AJ Knits Episode 5
I Production Scheduling
a) New Mic!
b) Memorial Day and Memorial Weekend Travel
c)Production
d)What's in My Tea Pot
e) Materials Sourcing
f) Boneroom
g) After 5
II Production
A) The Day Break Shawl By Stephen West. Knitted out of Bamboo and Ewe in Bamboo and '
ewe Purple and Berroco comfort in color way #1812. I am loving this pattern. The yarn I'm knitting this in is so soft and Pettable. I know I kvetched last week about the lack of concise directions for the beginning of this pattern but when I finally got to the striped section and got it
memorized this pattern clicks along really well. The one aside is that the second row after the
increase row does not state to slip the markers and the slipped stitches. They need to be slipped
I learned this the hard way. As of now I have 10 of the color B stripes done. The rows are
getting very long. But that's what shawls do! On a side not my skein of Berroco seems to be a
second as it has a lot of breaks in it.
B) Nothing else got any love this week. I've forsaken all others for my daybreak.
III What's in my Tea Pot
A) This has been a banner weekend for Tea, and I have lot of fun things for the tea pot for
future weeks. Apparently my non knitting but tea drinking friends stash tea like I stash
yarn. So I've been Stash diving in Melissa's tea pantry. (Yeah, I said pantry...)
B) Interesting fact learned this weekend the Mr. Clean Magic eraser removed tea stains from
mugs.
C) Ahmad Tea Cardamom Tea. A blended Black tea (I was told it was Black Assam by the store clerk.) with a hint of cardamom. This tea can go bitter quickly so be sure to watch the steeping time.
IV Materials Sourcing
A)I finished spinning the ball of mohair kid my mother gave me. It's very think and thin. I kept having to fight myself to spin it thicker. It just did not feel natural to draft it out in quantites that would yield a thicker single. Now that this bobbin spun. I have to find something to ply it with.
B) In search of something to ply the mohair too... I went into my Party Colored Potluck fiber
from Paradise fibers. In the description of this fiber it says it's a potluck mix of wools. When I
went through and pre drafted ( Sorry Abbey Franquemont... Who never predafts unless she does...) the fiber was VERY springy. Almost as if there was something synthetic in it. There's fuscia pink, a dark cobalt blue, acid green, and orange in this roving the colors are not blended in and can be separated out. The color saturation in this roving is really nice the blue and fuscia are really deep and gorgeous. I've been spinning this out in long stripes and may ply it to the
mohair. I think it may barber pole nicely.
C) I took the time this week to over dye the tequila sunrise yarn. I wasn't happy with the color saturation. I used the dip dye method again. This time using a large pickle jar instead of the cake pans. I diluted my strawberry Kool-aid in a half cup of vinegar and filled with water. I let this sit over night so that the dye solution con exhaust. I did not get to heat set this one. So I'll be rinsing this one out again and hopefully the dye is set.
V Boneroom
A) I Ordered my other 3 skeins of Malabrigo in the Archangel colorway. Luckily they sent me the same dyelot as last time! I can't wait to get something off the needles to cast on the Clapotis!
After 5:
A) You may have noticed that this episode was uploaded late. I took a long awaited road trip
to Ann Arbor with my friend Nichol, her daughter G and B to see our Friend Melissa.
(Melissa of the socks finished in episode 1) Nate got dropped off with his dad for the weekend and poor Joe had the house to himself.
B) Stop number one of our Road Trip was Greenfield Village which is adjacent to the Henry Ford Museum. This was my first time to Greenfield village and I was pretty excited to see how fiber friendly it is. Greenfield Village has a flock of Merino sheep on the premises. I found this out after I saw the carding mill! How cool! The carding mill was water driven and was built in 1851 in Plymouth Michigan. I was lucky enough to catch the demonstration and see the mill run. The machine is surprisingly quiet and incredibly SLOW! The roving that comes off is pencil thin. Try as I might the interpreter would not sell me or give me one of those bats of roving. I did get it into my hot little hands to give a squish! I did not see a spinning wheel but there is also a water driven silk mill (which is of course adjacent to a mulberry tree grove.) and 100% merino yarn sold at the gift shop. (I checked it out it was only in natural white and was 35 for 2 skeins.) Also in the gift shop were drop spindles! (Huzzah!) This weekend Greenfield was commemorating the 150th anniversary of the civil war with reenactments and other special programs. I took the time to wonder through the period clothing tents and found a period pattern for Baby booties, a diaper cover, and long knitted stockings, and a separate pattern for a shaped pair of leg warmers. While leaving the shop I happened to find a garbage bag of washed wool that just needed to be carded. I have no idea if how this was shorn. It may very well be full of second cuts and the shop owner didn't know anything about the breed of sheep but knew that it came from the farm across the street from their shop. They said that if I sent them an email they would run across the street to ask what the breed was. The whole bag was 14.00 and I was feeling adventurous. I'll be looking for a friend with a drum carder or investing in a set of cards. If you're interested in the period patterns or you're own bag of wool you can find Kimbery Lynch at www.thedressmakersshop.com The physical address for the shop is in Leslie, Mi.
C) The Zingerman's Experience YUMMY!
Monday, May 30, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Lightning Stikes Twice or " They lost their Momma!"
AJ Knits Episode 4
I Production Scheduling
A) Segments for this episode.
1) Production
2) What's In My Tea Pot East of Eden Superior Gunpowder Green Tea.
3) Materials Sourcing
4) QC Inspection
5) Shipping
6) Boneroom
7) After 5
II Production
A) Knit for Tibet Sweaters.
1) The two toddler sweaters have been seamed up and are ready to go in the mail.
2) I ran out of the brown wool for the teen size sweater. It's not looking promising that it will be finished in time to catch the flight to chine. I will probably finish this and send it for whatever their next initiative is.
B) Juno Regina By Miriam Felton
1) I finally took some time to tink back the Juno and now it's in QC. So I'll be sure to relate my tale of woe with the Juno a bit later.
C) Daybreak Shawl by Stephen west
1) The daybreak is clicking along. I'm loving how the Bamboo and Ewe feels! I find myself wanting to pet it in between repeats. The only thing that a bit grumbly about this pattern is that because it's for multiple sizes Stephen uses the Knit to halfway before the marker. I don't like when patterns leave things up to my interpretation. I would like to a have a stitch count listed so I can catch any errors quickly. I'm the same way with sweater patterns that say “decrease the sleeve every 3 or 4 rows.”
D) FLS - Still No Buttons. I've been sucked into my knitting all week.
