AJ Knits

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Getting off my Duff or “Return of the Bride”

Episode 29: Getting off my Duff or “Return of the Bride”

I Production Scheduling
  1. Production
  2. What's in my Tea Pot
  3. Materials Sourcing
  4. After 5
II Production
  1. Ruffled and Ruched Scarf by Pam Powers
    1. All of the errors from week before last have been fixed. That was the easiest thing I did these 2 weeks week! Go figure... It's official. I ran out of yarn. I had thought that I could tink back the ¼ of the row I was on and had enough yardage to bind off and then switch back to side A tear out the bind off and frog back a few rows so that the ruffles match. With any luck that will give me enough yarn to finish the flower. (And if that turns out... I'm buying a lottery ticket!) Right now this is cooling it's heels in time out. Tearing back the row I was on didn't give me enough to bind off side B. So Now I have to tear back out the binding on side B and one more row and then attempt to bind off side B again. But that's only the 1st problem. While I was contemplating my plan of attack I unscrewed the needles and tried the scarf on with it on the cables and that old concern of “structural integrity” came up again. The scarf is very squishy and soft and doesn't hold it's shape like I was hoping it would. Which puts me into the mind that I should frog this and buy a more suitable yarn for this project.
  2. Top Down Raglan Baby Sweater by Carole Barenys the body is done, ribbing and all. I started on the first sleeve and even though I'm using the same gauge needle as I did for the body the tension on the sleeve looks tighter. I think this is because I have tighter tension when knitting in the round than when I'm knitting flat. I tend to pull tighter on my working yarn in the round to avoid ladders at the needle changes. I'm about and inch in on the 1st sleeve and I'm just not happy with how this is working out. I've contemplated this one for the better part of the week and I've decided to tear back the sleeve and trade up to the next size needle and see how that works out. This is one of the advantage to knitting for tiny people it's not such a big deal to fail and tear something out and try again. :) I still like this pattern it reads more like a recipe that I can switch things in and out of. The second issue with this project is that the tiny human in question made his debut 5 weeks early. Ah well... I'll press on and give it to mommy when she comes back from her leave..

  1. Christmas Knitting: 27 days til Christmas. Week before last I got zero Christmas Knitting done. We'll get into the why's of that in after 5. This week the duper secret Christmas knitting is still hanging this week . Ornaments accomplished i= 0 The Mohawk Hat is on my hook. I hope this hat improves quickly because right now it looks like and eraser head or a Fez. I'm still working on the length of the hat as it's constructed top down. If this turns out truly awful I'll make a standard beanie and add ear flaps and the Mohawk strip...we shall see.
III What's in My Tea Pot
1. Dragon Pears Green tea from east of Eden Tea Company
  1. Very Pale almost the color of ginger ale
  2. 1st pot very weak. Can taste a vanilla not wondering if perhaps I used too much water in the steeper.
  3. Can Steep buds up to three times.
IV Materials Sourcing
1.) Still Spinning the Jacob but I've gotten a bit bored with it so as a special treat to myself I swapped bobbins and started spinning The Nantucket fiber from copper pot woolies.http://www.etsy.com/shop/copperpot. It's a merino and corriedale mix and it practicaly spins itself. Getting away from the wheel was pretty hard...

