AnotherPurl :: a knitter's life

The best of birthdays

Our little boy is 1 year old. It is so hard to believe (also hard to believe is that I am almost done with another knitting project).

So, I don't know where I first saw this idea, though I am sure that there were tons of them on Pinterest. I don't even know how many people we suggested this to as a gift for our little one. Early this past week we got a pair of boxes. One was already partially opened (thank you postal service!), but had a packing slip so we knew who it was from. The other box did not. 

Inside that other box was balls. Ball pit balls.

The first box was an activity set, which also included balls. The activity set isn't something that Q is currently as interested in, but the balls. They are a HUGE HIT! We just added them to a baby wading pool that we had cleaned up for the winter.

Not only did he have a blast playing in them, but the other kids at the party (9- and 10-years old) were able to play with him in a safe fashion without needing to be excessively monitored by all of the adults in the room. It was fun to watch, and continues to be great fun for him to play with now almost a week later.

One of the things we've been doing with the balls has been describing their characteristics. This is probably a misguided notion that all of his toys should be more purely educational, but we will pick up a ball and say it is blue, round, shiny, etc. Or we will start counting the balls of a single color.

Q's birthday also involved a tasty cake, which I will include a recipe for if I can find pictures of the cake to include with. Yum!

Sheep! Wool!

click images for bigger

Last weekend was the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival. As part of my ongoing driving practice, we went to the festival via North & Lime. The drive was uneventful, and we got to the festival early. After going through the vendor section, we made our way through the animal tents and saw all of the sheep, goats, llamas and alpacas. We saw some angora rabbits, though most of those were in the vendor area, usually next to one of the people spinning away.

I don't know if Q is going to like this enough to go annually, but it was cheap family fun ($3/adult). He got to go into the "Hug a Sheep" pen and pet the very tolerant sheep, and came away with a tiny fistful of crimped fibers. The only thing that could have made it even better is if North & Lime had a vendor truck there. 

I came home with 3 skeins of yarn all named after female scientists. Two are shockingly neon pink and are named after Marie Curie. It just seemed too appropriate.

there are no good titles

I'm away and then back again and then away. It's not that I don't want to write on the blog, it is that I don't have anything to say or rather don't have anything I think I should say.

And even that isn't true.

I'm almost 23 weeks along (one of the stupid pregnancy counters helps me remember). I am feeling kicking, which is awesome. I am assuming that at some point it will become onerous, but I have been waiting long enough that I am pretty sure that even onerous painful kicks will be super welcome.

I am knititng. Right now I am knitting the Breezy Cardigan and have been for almost 2 months. It is a top down, seamless cardigan by Hannah Fettig. Mine has been mostly a stash busting experience, so it is stripy. And feels huge. I'm on the second sleeeve and after that I have the ribbing on both the left and right front and then the collar ribbing. I am hoping to be done in time for Squam.

I love Squam. It feels weird that I might be having my last trip to Squam. I know people come from all over, but I've always been a few hours travel away. This time next year I will be in Kentucky, and travel will be more complicated. I have to wonder if I will be able to make that difference, or maybe I will be able to convince my husband that he can come with and we can make a family trip of it (well, sans Victor and Saru-chan. Dogs aren't allowed).

But rather than borrowing trouble, or at least borrowing that trouble, I'm entering into that low grade panic. Our home is still on the market. I know people are seeing it. The latest group included a couple with two daughters, and our house is definitely perfect for a family. I don't need it to sell right away, but constantly thinking about it selling is just not fun. It makes for strange(r) dreams. What felt like far away (house shopping trip in June) is now countable on one hand (weeks, on one hand!).

So, to manage stress. Knitting, baking and cleaning. More of the knitting and cleaning and a bit less baking, but my house has to be spotless for showings after all.

There will be pictures next post and it won't be 3 weeks or more I promise. I just want to finish the current sleeve!

I know what I like

There is something wonderful about buying from indie designers, local artisans, and small businesses. While I don't know the economics of it, but it makes me feel better. The products aren't necessarily cheaper, but you know the creators, can ask questions and get responses, and you know that you are directly making someone's life better.