III What's in My Tea Pot
A)Superior Gunpowder Green tea is a stronger green tea from China with a distinctive nutty/oak taste. It makes a darker green color tea & is more dense than other teas. You will only require one or two teaspoons for a teapot full. This tea is also popular in Morocco where it is mixed with mint and sugar
IV Materials sourcing
A) Plarn I'm still collecting bags to make plarn out of. This week at the DAR meeting one of the DAR Ladiesbrought in a handled shopping bag that had been crocheted in plarn. It was soooo cool!. I got to handle it and check it out for a few minutes. It was much less crinkly than I thought it would be. I also found out that this crocheter takes the thin plastic table clothes from parties and cuts them out into thin spirals and crochets plarn projects with those as well. With the upcoming wedding for my friend I may have a huge stock of plarn in no time! I asked my fellow DAR member how many much plarn was used in her shopping bag and she said that it uses approximately 60 shopping bags cut into plarn. I may use my plarn to mark the Girlfriend Market Bag by Laura Spradlin (which is a free download off of ravelry) or The fulled Lopi Tote by Adrian Bizilia, Another free ravelry down load.
B) Mohair kid fiber I got to spin a bit of the mohair Kid Fiber my mom gave to me. This has a tendency to want to spin very fine and when it get's fine it … it get's over spun. My wheel is a Babe's Fiber Garden double treadle production wheel. The ratio on this wheel is controlled by the bobbin size. To spin this fiber I switched to my smaller diameter bobbing since the larger diameter one’s were in use with the Corriedale. I think the difference in ratio may be contributing to the over spinning . I seem to be over treadling and since I sing to myself in my head (don't laugh It works!) while I treadle. I don't think it's my timing I think it's the ratio, I need to find a slower waltz to hum... Or maybe spin with a metronome?
C) I did some dyeing this week. I dyed my two skeins of completed Corriedale using left over PAAS coloring tablets from Easter. I used a dip dye method that I found at www.woolfestival.com/articles/eggdye.htm. Just as in the directions I socked my skeins for about 30 minutes while I prepared the dies. I used Aluminum foil cake pans to do this in on my plastic covered counter. Needless to say Joe was less than thrilled to see what I was doing in his Kitchen. I picked out 4 tablet at random out of the envelope and ended up with Pink, Orange Yellow and green. It was my intention to have two matching skeins with all 4 colors but it didn't look like I would have enough room in my pans for all the yarn, SO I put one skein across Orange and Pink and the second across Yellow and green. I weighted the yarn into the water with whatever was handy (an other cake pan... A plate.. a wine bottle and left it all sit until the dye exhausted. This was my first time dyeing anything besides my hair and I was quite impressed by how clear the water became. Over all I'm please with the results of the Yellow and Green which I'm calling “Lemon Lyman” Both for the 7 up pun and the West Wing Reference...:) The Pink Dye in the orange and pink is way too light and the color Saturation is not as good as the rest (thought I will admit that next time I will bot use cake pans I'll use large jars because color saturation is not perfect on any of the colors...) I think I will be over dying the pink section with some Strawberry Kool-Aid I bought for this purpose, (hey it was 4 for a dollar!) The Orange and pink's working name right now is Tequila Sunrise but that can change pending the over dye and how it comes out. I'm thinking of knitting this into a Small scarf or shawl like the The Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief by Orange Flower. Of course I might just knit it into a square since I’m not sure how the gauge problems with in the yarn will react to a pattern.
V QC Inspection
A) The Juno Regina by Miriam Felton
1)I finally took some time to tink back the Juno. The stitches just weren't working
out on the lace row so I decided to frog back to my life line. After several tries to get the stick count to work out right I discovered that when I put in the life line I missed some stitches that had now dropped to the life line before. So needless to say the Juno is now in QC.
VI Shipping
A) The Pedestrian Crossing Cowl by Melissa Sibley is DONE! Yeas it's DONE complete with the buttons. Now I can here the grumbling. The cowl has the buttons! And the sweat she's been procrastinating about for two months does not? To be fair I did not put the grosgrain ribbon in the button band for the cowl. It's not the button that are slowing down the FLS it's the ribbon in the button band that I think is going to take FOREVER. (Well at least to do it right by hand using teeny tiny stitches....) My cowl has 5 button instead of the 5 called for in the pattern because once again a pattern stated make a button hole every 5-7 stitches. WHICH IS IT? 5 or 7 because I did it consistently every 5 and I had enough room for a 6th button hole. I'm calling it a design element and not sweating it...:)
B) As mentioned Before the toddler Sweaters for the Knit for Tibet Initiative through Wool-AId are also complete and ready to be boxed up for shipment. You can find more information about Wool-Aid and their charitable projects on their website www.wool-aid.org or their Ravelry group. Remember that contributions for the Knit for Tibet initiative must be received by May 31st which is next Tuesday and My son Nate's B-day! WooHoo! Send Contributions to :
Wool-Aid
1381 Rocky Creek Court
Belleville, IL 62220
VII Bone Room
1) Zombie BBW is still on Back Order. I called up Jimmy Beans Wool to find out if the vendor had given them a lead time on the product and found that they aren't expecting it to ship for another few weeks! Way to communicate NOT. So now I'm deciding if I'll hold out for it or get something new.
2) On the other Hand Paradise Fibers at www.paradisefibers.net are complete super stars. They are having a 2.00 shipping sale this week! This coupled with my Frequent shopper rewards sent me their to bug myself 2 skeins of Malabirgo Rios in the Archangel colorway. Since I bought Babe from them I had about 14.00 in rewards so one of my skeins was FREE! (Insert dance of Joy here...) The only glitch is that I read the clapotis pattern requirements wrong and will need 2 more skeins... (Knitting FAIL!) Luckily the shipping sale is still on so I'll be correcting my mistake. But the totally awesome thing about Paradise fibers???? I order this Wednesday and I received it SATURDAY. That's UBER fast for 2 bucks. So I'll be ordering again... Oh and the Malabrigo???? Sooo nice it lives up to the Hype every time. I can't wait to get this project on the needles.
3) additionally in the bone room I've been eyeing over some of my half finished objects. I'm gathering myself to make another run at the spiral luscious. I got this pattern... I can do this. Plus y'all got my back right? I'm thinking of casting this back on sometime soon. I think it I'll stitch marker it within and inch of it's fibery life and put in life lines ever repeat being careful not to miss any stitches I should be able to knock this out so that I never have to look at it again. Be sure to tune it to see if I vanquish this pattern or laugh when it kicks my butt AGAIN.