V After 5
  1. I love having time off for the holidays but sometimes the price I pay for that time just doesn't seem worth it. So after 5 has pretty much turned into after 6 this week.
  2. Hockey leader ship dinner was Tuesday which was a surprisingly nice evening. The coach invited past players that are now very successful to talk to the boys about how hockey influenced their lives. But the real star of the show was Scott Hamilton. No not that Scott Hamilton... Mr Hamilton is the father or Adam Hamilton who was killed this may while serving in Afghanistan http://kent.patch.com/articles/friends-remember-adam-hamiltons-work-ethic-playful-antics Adam was also a hockey player who graduated from my son's school in 2007 ( a bit too early for Nate to have known him personally.) Mr Hamilton stood and talked to the boys about team work and why Adam served. In the end Adam was there for the man on the right and the man on the left. This of course was brought around neatly to hockey but there wasn't a dry eye in the house. If you'd like to know more about Adam Hamilton I have a link in the show notes to a news story done my Kent.patch.com.
  3. The bride returneth... we had a house guest last week as well. I got my friend the bride out of the house and she spent Wednesday night with us and got to see her 1st high school hockey game. It's really hard to knit with guests in the house. I feel like I have to entertain her and I feel really self conscious if I'm zoned out in my knits and purls.
  4. The holiday rush at work has been in full swing. We've crunched 5 days of production into 3. Ahhhhhhh! Even though the shop is busy I'm starting to have to cancel trucks to far flung areas. So there has been a lot people shooting the messenger this week.
  5. Thanksgiving went fabulously well. Last year I mis read my Stuffing recipe and added way to much salt. I also usually double the stuffing recipe and end up throwing out a ton of stuffing this year I cut it in half and avoided the salt. My turkey did finish about and hour early but was nicely rested and still piping hot when my mom got their to carve it. I can't carve a turkey and prefer not to hack it up. :) My pies turned out well and everything was eaten and I haven't heard any complaints...:) Even from Joe... So I'll chalk it up as a success. In honor of thanksgiving I'll be posting the recipe for Cranberry Duff on the show notes page. I make this a few times every fall for as long as I can find fresh cranberries in the supermarket. It's on of Joe's favorites and I took it to this month's DAR meeting to rave reviews. Seriously I'm tempting fate with the baking for them. I'm going to hit the wall and when I do I have a feeling that I'm going to hit it HARD. http://www.marthastewart.com/319188/new-england-cranberry-duff this recipe is from Martha Stewart I always use the entire bag of cranberries and double the recipe and it fits nicely in my 9X9 corell-ware pan. The cranberries are acidic so be sure to use a glass dish.
  6. We spent this long weekend bumming around the house. B went to grandma's house, Nate went to his dad's and had hockey. So Joe and I made the best of a good thing and went to the movies and bummed around the house. What we didn't know was the while B was in the clutches of my in laws they were spoiling him rotten and he saw Santa not once but 3 times. When I was kid we saw Santa once and we waited for that big day. Some years mom would cal us off of school and we'd ride the Rapid (Cleveland's version of the subway) into downtown. Cleveland. In the early years we went to Higbee's to see Mr Jingaling's workshop http://www.mrjingeling.com/, The line for Santa always seemed to lead through Mr Jingaling's workshop, visit Santa, and then shop at the Twigbee ship in Higbee's where were were assisted in Christmas shopping by elves. Sometimes there would be lunch at Higbee's silver grille where fried chicken kid's meals were served in cardboard stoves for girls and I think we got a Higbee's semi truck one year http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/Cleveland/Meetings/RoomDetails/10thFlooroftheadjacentHigbeeBuildingatTowerCityCenter/TheSilverGrille.htm . Then we always would check out the animatronic holiday displays in the windows ion public square. There was no visiting Santa every time you were at the mall or every time you saw him. So there will be a discussion... that or we'll hide and dodge phone calls until Joe and I can make it as special for B as it was for us growing up.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Cincinnati (Skyline) Chili Recipe

There's no chocolate in this recipe that may be a Skyline chili secret but this looks like a pretty good place to start!

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Cincinnati-Chili

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Pie Fight or "Sage Advice"