Like this sock yarn. Ana of Toil and Trouble dyes yarn, and sells both finished pieces and patterns. This is her merino/nylon sock yarn in the Malificent colorway. I don't really remember if I met Ana during a Pints & Purls at Gather Here or if I first saw her tweets when they were retweeted by another maker I know, Liz. This sock yarn came home to me and has been marinating in my stash for a decent chunk of a year.

These socks are standard 60-stitch socks with a picot hem (my version of a fancy sock) with afterthought heels. You can sort of see the random single row of purply-red yarn marking the heel. With self-striping yarns, I like to knit them so that there is no pooling between of the heel and gusset, so I do afterthoughts and get this interesting circle of matching stripes. Though, these socks will still be fraternal. I'm not careful or picky enough to knit them so they start in exactly the same spot.

Ana is selling yarn this weekend as part of the North Shore Yarn Crawl. Of course, I live south of Boston and am car free, so while I don't get to enjoy the crawl, I do get to enjoy any yarn she doesn't sell when it makes it to Etsy (though I hope it all sells).

Buying yarn or bags (I bought a Pansy Maiden bag last year) is a great experience. When I bought my Pansy Maiden bag (I'm hoping to buy a bigger one later this year), I met the designer when I picked up my bag. Shopping local meant no shipping, which was great. I knew when buying the bag that I was helping put kibble and treats into Clementine's bowl, contributing to rent and additional materials for more bags, and maybe a nice dinner out with friends and family.

If you have a favorite local maker, please let me know. I am always interested in finding new interesting shops.

Weeding more books

This week's 10 for Tuesday is things you always have in the car. We don't even have a car, so instead of either that or the stash sale (yarn has been piled on the daybed in the craft room but not photographed) we have the next installment of book culling theater.

This latest round is mostly non-fiction books, including some of my science textbooks. It doesn't include my CRC, because I'm such a geek that I still love that book. The remaining books are all being donated at the beginning of February, so you have about a week to take a look and let me know which ones you want.

And while you are doing that, I will be over here knitting my fingers off. Knit, knit, knit!

Month of the Author

Apparently December is month of the author, because I went to Eat Boutique last week to get a book signed, and two additional food bloggers (recipe creators, food stylists, etc.) were there. Now, I didn't pick up Aran's book, Small Plates and Sweet Treats, because I don't need to cook gluten free very often. Her book is beautifully styled, which really should be no surprise to those who follow her blog, Cannelle et Vanille. Instead I picked up Joy the Baker's new cookbook, which has the great little addendum A Celebration of Butter and Sugar.

And it is.

I've already made two things from the cookbook, though one is not quite ready for prime time pictures: Nutella Grilled Cheese sandwiches and the Strawberry Cookie Dough Ice Cream.

Om nom nom.

The Nutella sandwiches were a not healthy, but delicious dinner that used up the last one packet of cream cheese.

The ice cream?

Well, I might be an expert at ice cream at this point, or at least as reasonably as one would expect from a home cook. The base is delicious, but only the extra time in the freezer will prove whether it is a good recipe or a great recipe. I'll have a full review when I finally eat more than the leavings from the dasher. What? You don't like the dasher and the spatula when you're done?

I don't remember when I started following Joy, but I do know what recipe I've made the most often. The Bread. This bread is magic in a Dutch oven. A very friendly and forgiving recipe. I've made it with hot peppers (ghost chilis), fresh herbs, dried herbs, lots of garlic, modest garlic, and extra lots of garlic and it is delicious each and every time.

This is bread two from Sunday. I let the Dutch oven sit with the bread in it on top of the stove while the oven was preheating. It gave a little extra oomph to the rise, creating this glorious open bread that you can literally just tear pieces off of like monkey bread.

This is the bread that I will be making a special spicy version of if we ever get hell night planned out. I have the ghost chili olive oil already prepped, and a test batch has been run. I know it is a bread that is delicious with a bit of a kick. Or at least as much kick as a loaf of bread can have with all of that flour saving your tongue from delicious, delicious doom.

This is also the bread my husband requested for his work holiday party on Monday. No ghost chilis, but definitely a bread for work. I'll be making it on Tuesday for a work party as well. It really is that good.