VII After 5
This week was the May DAR meeting. I am new to the DAR in fact my application is still in the verification stages in Washington. When I was invited to my first meeting I was told that the ladies bring in drink and baked goods. I thought that meant that ALL the ladies did this for every meeting. So I set about to find a suitable recipe to take. I didn't want to just make some Duncan Hines Brownies I wanted it to say. I'm younger than all of you but I can hang in the kitchen. (Which I totally can't but that's another story...) And now I'm left with the task of seeing if I can make lightning strike twice. So I was listening to Meghan over on Stitch it talk about baking cinnamon buns. That sounded awesome! So I started surfing recipes online because she did not post hers and I found http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/354/Cinnabon_Rolls1576.shtml. They were pretty good so I took them to my first meeting, That day I couldn't stay and chat with the ladies as Joe, the kids and I were leaving on vacation. So I left the pan and prayed they were well received. The next’s months meeting seeing that not everyone baked but the hostesses I didn't bring anything. The fact that their were no Cinnamon buns was not lost on a few of these ladies and I was plied with gifts (a tote bag and a seed packet...) to be inspired to bring more. Cinnamon buns take a day to make by the time the dough rises, gets punched down and proofs... and you're finally ready to fill and roll these suckers it's midnight! So I decided to find something else to make. I've always wanted to make candy since I saw Julia child making a yule log on TV she had Meringue mushrooms and moss made of of sugar floss. I'll never forget how easy Julia made that sugar floss look. Boil the sugar dip a fork in it and whiz it over a broom stick suspended between two chairs... Genius But I never tried it being afraid that Whizzing molten sugar through the air would lead to more burns and mess than sugar floss was worth. Then came Alton Brown and Jackie for the KIP ing it real Podcast. Jackie seems to a bit of a kitchen goddess. She had on one episode that she was making marshmallows that she dipped in chocolate and rolled in Graham cracker crumbs. … HEAVEN! Then Alton had a good eats episode on candy in which he made Marsh,allows... and that was all she wrote. I decided to try my hand. So after some online research for an easy recipe I found http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/06/springy-fluffy-marshmallows/ they were an unmitigated success! They are light and bouncy and from all accounts taste like a dream. Due to a power outage about 30 minutes before I had to leave for my meeting they did not make it to the chocolate dipping stage but I can always do it for Joe...:) I did not have the stickiness issues that the author had. Though that may be because I heeded her warnings about scraping the bowl and did so very carefully and very little. I had also attempted to make a gooey butter cake for this mee3ting as my back up if the marshmallow fell flat. When the power went out for some reason the oven went off as well. Which I don't understand since it's gas and not electric... needless to say the cake was the flop as it was raw and bubbling over the sides of the pan when I had to leave. I left poor Joe with that mess. He told me that the cake on the bottom of the oven filled the house with smoke as soon as I left. The cake looks UGLY but he tells me it tastes just fine.
In other home front news the farm we pass everyday on the way to School and work has gotten and some new calfs. It seems this farm gets one or two calfs every year and they graze all summer long never to be seen again. Now, I'm no vegetarian but it turns my stomach to realize that these little creatures are ending up in the freezer every fall. Of course B loves seeing the cows and when that fateful day around Halloween comes he always asks where they are and I rather than telling him they're in the farmers freezer say it's too cold outside they're probably in the barn. This year the Farm has 4 calfs 1 white, 2 black, and 1 orange. I pointed them out to B this week and said “look at the baby cows!” he informed me that they had colors and that they were not cows that those were in fact sheep. Ack! I knew I should have gone to the blessing of the sheep. Even if It was cold and raining at least them he's know the difference between a cow and a sheep! He also sweetly pointed out that these cows/sheep had lost their Momma. Awwwwwww! To which I assured him that she was in the barn cooking them dinner.
That's about it for this week. If you're local or able to attend Please remember the Crooked River Fiber Festival is coming up August 4-7th in peninsula, oh. Registration for workshops for non PAA member Started yesterday May 21st. I'm planning on attending a course or two. I had my heart set on Beginner Spinning but It;s on Friday 1-4 and I'll have to take off a day of work... Who knows may be worth it. I may also take the “Rumble and Scrumble” class that looks like fun but a bit overpriced. Also memorial day weekend the Great lakes Fiber show will be held in Wooster May 28th and 29th. I doubt I'll make this one but it looks like a fun time! Please remember you can get in touch with me as AJLUVSJOE on Ravelry, Twitter, and Plurk. The show notes are located at www.ajknitspodcast.blogspot.com. If you have comments or suggestions or just want to say HI drop me a lien I'd love to hear from you!
I Production Scheduling
A) Segments for this episode.
1) Production
2) What's In My Tea Pot East of Eden Superior Gunpowder Green Tea.
3) Materials Sourcing
4) QC Inspection
5) Shipping
6) Boneroom
7) After 5
II Production
A) Knit for Tibet Sweaters.
1) The two toddler sweaters have been seamed up and are ready to go in the mail.
2) I ran out of the brown wool for the teen size sweater. It's not looking promising that it will be finished in time to catch the flight to chine. I will probably finish this and send it for whatever their next initiative is.
B) Juno Regina By Miriam Felton
1) I finally took some time to tink back the Juno and now it's in QC. So I'll be sure to relate my tale of woe with the Juno a bit later.
C) Daybreak Shawl by Stephen west
1) The daybreak is clicking along. I'm loving how the Bamboo and Ewe feels! I find myself wanting to pet it in between repeats. The only thing that a bit grumbly about this pattern is that because it's for multiple sizes Stephen uses the Knit to halfway before the marker. I don't like when patterns leave things up to my interpretation. I would like to a have a stitch count listed so I can catch any errors quickly. I'm the same way with sweater patterns that say “decrease the sleeve every 3 or 4 rows.”
D) FLS - Still No Buttons. I've been sucked into my knitting all week.
III What's in My Tea Pot
A)Superior Gunpowder Green tea is a stronger green tea from China with a distinctive nutty/oak taste. It makes a darker green color tea & is more dense than other teas. You will only require one or two teaspoons for a teapot full. This tea is also popular in Morocco where it is mixed with mint and sugar
IV Materials sourcing
A) Plarn I'm still collecting bags to make plarn out of. This week at the DAR meeting one of the DAR Ladiesbrought in a handled shopping bag that had been crocheted in plarn. It was soooo cool!. I got to handle it and check it out for a few minutes. It was much less crinkly than I thought it would be. I also found out that this crocheter takes the thin plastic table clothes from parties and cuts them out into thin spirals and crochets plarn projects with those as well. With the upcoming wedding for my friend I may have a huge stock of plarn in no time! I asked my fellow DAR member how many much plarn was used in her shopping bag and she said that it uses approximately 60 shopping bags cut into plarn. I may use my plarn to mark the Girlfriend Market Bag by Laura Spradlin (which is a free download off of ravelry) or The fulled Lopi Tote by Adrian Bizilia, Another free ravelry down load.
