base I doubled the crust, and used half shortening and half butter because both are used in the Alton recipe as well as using hard apple cider instead of ice water to moisten the dough. I must say the smell of the dough with the cider in it was wonderful especially while it was baking.

The filling I pretty much winged, I used caramel sauce and only about a quarter of the sugar it called for in the traditional recipe. Instead of just using cinnamon I used pie spice which also has cloves and nutmeg in it. I also used more of the hard cider and some lemon juice in it, as called for in the Alton recipe, though the recipe called for lime juice.

I think the result was pretty good, though next time I think I'll use more caramel in the pie.

Makin' A Punkin

So every year my workplace has a pumpkin decorating contest, they buy a whole bunch of little pumpkins and put them out in the lobby for everyone to pick through. The deal is you get 10 days to decorate it, you can't carve it (I think that's because they don't want them to rot), the pumpkin must be visible, and you have to use one of the provided pumpkins. Then for the week before Halloween the submitted pumpkins sit on display in the lobby and people vote for their favorite.

I'm not much of a painter, though so I decided to try using Sculpty. I started with the nose, I was intentionally making it over sized for the pumpkin I had, and I have to admit I was thinking of Yubaba from Spirited Away when I started.



I made the center bit first and then cut open a sphere of clay, hollowed the halves out and attached them. I think it came out pretty good, it's a little uneven almost like one nostril is flared or the nose is twitching, and it's nice & pointy.

After I had the nose done I started working on the eyes. I started with another ball of clay that I cut in half and shaped, then I rolled out a piece of clay and pressed around the top of the eyes and then trimmed it down to look like a eye lid. It looked a little top heavy at that point so I rolled out another piece of clay for the under lid.



For the Iris I ended up using the top of a bottle of nail polish, because I couldn't figure out another way to make the iris really round. As it was the iris is too small and it looks kinda creepy.



I used the same trick for the pupil, only this time it was a bottle of Tacky Glue.

I wanted to do a really cool, half snarl for the mouth but I ran out of time, so I just made them big and pouty. I was pretty much ready to bake them but I occurred to me that I needed a good way to secure them to the pumpkin, so I used fatheaded jewelry pins and extra bits of clay to secure them.

Once they were baked it was time for paint!



I started with a base coat of white on everything, and started with the lips which I painted an out-of-the-tube red. I wanted a really brilliant blue for the iris so I used nail polish, and for the eyeshadow I mixed a slightly red violet, I really wish I'd had some fine glitter to use instead, but oh well. I also had this idea to use thin costume feathers for the eye lashes but they didn't workout so I painted kohl on instead.



The pumpkin itself, I painted half white & half black, and then I cut a big handful of worsted weight black yarn into approximately 8" lengths, smeared the black part of the pumpkin in tacky glue, folded the strands in half, and used tweezers to place the middle along the center seam of the pumpkin.



I also used some rug cotton I got for free from the BMFA barn sale a few years ago to make the core of the bun, painted it black, applied the tacky glue, and used more yarn to cover it.

The end result...



I like the concept for this piece, but some aspects of the execution need work. When I get some more free time I plan to try again with a styrofoam ball.

Knitting Frenzy

I just realized that I really haven't posted anything up in a while, but it's because I've been knitting like mad the last couple weeks. Well ok, and because I got the new Kingdom Hearts game for the DS.

I'm really jazzed about how much yarn I've been able to get through, it gives me hope that maybe someday my stash will really actually fit in it's tub instead of me laying the lid on top of the overflowing bin and telling myself that I haven't exceeded the self imposed stash limit.

Anyhow what's gotten me so motivated is that Relay For Life is gearing up again and the first craft fair that the "P-town Moseying Stitchers" (yep team PMS) are participating in is November 13th.

In the last two weeks I've been able to get six baby hats done. Three of them are for about a 3 to 6 month old, I used the Sweet & Simple Baby Hat pattern by Debbie Bodmer. I made a couple of modifications, I did a little over and inch of 1x1 ribbing and I didn't make the stem long enough to knot.



The other three should fit a 6 to 9 month old, and only have the slightest bit of a nub at the top.



I was also able to get three pairs of booties made, a personal best. I still have another three pairs of booties to make though so I'm not quite done yet. For these I used the Mary Jane Bootie pattern by Lucie Sinkler. Instead of knitting them flat I did a two needle cast-on and knit them in the round. Also instead of using a cable cast-on for the strap I used backward loop.