I'm Smitten!

Last night I went to see Deb Perelman, the person behind smittenkitchen.com and her new mostly self titled cookbook, The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. Like many people I had neglected to acquire tickets in advance to a sold out event, but thankfully one woman in the ticket line had extra tickets so I was able to get in without the drama of the standby line.

It was a bit of a cold wait with my cookbooks, my knitting, and the cookies I made Tuesday night, knowing that I wanted to offer something that she could enjoy when she was in a hotel after the signing. I was the proverbial bag lady.

Deb is as full of warm, self-deprecating humor in person as she is online. Affable, and friendly, she gave maybe a 20 minute talk and then turned it over to questions, which ran the gamut. Where did she get her dress (something from 2007 or so that she got altered), to how does she write her recipes (type it up, and then make notes, alter and repeat until perfect), to how many hits does she get on her site (about 10M a month). (Oh, and for the blurry pictures, you have my apologies.)

After the talk, we all trooped over to the Brookline Booksmith to stand in what might have been an interminable line except for making new friends. The woman ahead of me, Elizabeth, was a recent transplant from New York, so we talked about her family, law, books, food, etc. Pretty much everything under the sun as we made our way through the line that snaked through the store.

Sometime after 10 we finally made it to the front of the line (our fault: those closest to the front of the theater were definitely in the back end of the line). One of the women ahead of us brought her yellow KitchenAid stand mixer to be signed. An awesome idea, and if I didn't go to work and had a rolling suitcase, and if my KitchenAid was spotless from the last batch of cookies... well, I might have done the same thing!

I loved meeting with Deb. I was pretty wiped, so I feel like I kind of stumbled over my words and probably came across as a bit fannish (and not in the good way. More like in the 12 year old boy with a crush way. *sigh*). And I gave her the cookies. Which I made from her site, modified of course.

Our Favorite Chocolate Chip cookies, lightly modified

The original cookies are mix of finely chopped and toasted nuts (pecans), and chocolate bound together in the smallest amount of dough possible. It makes for cookies that don't spread too much, and have a delicious treat in every bite. Mine are much the same, except a few lazing tricks. Now I did everything with the digital scale, so no actual cup measurements (though you can go to the original recipe for the cup versions).

Ingredients
100g granulated sugar
120g light brown sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, brought to room temperature
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking soda
175g all purpose flour
130g almond flour
1/2 tsp smoked sea salt
205g peppermint bark, chopped (mine comes from Au Chocolat, an awesome store in DT Boston)

Preheat the oven to 300°F. Line your baking pans with parchment paper or Silpats. I could have gotten away with 2 pans, but I did end up using Deb's recommended 3 pans (2 cookie sheets and a pizza pan).

Cream the granulated sugar, brown sugar and butter until it is light and fluffy. Scrape it down and add the egg and vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl measure out the baking soda, all purpose flour, almond flour and sea salt. Add to the egg mixture and stir till well combined. Add the chopped peppermint bark.

Pull out an ice cream scoop, and make flat scoops of dough (aka, even with the top of the scoop). I put 6 per cookie sheet approximately 4 finger widths apart. Plop them in the oven for 30 minutes (start checking them at 25 minutes). When they indent but don't sink when touched, they are done. They should be golden brown. Maybe my awesome husband will take a picture of one of the cookies when he gets home... just a little hint! I got 14 cookies out of this dough by making some of the cookies just a smidge smaller.

A little note: I could have easily used the entire package of peppermint bark. Because I used almond flour rather than chopped nuts, it is more of a dough component rather than a dough and add-in component and offers more room for chocolate! The entire package of peppermint bark would have been about 350 grams at my best estimate. But hey, we ate the rest of the bark!

Take this class (when in your area)

Last weekend I took a class with Ann Weaver at Gather Here on desiging your own triangular shawl. Our class was small and oh so awesome!