B) Mohair kid fiber I got to spin a bit of the mohair Kid Fiber my mom gave to me. This has a tendency to want to spin very fine and when it get's fine it … it get's over spun. My wheel is a Babe's Fiber Garden double treadle production wheel. The ratio on this wheel is controlled by the bobbin size. To spin this fiber I switched to my smaller diameter bobbing since the larger diameter one’s were in use with the Corriedale. I think the difference in ratio may be contributing to the over spinning . I seem to be over treadling and since I sing to myself in my head (don't laugh It works!) while I treadle. I don't think it's my timing I think it's the ratio, I need to find a slower waltz to hum... Or maybe spin with a metronome?
C) I did some dyeing this week. I dyed my two skeins of completed Corriedale using left over PAAS coloring tablets from Easter. I used a dip dye method that I found at www.woolfestival.com/articles/eggdye.htm. Just as in the directions I socked my skeins for about 30 minutes while I prepared the dies. I used Aluminum foil cake pans to do this in on my plastic covered counter. Needless to say Joe was less than thrilled to see what I was doing in his Kitchen. I picked out 4 tablet at random out of the envelope and ended up with Pink, Orange Yellow and green. It was my intention to have two matching skeins with all 4 colors but it didn't look like I would have enough room in my pans for all the yarn, SO I put one skein across Orange and Pink and the second across Yellow and green. I weighted the yarn into the water with whatever was handy (an other cake pan... A plate.. a wine bottle and left it all sit until the dye exhausted. This was my first time dyeing anything besides my hair and I was quite impressed by how clear the water became. Over all I'm please with the results of the Yellow and Green which I'm calling “Lemon Lyman” Both for the 7 up pun and the West Wing Reference...:) The Pink Dye in the orange and pink is way too light and the color Saturation is not as good as the rest (thought I will admit that next time I will bot use cake pans I'll use large jars because color saturation is not perfect on any of the colors...) I think I will be over dying the pink section with some Strawberry Kool-Aid I bought for this purpose, (hey it was 4 for a dollar!) The Orange and pink's working name right now is Tequila Sunrise but that can change pending the over dye and how it comes out. I'm thinking of knitting this into a Small scarf or shawl like the The Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief by Orange Flower. Of course I might just knit it into a square since I’m not sure how the gauge problems with in the yarn will react to a pattern.
V QC Inspection
A) The Juno Regina by Miriam Felton
1)I finally took some time to tink back the Juno. The stitches just weren't working
out on the lace row so I decided to frog back to my life line. After several tries to get the stick count to work out right I discovered that when I put in the life line I missed some stitches that had now dropped to the life line before. So needless to say the Juno is now in QC.
VI Shipping
A) The Pedestrian Crossing Cowl by Melissa Sibley is DONE! Yeas it's DONE complete with the buttons. Now I can here the grumbling. The cowl has the buttons! And the sweat she's been procrastinating about for two months does not? To be fair I did not put the grosgrain ribbon in the button band for the cowl. It's not the button that are slowing down the FLS it's the ribbon in the button band that I think is going to take FOREVER. (Well at least to do it right by hand using teeny tiny stitches....) My cowl has 5 button instead of the 5 called for in the pattern because once again a pattern stated make a button hole every 5-7 stitches. WHICH IS IT? 5 or 7 because I did it consistently every 5 and I had enough room for a 6th button hole. I'm calling it a design element and not sweating it...:)
B) As mentioned Before the toddler Sweaters for the Knit for Tibet Initiative through Wool-AId are also complete and ready to be boxed up for shipment. You can find more information about Wool-Aid and their charitable projects on their website www.wool-aid.org or their Ravelry group. Remember that contributions for the Knit for Tibet initiative must be received by May 31st which is next Tuesday and My son Nate's B-day! WooHoo! Send Contributions to :
Wool-Aid
1381 Rocky Creek Court
Belleville, IL 62220
VII Bone Room
1) Zombie BBW is still on Back Order. I called up Jimmy Beans Wool to find out if the vendor had given them a lead time on the product and found that they aren't expecting it to ship for another few weeks! Way to communicate NOT. So now I'm deciding if I'll hold out for it or get something new.
2) On the other Hand Paradise Fibers at www.paradisefibers.net are complete super stars. They are having a 2.00 shipping sale this week! This coupled with my Frequent shopper rewards sent me their to bug myself 2 skeins of Malabirgo Rios in the Archangel colorway. Since I bought Babe from them I had about 14.00 in rewards so one of my skeins was FREE! (Insert dance of Joy here...) The only glitch is that I read the clapotis pattern requirements wrong and will need 2 more skeins... (Knitting FAIL!) Luckily the shipping sale is still on so I'll be correcting my mistake. But the totally awesome thing about Paradise fibers???? I order this Wednesday and I received it SATURDAY. That's UBER fast for 2 bucks. So I'll be ordering again... Oh and the Malabrigo???? Sooo nice it lives up to the Hype every time. I can't wait to get this project on the needles.
3) additionally in the bone room I've been eyeing over some of my half finished objects. I'm gathering myself to make another run at the spiral luscious. I got this pattern... I can do this. Plus y'all got my back right? I'm thinking of casting this back on sometime soon. I think it I'll stitch marker it within and inch of it's fibery life and put in life lines ever repeat being careful not to miss any stitches I should be able to knock this out so that I never have to look at it again. Be sure to tune it to see if I vanquish this pattern or laugh when it kicks my butt AGAIN.