I also have to sew in the ends on all of this...



Yeah, I kind of tend to put doing it off until I absolutely have to, I really really don't like sewing in ends. I really meant to get started on it this weekend but it didn't happen.

I did however go down to Sellwood for the grand opening party for Sock Dreams.



It was great, there was a stilt walking hula hoop artist, and a dude with a banjo, oh and they had a pretty decent spread too.



I got some really awesome socks.

Greek Festival 2009!

This weekend I did end up being able to make it out to the Greek Festival at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral in SE. I'd never been before, but apparently they've been holding the festival for over 50 years, and it started as a way for the ladies of the church raise money to help pay off the old mortgage when they moved to a new location.



I just have to say that it was INSANELY crowded, but first things first, I needed Talents.



Talents are white plastic chips used instead of currency at the food booths outside. I set myself a budget of $15 to start with, because I didn't really know what to expect with regards to food costs.
Now that I had some "money" it was time for one of the most wonderful things in the world Spanakopita.



It was exceptional, a light flaky, crispy crust with a warm melty spinach & feta filling. YUM!

After I had my fix, I started looking around at the other dining options ans settled on something I hadn't had before called Loukoumas, they are a fried yeast dough coated in honey and sprinkled with cinnamon. It was very sweet and eye rollingly delicious.



Feeling a little sugared out, I headed for the extremely long Gyros line, and while I was waiting, I was able to get a little work done on my current WIP.


Harmony needles are so very pretty, and wonderful to use, one day I will have a whole set.



Mm, gyro...
It was a fairly simple one, they use the frozen pre-sliced meat, taziki, tomatoes, and onion filling.

After I'd eaten, again I headed over to check out the other side and got to watch some very industrious cooks and live music with dancing.





Unfortunately by this time I was so over stimulated that I was getting close to needing to leave, so I counted up my remaining Talents and started wading through all the people to the pastry counter.



I had just enough left to get one of each of the desserts available, so I got a piece of Baklava, a Kourambie, and a Melomakarona.



These little beauties I got to go and saved for later, and they were also wonderful, I will definitely be going again next year, but I think I'll go on Saturday and try to be there in the morning before it gets too crowded. If I'm feeling exceptionally brave I may even stay for more of the cultural events.

Introducing Happy Knits!

Last night my cousin A, her husband R, their gorgeous little girl S, and I all went to the grand opening for then new yarn store on Hawthorne called Happy Knits.

But first, the food carts. In SE on Hawthorne two blocks down from Yarn Garden and four blocks down from Happy Knits there is a corner with several food carts. It really doesn't look like anything from the street, but you will not be disappointed for going inside.



R stopped at Potato Champion for some fries and was very generous with sharing them, while we waited for dinner. Potato Champion is known for being open late and their poutine, which if you've not had it is fries with gravy and fresh cheese curd on top of them. That being said, the fries with only a little salt on them were awesome! They were perfectly cooked with a crispy outside and a nice soft center.



Now dinner we got from Whiffies Fried Pies, A and I went with the BBQ brisket with mozzarella, and R got the chicken pot pie. Ok, so they hand you this hot, foil wrapped, little thing that looks very much like one of those hostess fruit pies. Luckly, shape is pretty much the only thing they have in common, the crust is flaky and buttery, the brisket was very tender and they used a sweet BBQ sauce with just a little heat, and the melted cheese makes it just perfect. R said the pot pie one was good as well, and I have to admit it smelled tasty.



For dessert I tried the Nutella and banana crepe from Perierra Creperie, and A got a Marrion berry pie from Whiffies (I've had them before and they are delicious).



I'd not been to a creperie before, and I thought it was really cool to watch them make it. The crepe it's self was extremely thin and crispy, and the Nutella and bananas worked really well together, net time I'll have to try one of the savory ones.

After we'd eaten it was time to head up the street to Happy Knits for the opening. The store is really spacious with high ceilings, and a almost bookstore like layout.



They also have a, well a common room for lack of a better word with a giant table, a sitting area in front of a gas fireplace, and a window & access into the classroom & children's playroom.





I think I'm going to call them a working yarn store, I didn't see one skein of the novelty variety anywhere, but they had plenty of felting, sock, and worsted yarns. I saw quite a big selection of yarns from Malbrigo and Cascade, and way more other stuff that I can't remember right now.