Now, I will admit that I am definitely a fan of Ann Weaver's designs. Tempest has been in my queue for a long time and I have had yarn set aside for a year. Last year I made Oranje. I have some her hat designs and books (and still plan to make this one). Her designs are not overly ornate, which makes most of them (Oranje is a bit of an outlier actually) very wearable. It is easy for designs to get so ornate that they are hard to wear, which makes it awesome to have a few designers who specialize in clean beautiful design.

We initially went over standard triangular shawls, and how that goes into making a shapes other than standard triangles. We started with a top down (tab construction!) and we each had a different elements. I loved one of my classmates. He did something different from the edging. Mine was the more standard garter stitch.

Ann is a very enthusiastic teacher, which made this class both a great learning experience and like a little stitch and bitch between three friends.

Of course, I have an idea of how i want to finish the shawl, but I have way too much I am trying to get done between now and the end of the month. I am hoping to get to this at the beginning of 2013. I certainly won't find any time for it before then!

Into the Woods

Last night after work I headed to MIT to see the MIT Gilbert and Sullivan Players production of Into the Woods in the Kresge Little Theater. It's up for 5 more performances, so if you are local it is well worth it to go.

This performance was a bit more traditional, reminiscent of the Broadway production with Bernadette Peters that I grew up loving. I loved their version of the birds for Cinderella. It was much less cheesy than fake stuffed birds on essentially a giant mobile. On the other hand, the cow needs some WD40 for the wheels.

The vocalists were amazing. I had heard many of them before, but a number of them were new to the group though they were vocalists in a number of different productions around the United States. Emily Lydic had a strong Cinderella, in what was the girliest, most "innocent" role I have yet heard her in. It was great hearing Bridgette Hayes get to use more of her full vocal range as the Witch, given that the last production I had been in with her was Sweeny Todd where she was Lucy.

In previous productions, usually Cinderella's mother and Jack's mother are not the most vocally strong of the group, but the MIT production has strong caliber singers in even the more secondary roles.

And no discussion of Into the Woods is complete without talking about the Baker's Wife. I love Joanna Gleason and her version of the role will always have a warm place in my heart. Her Baker's Wife was full of humor that was mostly understated and centered in her facial expressions. Jessica Taylor, playing the role, brings strong vocals and humor in the body language. She had a wonderful Justify the Beans.

Outside the singing, the set was amazing. Brie (who also played the Grandmother and the Giant) is an amazing set designer and works with a great group of people. I took pictures of the set, but my iPad wasn't too happy about the low lighting at the end of the show and they are fuzzy.

So, if you are in the Boston-Camberville area, I highly recommend going to this show. It is a great value with tickets topping out at $15 for members of the general public (cheaper if you are a student or a member of the MIT community).

Sunday afternoon delight

I am really bad about celebrating certain holidays. Yesterday was Mother's Day in the United States. I celebrated (if you can call it that, because I was bad and didn't call my mom) by buying top soil, puttering around in the garden, doing some lawn mowing, walking a dog and adding lady bugs to my yard.

It wasn't all work though.

We have wildlife.

There were birds.

Well, more birds than that.

And a dog.
It was a gorgeous day, and I pretended I knew what I was doing by hardening off my small number of seedlings on the picnic table and watching the dog, the birds and enjoying some sun.

This year in my pathetic attempt at a garden (#3), I'm growing Swiss chard, habanero and red bell peppers, ornamental pumpkins on a stick, and two different kinds of non-ornamental pumpkins. I'm growing the pumpkins in the compost heap with a little added top soil to give them a little more to root in. Everything else is going in my tiny grow bed.

Last night after we watered the lawn, I took the lady bugs and shook them out of their little plastic container into the various bushes and plants around the edges of the yard. I hope they like it here, but even if half of them move away it will be good for the neighborhood to have a few more ladybugs.

I took Victor out for his 2.5 mile spin around the neighborhood this morning and there were at least 2 ladybugs making their way around a potted plant near the front door. Very nice.

Tonight I'm taking Abby Glassenberg's class at Gather Here. I've read at least part of her series on Elements of Soft Toy Design, and have started getting into (slowly) making at least knit dolls. I'd like to be able to do  the same with my fabric stash as well. I'll have to clean up my craft room this week, because undoubtedly I'll have homework, but crafty homework is the best!