VII After 5
This week was the May DAR meeting. I am new to the DAR in fact my application is still in the verification stages in Washington. When I was invited to my first meeting I was told that the ladies bring in drink and baked goods. I thought that meant that ALL the ladies did this for every meeting. So I set about to find a suitable recipe to take. I didn't want to just make some Duncan Hines Brownies I wanted it to say. I'm younger than all of you but I can hang in the kitchen. (Which I totally can't but that's another story...) And now I'm left with the task of seeing if I can make lightning strike twice. So I was listening to Meghan over on Stitch it talk about baking cinnamon buns. That sounded awesome! So I started surfing recipes online because she did not post hers and I found http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/354/Cinnabon_Rolls1576.shtml. They were pretty good so I took them to my first meeting, That day I couldn't stay and chat with the ladies as Joe, the kids and I were leaving on vacation. So I left the pan and prayed they were well received. The next’s months meeting seeing that not everyone baked but the hostesses I didn't bring anything. The fact that their were no Cinnamon buns was not lost on a few of these ladies and I was plied with gifts (a tote bag and a seed packet...) to be inspired to bring more. Cinnamon buns take a day to make by the time the dough rises, gets punched down and proofs... and you're finally ready to fill and roll these suckers it's midnight! So I decided to find something else to make. I've always wanted to make candy since I saw Julia child making a yule log on TV she had Meringue mushrooms and moss made of of sugar floss. I'll never forget how easy Julia made that sugar floss look. Boil the sugar dip a fork in it and whiz it over a broom stick suspended between two chairs... Genius But I never tried it being afraid that Whizzing molten sugar through the air would lead to more burns and mess than sugar floss was worth. Then came Alton Brown and Jackie for the KIP ing it real Podcast. Jackie seems to a bit of a kitchen goddess. She had on one episode that she was making marshmallows that she dipped in chocolate and rolled in Graham cracker crumbs. … HEAVEN! Then Alton had a good eats episode on candy in which he made Marsh,allows... and that was all she wrote. I decided to try my hand. So after some online research for an easy recipe I found http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/06/springy-fluffy-marshmallows/ they were an unmitigated success! They are light and bouncy and from all accounts taste like a dream. Due to a power outage about 30 minutes before I had to leave for my meeting they did not make it to the chocolate dipping stage but I can always do it for Joe...:) I did not have the stickiness issues that the author had. Though that may be because I heeded her warnings about scraping the bowl and did so very carefully and very little. I had also attempted to make a gooey butter cake for this mee3ting as my back up if the marshmallow fell flat. When the power went out for some reason the oven went off as well. Which I don't understand since it's gas and not electric... needless to say the cake was the flop as it was raw and bubbling over the sides of the pan when I had to leave. I left poor Joe with that mess. He told me that the cake on the bottom of the oven filled the house with smoke as soon as I left. The cake looks UGLY but he tells me it tastes just fine.
In other home front news the farm we pass everyday on the way to School and work has gotten and some new calfs. It seems this farm gets one or two calfs every year and they graze all summer long never to be seen again. Now, I'm no vegetarian but it turns my stomach to realize that these little creatures are ending up in the freezer every fall. Of course B loves seeing the cows and when that fateful day around Halloween comes he always asks where they are and I rather than telling him they're in the farmers freezer say it's too cold outside they're probably in the barn. This year the Farm has 4 calfs 1 white, 2 black, and 1 orange. I pointed them out to B this week and said “look at the baby cows!” he informed me that they had colors and that they were not cows that those were in fact sheep. Ack! I knew I should have gone to the blessing of the sheep. Even if It was cold and raining at least them he's know the difference between a cow and a sheep! He also sweetly pointed out that these cows/sheep had lost their Momma. Awwwwwww! To which I assured him that she was in the barn cooking them dinner.
That's about it for this week. If you're local or able to attend Please remember the Crooked River Fiber Festival is coming up August 4-7th in peninsula, oh. Registration for workshops for non PAA member Started yesterday May 21st. I'm planning on attending a course or two. I had my heart set on Beginner Spinning but It;s on Friday 1-4 and I'll have to take off a day of work... Who knows may be worth it. I may also take the “Rumble and Scrumble” class that looks like fun but a bit overpriced. Also memorial day weekend the Great lakes Fiber show will be held in Wooster May 28th and 29th. I doubt I'll make this one but it looks like a fun time! Please remember you can get in touch with me as AJLUVSJOE on Ravelry, Twitter, and Plurk. The show notes are located at www.ajknitspodcast.blogspot.com. If you have comments or suggestions or just want to say HI drop me a lien I'd love to hear from you!
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Episode 3: Wool-Aid or Socks for Geese
I Production Scheduling
A) Segments for this episode.
1) Production with emphasis on Wool-Aid and Knit for Tibet
2) What’s in my Tea Pot: Lapsang Suchong
3) Materials Sourcing
4) QC Inspection
5) Shipping
6) Boneroom update
7) After 5
II Production
A) Last week I mentioned that I had been buying the Lion’s Brand Fisherman’s wool for charity knitting for the now defunct Warm Woolies charity knits. I recently found a new group on ravelry called Wool-aid that appears to be taking over where Warm Woolies left off. Currently they are accepting donations for the Knit for Tibet Charity. Knit for Tibet is an outreach effort of the Kyegu Relief Fund established in response to the devastating 7.1 magnitude earthquake that hit the eastern Tibetan town of Kyegu on April 14th 2010. The humanitarian need is on going and significant. 90% of the towns building were destroyed. Winters are harsh in Kyegu and the people are facing desperate conditions as many are living in lightweight tents. Items most needed are vests, sweaters and sock for Babies and Teens but all sizes will be accepted. Donations need to be received at Wool-Aid by May 31st. I had 2 toddler size sweaters in bulky weight yarn knitted up and intended for the Warm Woolies 10 in 2010 contest. I will be seaming these up this week to send to the Knit for Tibet cause. I also half finished sweater in a teenage size that I will be attempting to complete as well. If you’d like to donate as well donations should be sent to:
Wool-Aid
1381 Rocky Creek Court
Belleville, IL 6220
If you feel you’d like to help but can’t complete items for the May 31st deadline check out the Wool-Aid group on Ravelry for additional initiatives and for guidelines for knitting such as the best fiber content and sizing of garments. For example Wool-Aid requests that Knitted garments are knit densely in a yarn with as much natural animal fiber as possible. Bulky weight is preferred but double stranded worsted works as well. Garments should be knit with warmth and coverage in mind. Socks should be knit of at least worsted weight if not bulky and cuffs should be as long as a heel to toe measurement of the foot.
B) Brown Wool Sweater - This sweater was previously cast on and abandoned
about where the arms would be separated. I lost the original pattern but found a similar one in the same gauge with only two less stitches that should have been cast on. I’ll correct that when I decrease under the arms. I’m using the Mr. Darcy sweater pattern off of Knitty.com. I am not using the “Dot pattern” that the pattern calls for. After the arms are separated the back and front are worked back and forth in short rows. I think this will work but it’s a crap shoot. Who knows maybe it will be in next weeks bone room.
C) Bulky Weight toddler sweaters: I knit these up over a year ago. They have
Have been sitting in my UFO pile. They are made of bulky weight from a warm woolies pattern that is not yet available on Wool-Aids website. These are worked flat and in one piece so t almost looks like across with a slit in the middle. When you fold the cross in half top to bottom you can see the sweaters I need to weave in ends and seem up the sides and under arms. Then these will be off to Tibet!
D) Junk Raglan: Added to the junk raglan this week one small cake of the
Reclaimed yarn. Could have been more but it’s been set aside to finish the Brown wool Sweater. Reclaimed yarn is Lion Brand Wool-ease in denim blue.
The yarn was originally a huge Q hooked afghan the pulled apart under it’s own
Weight.
E) Juno Regina – is still sitting in the bone pile waiting for me to tink back the purl row and correct the dropped stitch. This is on hold until I can find some quiet time to do this.
G) FLS - No buttons yet but the thread in the house! Need to find a quiet moment to finally finish this. I want to wear it once before I have to pack it away.
H) Pedestrian Crossing COWL is off the needles I attempted to sew on the buttons but was too tired. I will get these sewn on this weekend.
I) The Daybreak Shawl By Stephen West. I gave upon waiting for the sz 4 circs from Jimmy Beans. I swatched this on my sz 5's and was pretty happy about the feel and drape of the fabric. I did soak my swatch just to make sure there wouldn't be any nasty surprises later and I'm still thrilled with it. I'll be knitting this out of Sensations Bamboo and Ewe in colorway Bamboo and Ewe Purple and Berroco Comfort in Color # 1812.
III What’s in my Tea Pot?
A) This week in my teapot is a very unique tea, Lapsang Suchong. Lapsang
Suchong is a black tea originally from the Wuyi region of China’s Fujian province. Lapsang is distinct from all other teas because it is smoke dried over pine wood fires, which give the tea a smoky flavor. This tea to say the least is an acquired taste. I cannot drink a pot of this tea. I brew this by the cup every once in a great while. It basically tastes like a campfire in a cup. If your drink your tea with sweetener this will taste a bit like a teriyaki beef jerky. The effect can be a bit unsettling. I am not a convert of this tea. But if you find it and the price is right it’s fun to pull out and impress your friends. Remember Lapsang Suchong is Black teas and should be steeped in boiling water for 4-6 minutes. I brew this lightly because of the strong flavor.
IV Materials Sourcing:
A) Plarn = Plastic yarn. Last month at my DAR meeting we had a guest speaker come in and give a talk on recycling. April after all is Earth Day month… The discussion came around to how to recycle those plastic grocery bags. The presenter was pretty chagrined by these bags because as a recycler they had to amass and store hug quantities of them before they could find a processor to take them and make any money in the transaction. That’s when one of the ladies said that she new of crafters that turned these bag into plarn and used them to knit / Crochet tote bags and accessories. NEW FIBER TO KNIT WITH I’m in! So this week I went on line and googled plarn and found www.myreycledbags.com. The basic gist is that you flatten out the bag, fold the flattened bag in half lengthwise twice, and Cut the handles and the sealed bottom edge off with a pair of scissors, then cut the resulting rectangle into 1-inch strips. I haven’t played much with this yet but I’m thinking that this is where if you wanted to adjust your “Plarn Gauge” you could cut a wider strip to get Bulky Plarn or cut a narrower strip for sock plarn. Socks of Plarn do not sound comfy…. So I have started amassing my bags and have a few cut up and I’m winding my Plarn Ball. I so far have a beige and red Plarn Ball and a Maroon and gold Plarn Ball. (Who knew a honey baked ham bag would be so stylish…) I think when I have enough Plarn I’ll make myself a grocery store tote bag. (Which may be counter productive because then I won’t get any more bags to make plarn with…)
B) I finished spinning the second Bobbin of the Corriedale. I actually got to ply my first two bobbins on Babe! I have to say that the yarn is much better than my first skein from my drop spindle. (My apologies to Abby Franquemont!) My first skeins from the drop spindle are a bit over spun and more than a little crunchy. The skeins off of Babe are light and airy to they point that some spots may be way under spun. There are defiantly some thick and thing spots but this is a 1st skein so I’m overall pretty pleased with myself.
C) I plan to use the unused Paas Easter egg tablets from Easter to dye this yarn. I wanted to do this Thursday night but ran out of time.
D) I also unfortunately did not get back to the Mohair kid my mom gave me. Hopefully I'll find time for that this week.
V QC Inspection
A) You may have noticed that this isn’t the usual place that QC shows up. That’s because this week it’s my spinning in QC and not for once the knitting. I need to invest in a swift. I attempted to wind my full bobbins onto the back of a chair. After about quarter of a bobbin I decided that the skein wasn’t big enough so I took it off to try to wind it onto something else. I finally settle on winding it around my big cutting board this of course snarled all of the previously wound yarn and took me over an hour to undo. Lesson learned one you start winding off the bobbin you are committed to whatever method you started with.
VI Shipping
A) The Baby Swirl Hat is complete with the ends woven in! I had to take this off the needles and frogged it back to a place where a I thought it looked like a hat more for a baby and less like one for a cone head. Getting the lace pattern back on the needles was not going well so I frogged the entire thing and recast it on. It's a cute swirl pattern I think I'll use it for the leg of my next pair of generic socks.
VII Boneroom
A) Still no Zombie BBQ or SZ 4 circs.
VIII After 5
It was warm and wet in Ohio this week. Well, warm and wet until I wanted to do something out doors. If any one saw on the show notes page I posted that Sunday May 15th was the annual blessing of the sheep at The Spicy Lamb Farm. Joe, B, and were set to head out to the farm until we woke up Sunday morning and it was COLD and raining. I'm a bit bummed we missed this event I was looking forward to the bagpipes and perhaps getting pictures of B with the sheep. If you're interested in the farm you can check them out at www.thespicylamb.com. As of now I'm planning on attending the Crooked River Fiber on August 4th-7th. The spicy Lamb farm will be open this weekend and their will be events all through the village of Peninsula. I've taken a look at the class schedule and there are a few that I plan on registering for. Registration for non PAA members starts may 21st.
Spring in Kent brings rain and baby geese. All around the factory I work at the Canadian Geese and their goslings are everywhere. By the end of summer their will be hundreds of them stalking around through the weeds like predators. With all the rain the geese have taken to hanging out around the deep puddles in the day care parking lot. This week during a particularly nasty rain storm B and I saw one of these geese wandering in the parking lot. And says” That Duck needs to be wearing socks because his feet are getting wet. What's he doing in the rain where's his coat! So until next week every stay dry!
A) Segments for this episode.
1) Production with emphasis on Wool-Aid and Knit for Tibet
2) What’s in my Tea Pot: Lapsang Suchong
3) Materials Sourcing
4) QC Inspection
5) Shipping
6) Boneroom update
7) After 5
II Production
A) Last week I mentioned that I had been buying the Lion’s Brand Fisherman’s wool for charity knitting for the now defunct Warm Woolies charity knits. I recently found a new group on ravelry called Wool-aid that appears to be taking over where Warm Woolies left off. Currently they are accepting donations for the Knit for Tibet Charity. Knit for Tibet is an outreach effort of the Kyegu Relief Fund established in response to the devastating 7.1 magnitude earthquake that hit the eastern Tibetan town of Kyegu on April 14th 2010. The humanitarian need is on going and significant. 90% of the towns building were destroyed. Winters are harsh in Kyegu and the people are facing desperate conditions as many are living in lightweight tents. Items most needed are vests, sweaters and sock for Babies and Teens but all sizes will be accepted. Donations need to be received at Wool-Aid by May 31st. I had 2 toddler size sweaters in bulky weight yarn knitted up and intended for the Warm Woolies 10 in 2010 contest. I will be seaming these up this week to send to the Knit for Tibet cause. I also half finished sweater in a teenage size that I will be attempting to complete as well. If you’d like to donate as well donations should be sent to:
Wool-Aid
1381 Rocky Creek Court
Belleville, IL 6220
If you feel you’d like to help but can’t complete items for the May 31st deadline check out the Wool-Aid group on Ravelry for additional initiatives and for guidelines for knitting such as the best fiber content and sizing of garments. For example Wool-Aid requests that Knitted garments are knit densely in a yarn with as much natural animal fiber as possible. Bulky weight is preferred but double stranded worsted works as well. Garments should be knit with warmth and coverage in mind. Socks should be knit of at least worsted weight if not bulky and cuffs should be as long as a heel to toe measurement of the foot.
B) Brown Wool Sweater - This sweater was previously cast on and abandoned
about where the arms would be separated. I lost the original pattern but found a similar one in the same gauge with only two less stitches that should have been cast on. I’ll correct that when I decrease under the arms. I’m using the Mr. Darcy sweater pattern off of Knitty.com. I am not using the “Dot pattern” that the pattern calls for. After the arms are separated the back and front are worked back and forth in short rows. I think this will work but it’s a crap shoot. Who knows maybe it will be in next weeks bone room.
C) Bulky Weight toddler sweaters: I knit these up over a year ago. They have
Have been sitting in my UFO pile. They are made of bulky weight from a warm woolies pattern that is not yet available on Wool-Aids website. These are worked flat and in one piece so t almost looks like across with a slit in the middle. When you fold the cross in half top to bottom you can see the sweaters I need to weave in ends and seem up the sides and under arms. Then these will be off to Tibet!
D) Junk Raglan: Added to the junk raglan this week one small cake of the
Reclaimed yarn. Could have been more but it’s been set aside to finish the Brown wool Sweater. Reclaimed yarn is Lion Brand Wool-ease in denim blue.
The yarn was originally a huge Q hooked afghan the pulled apart under it’s own
Weight.
E) Juno Regina – is still sitting in the bone pile waiting for me to tink back the purl row and correct the dropped stitch. This is on hold until I can find some quiet time to do this.
G) FLS - No buttons yet but the thread in the house! Need to find a quiet moment to finally finish this. I want to wear it once before I have to pack it away.
H) Pedestrian Crossing COWL is off the needles I attempted to sew on the buttons but was too tired. I will get these sewn on this weekend.
I) The Daybreak Shawl By Stephen West. I gave upon waiting for the sz 4 circs from Jimmy Beans. I swatched this on my sz 5's and was pretty happy about the feel and drape of the fabric. I did soak my swatch just to make sure there wouldn't be any nasty surprises later and I'm still thrilled with it. I'll be knitting this out of Sensations Bamboo and Ewe in colorway Bamboo and Ewe Purple and Berroco Comfort in Color # 1812.
III What’s in my Tea Pot?
A) This week in my teapot is a very unique tea, Lapsang Suchong. Lapsang
Suchong is a black tea originally from the Wuyi region of China’s Fujian province. Lapsang is distinct from all other teas because it is smoke dried over pine wood fires, which give the tea a smoky flavor. This tea to say the least is an acquired taste. I cannot drink a pot of this tea. I brew this by the cup every once in a great while. It basically tastes like a campfire in a cup. If your drink your tea with sweetener this will taste a bit like a teriyaki beef jerky. The effect can be a bit unsettling. I am not a convert of this tea. But if you find it and the price is right it’s fun to pull out and impress your friends. Remember Lapsang Suchong is Black teas and should be steeped in boiling water for 4-6 minutes. I brew this lightly because of the strong flavor.
IV Materials Sourcing:
A) Plarn = Plastic yarn. Last month at my DAR meeting we had a guest speaker come in and give a talk on recycling. April after all is Earth Day month… The discussion came around to how to recycle those plastic grocery bags. The presenter was pretty chagrined by these bags because as a recycler they had to amass and store hug quantities of them before they could find a processor to take them and make any money in the transaction. That’s when one of the ladies said that she new of crafters that turned these bag into plarn and used them to knit / Crochet tote bags and accessories. NEW FIBER TO KNIT WITH I’m in! So this week I went on line and googled plarn and found www.myreycledbags.com. The basic gist is that you flatten out the bag, fold the flattened bag in half lengthwise twice, and Cut the handles and the sealed bottom edge off with a pair of scissors, then cut the resulting rectangle into 1-inch strips. I haven’t played much with this yet but I’m thinking that this is where if you wanted to adjust your “Plarn Gauge” you could cut a wider strip to get Bulky Plarn or cut a narrower strip for sock plarn. Socks of Plarn do not sound comfy…. So I have started amassing my bags and have a few cut up and I’m winding my Plarn Ball. I so far have a beige and red Plarn Ball and a Maroon and gold Plarn Ball. (Who knew a honey baked ham bag would be so stylish…) I think when I have enough Plarn I’ll make myself a grocery store tote bag. (Which may be counter productive because then I won’t get any more bags to make plarn with…)
B) I finished spinning the second Bobbin of the Corriedale. I actually got to ply my first two bobbins on Babe! I have to say that the yarn is much better than my first skein from my drop spindle. (My apologies to Abby Franquemont!) My first skeins from the drop spindle are a bit over spun and more than a little crunchy. The skeins off of Babe are light and airy to they point that some spots may be way under spun. There are defiantly some thick and thing spots but this is a 1st skein so I’m overall pretty pleased with myself.
C) I plan to use the unused Paas Easter egg tablets from Easter to dye this yarn. I wanted to do this Thursday night but ran out of time.
D) I also unfortunately did not get back to the Mohair kid my mom gave me. Hopefully I'll find time for that this week.
V QC Inspection
A) You may have noticed that this isn’t the usual place that QC shows up. That’s because this week it’s my spinning in QC and not for once the knitting. I need to invest in a swift. I attempted to wind my full bobbins onto the back of a chair. After about quarter of a bobbin I decided that the skein wasn’t big enough so I took it off to try to wind it onto something else. I finally settle on winding it around my big cutting board this of course snarled all of the previously wound yarn and took me over an hour to undo. Lesson learned one you start winding off the bobbin you are committed to whatever method you started with.
VI Shipping
A) The Baby Swirl Hat is complete with the ends woven in! I had to take this off the needles and frogged it back to a place where a I thought it looked like a hat more for a baby and less like one for a cone head. Getting the lace pattern back on the needles was not going well so I frogged the entire thing and recast it on. It's a cute swirl pattern I think I'll use it for the leg of my next pair of generic socks.
VII Boneroom
A) Still no Zombie BBQ or SZ 4 circs.
VIII After 5
It was warm and wet in Ohio this week. Well, warm and wet until I wanted to do something out doors. If any one saw on the show notes page I posted that Sunday May 15th was the annual blessing of the sheep at The Spicy Lamb Farm. Joe, B, and were set to head out to the farm until we woke up Sunday morning and it was COLD and raining. I'm a bit bummed we missed this event I was looking forward to the bagpipes and perhaps getting pictures of B with the sheep. If you're interested in the farm you can check them out at www.thespicylamb.com. As of now I'm planning on attending the Crooked River Fiber on August 4th-7th. The spicy Lamb farm will be open this weekend and their will be events all through the village of Peninsula. I've taken a look at the class schedule and there are a few that I plan on registering for. Registration for non PAA members starts may 21st.
Spring in Kent brings rain and baby geese. All around the factory I work at the Canadian Geese and their goslings are everywhere. By the end of summer their will be hundreds of them stalking around through the weeds like predators. With all the rain the geese have taken to hanging out around the deep puddles in the day care parking lot. This week during a particularly nasty rain storm B and I saw one of these geese wandering in the parking lot. And says” That Duck needs to be wearing socks because his feet are getting wet. What's he doing in the rain where's his coat! So until next week every stay dry!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Annual Blssing of the Sheep @ The Spicy Lamb Farm
Hopefully I'll be able to get to this on Sunday!
May 15th Blessing of the Sheep:
Shearing and Herding Demonstrations
Visit The Spicy Lamb Farm and watch a sheep shearing demonstration. Enjoy the Blessing of the Sheep ceremony accompanied by bagpipes. After the ceremony, we will have a border collie herding demonstration. )
Sunday, May 15th 2 to 4pm $8 per adult and $5 per child under 12 Free to Adopt-a-Ewe families who should come early to shear their own sheep. Please no dogs or horses this day. This is our farm's not to be missed event.
More info at www.thespicylamb.com
May 15th Blessing of the Sheep:
Shearing and Herding Demonstrations
Visit The Spicy Lamb Farm and watch a sheep shearing demonstration. Enjoy the Blessing of the Sheep ceremony accompanied by bagpipes. After the ceremony, we will have a border collie herding demonstration. )
Sunday, May 15th 2 to 4pm $8 per adult and $5 per child under 12 Free to Adopt-a-Ewe families who should come early to shear their own sheep. Please no dogs or horses this day. This is our farm's not to be missed event.
More info at www.thespicylamb.com
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Good Golly Miss Molly or "What have you done to my knitting!"
Happy Mother's Day! I hope all the Mommy's have been spoiled rotten and have gotten in plenty of knitting time!
Production Scheduling:
Big news for this week! We are now on ITunes and I notice I have had some downloads! WAHOOOOO! I was also able to announce the show notes page this week. (If you're reading this you've obviously found it...) This week also marks the start of a new segment, "What's in my tea pot?
In Production:
There was a whole lotta nothing in production this week. I managed to knit a bit on my Juno Regina by Miriam Felton. I also managed to drop a stitch on the purl row. The Pedestrian Crossing is by Melissa Sibley! I bothched this in the podcast cast and called her Melissa Tuttle. My apologies to Melissa. I also called this a shawl about 14 times and it's a COWL big difference... not sure where my head was. The Pedestrian Crossing Cowl is clicking along and may be finished this week. All other projects on the needles have been ignored this week due to Matron of Honor duties.
QC Inspection:
I dropped a stitch in the Juno Regina. I'm STILL attempting to fix this. Lesson Learned? DO NOT KNIT LACE WHILE TIRED. Wish me luck!
What's In My Tea Pot?
I got into tea when I met back up with my girls friends from high school. We started to meet at a local tea house called Miss Molly's Tea Room for lunches where we would drink tea and catch up. We have since started to share samples of favorites and giving each other recommendations. This Christmas I my friend Nichol gave me an awesome 2 cup tea pot which lives at my office. This little tea pot has set off a trend of drinking decent tea at the office. (even the floral show kind!)
I call myself a tea snob with my tongue firmly in cheek. I drink sweetener in my teas and I like Lipton's in tea bags when I don't have anything else handy. Both of these points would make the "real" Tea Snobs look down their collective noses at me.
Tea Brewing Temps and Times:
Black Tea should be steeped 4-6 minutes in water that has been brought to a full boil.
Green Tea should be steeped at 150-160 degrees for 2-4 minutes.
Herbal teas are by trial and error due to the many varieties steeps about 5 minutes.
If you don't have a thermometer handy, you can tell the water temperature by watching the bubbles. Small bubbles will float to the surface of the water 160-170F , and you'll see strings of bubbles from the bottom of the kettle at 180-190F. After that , you'll have a full roiling boil.
This week I reviewed Pasion Tea Company's Nassau Royale Rum Tea in Pineapple. I found this tea while on vacation in the Bahamas. I really like this tea. I was leery of it at first thinking I would be overwhelmed by the Rum flavor. There is much more rum scent to this tea than actual rum taste. If you run across this give it a try!
Materials Sourcing:
The second bobbing of Corriedale is almost complete! After a spinning guru session with my mom I have found that I am spinning way too thin and that's what's causing my breakage issues. I have a ball of Mohair Kid Blend to spin which seems to need to be drafted by the handful. More on the mohair next week.
Shipping:
Malissa's Socks are done!
I also repaired a pair of socks for my Mom that we won't post up here just yet... :) (Gotta keep some credibility...)
** Just a note shipping may be sparse next week! I'll be reading Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris! I love the southern Vampire Series which serves as the inspiration for HBO's TRUE BLOOD.
Bone Room:
I broke down this week and ordered a skein of Lorna's Laces in Zombie BBQ. I'm intending to cast on the Clapotis by Kate Gilbert. Of course the yarn is on BACKORDER! ARGH! (but Jeane at Jimmy Beans wool was really nice about it...) I also mentioned a book whose title I botched. The book my husband bought is The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete protection from the living undead by Max Brooks. My apologies to Max.
After Five:
I had a few funny stories from home this week. The first is about Joe spurning my hand knits, the second is my revenge, and of course a funny mommy story in which B accuses my mother and I of ruining his knitting. I also review Vampire Knits by Genevieve Miller. (So that should make it After (After) five?).
I would love to start a Ravelry group. If anyone is interested friend me as AJLuvsJoe and once I get 3 people I'll get it started!
Have a great week!">
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)