Episode 28

I Production Scheduling
  1. Production
  2. What's in my Tea Pot
  3. QC Inspection
  4. Materials Sourcing
  5. After 5
    II Production
    1. Ruffled and Ruched Scarf by Pam Powers
    1. Side A misdone and the provisional cast on has been unraveled and Side B has begun. It's gonna be a close call with the yarn on this. Which is really heart breaking because I really love it. The color is lovely and it's soft and squooshy. I am a bit worried that the yarn isn't stiff enough to make the scarf stand up like it does on the dress form in the photo's. Yardage is also going to be a close call. At this point I think I've given up on the flower being knit out of the same yarn. I've been mentally going through my stash thinking if there is something in a coordinating color to make the flower out of. I'm thinking that one of the copper pot woolies colors may e a good match. I have one more row of increases before the ruffle repeats for length.
    2. Top Down Raglan Baby Sweater by Carole Barenys - or AKA guilt knitting. This is a cute and simple baby cardigan. I spent some time surfing through ravelry looking for a quick knit that would fit the yarn I had picked up at Micheal’s Loops and Threads Snuggly Wuggly in daffodil dots. This cardigan is worked from the top down and has a seam detail worked in purl stitches. I've finished the raglan increases and have work to about an inch below the arm separation. So far so good. It looks adorable. 2 more button holes and the ribbing to work and then I get to decide if I'm knitting a hat to go with.
    3. Christmas Knitting : 41 days til Christmas Super Secret Christmas project 55% done. No forward momentum on the Christmas ornaments this week. Loopy Appaloosa sweat not yet cast on. Pattern for a new Nate hat found via the ladies at day care. They found a free Crocheted Mohawk hat that I'll be modding to be in Nate's School colors. (red, Black, and White.) Still Struggling to not add anything additional.
    III What's in my Tea Pot
    1. Yogi Tea Bedtime Organic


IV QC Inspection
1. Ruffled and Ruched Scarf by Pam Powers I was working on this last night feverishly with the aim to either run out of yarn or finish it. Somehow I got off on the rib patter and I have a few ribs in the ruffles that have purl stitch in them. I didn't have a crochet hook handy and it was once again my magical QC hour of Midnight to 1AM so I put it down and I have yet to pick it up again today. I don;t foresee any problems with just dropping down reversing the stitch and hooking back up but it always seems that my est laid plans are the ones that never workout the way they should. I'm really hoping that Murphy's law doesn't kick in ( I really think I may have been Murphy in a past life...) and I run into trouble fixing the errors and then having the all fixed run out of yarn. Knock on Wood!
V Materials Sourcing
  1. Still on the wheel is the 4 oz of Jacob from the Ann Arbor fiber expo. I'm finding more and ,ore veg matter and pulling it out of the roving as I go. I'm really happy with the colors and the spring the singles have. I'm thinking this will hake a lovely hat for my self. :)
  2. I stopped into Stitch piece and Purl last weekend to finally pick up another skein o Ultra Alpaca to finish off my brea bag. When I was in there I saw Interweave's Knit and Spin magazine on display and picked it up. I get daily emails from interweave and I had been wanting this magazine for a while also on the “to Buy” list is the Jane Austen Knits magazine... <insert Austen fangirl Squee's>
    1. Abby Franquemont demystifies Roving, Top and Sliver and the differences between. Most of this article are things I knew. She did touch on silk hankies and the exact mechanics of Puni vs rolag. Plus I love Abby! (Abby's tag line puts her in Ohio???? I thought she was in Michigan! Trying not to sound stalkerish)
    2. All kinds of general info articles in the front everything from wool washing, to choosing a first wheel, to selecting the correct whorl for plying.
    3. The reason I bought this was for the fleece lined mitten pattern by Rita Buchannon. Though I think I may have been better off buying the thrummed mitten kit from Knitpicks. I know have the know how to make the fleece lined mittens but the kit would give me essentially a pair of mitten for the same price. I know picky, Picky.
4. Reasons I'm really happy I bought this...
l. Lace cuff Mohair Mittens by Carol Huebscher Rhoades
a. I need a pair of these! They look so soft an fuzzy and I love the way the tops come to a point in the center. It's not a full on triangle wedge but more organic and reminiscent of the curve found on onion domes. (think St Petersburg, Russia)
b. Three Rib Beret's by Jacqueline Fee especially the She Knit a Raspberry Beret variation. A cute beret pattern to have in one's back pocket.
c. Priscilla Gibson-Roberts short row heel method Which is printed as an except of Priscilla's dream socks. I always like new ways to turn heels and decrease toes. I have my favorite but who knows I may find a new one I like better. This one should make an hour glass shape and should be gap-less. Should be worth a try on my next pair of socks.
d. The Baby Bunny Sweaters by Linda Loeffelholz I may not make the whole sweater but the charts for the adorable bunnies will definitely make their way onto something. I have a few bunny lovers on my gift lists (Not Christmas! Definitely not Christmas!) I know these will be appreciated as an embellishment for a hat or a bit of whimsy on a scarf,
VI After 5
  1. Hockey season is in full swing. I seem to have forgotten how much time hockey eats up out of the schedule. I've also forgotten how much time the boosters try to get the parents to donate. Team dinners, fund-raising, volunteering for chuck a puck and heaven know what else. <URGH> I hope once we get past the beginning of the year insanity that things will settle down. I had brought my Super Secret Christmas project with me because I had dropped of Nate about an hour before the game. (There's a lot of equipment that has to be put on and they run before they get dressed.) I thought I had time to work and the Booster's thought otherwise and I was drug into a fund raising meeting. <Sigh>
  2. This past Friday Was veterans day so I've been watching the history channels series on the Revolution on Net flix. My inner revolution / history geek is really enjoying this and Joe is enjoying that I've en watching it on the laptop with headphones on so he can remain blissfully ignorant and watch what he wants. Maybe it just hadn't sunk in in my past geekery but I found it especially fascinating that Washington’s command was questioned for so long. In popular history they really don’t mention that sort of thing. If you're a veteran or love one be sure to tell them “Thank You” for their service from me.
  3. Thanksgiving is two weeks away and I'll be spend the next few days getting my shopping list together so that I won't have a 4th container of sage in my spice cabinet. Hopefully this year I'll be ahead of the game and won't be running around like a maniac on Thanksgiving morning and instead will be watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in my PJ's with my Boys.


Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Episode 26 Double Bubble or “Mulling it over”

Episode 26 Double Bubble or “Mulling it over”



1. Production Scheduling
a. Production
b. What’s in my Tea Pot?
c. Shipping
d. Material Sourcing
e. After 5


2. Production
a. Christmas Knitting :54 days till Christmas mystery gift is 40% done ornaments complete 1 of 18.
i. I keep havig thoughts of adding to my holiday knitting. Red Heart has a 12 weeks of crafting email that has been coming to my inbox and each week I think “oh I should make that…” I need to sit down and make a realistic list. I think my one project and my ornaments are doable. If I keep things simple I could add a few more hand made gifts but I need to make sure they will be appreciated. Was my SIL serious when she said I should make ruffled scarves for christmas??? I could make a fish hat for the guitar teacher…. Or is it the year of the sweater for the boys? I know I have enough time to transform the Loopy the Appaloosa dishcloth pattern into a raglan sweater for B. But, a large sweater project for Nate may be a bit over committing myself. (Visions of the unfinished gilli suit are haunting me.)
b.Swatching: Since I broke the bank in AA I’ll be stash knitting for a while.My method of stash knitting usually starts with a trip to ravelry to search for patterns that require the weight and yardage I have. I noticed that my stash is running pretty high in sock yarn these days.  But what I really want to cast on is the ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Ruffled and Ruched Scarf By Pam Powers  but I don't have enough yadarge.L I found this pattern while drooling yet again over the Cowgirl Cowl.  The picture of the Ruffled and Ruched scarf make a gorgeous silouette on the dress form.  I’m praying it looks just as gorgeous on me!  Plus the added flower goes on a pin to act as a closure and I could see stealing it to add to other pieces to a bit of panache.
i.The Holden Shawlette By Mindy Wilkes
1.I saw this pattern while browsing through ravelery and queued it.  Then through #knitchat I heard there was a KAL for this through another podcast (who I would mention if I remembered who it was!).  This is a total ME TOO! Knit.
ii.Koolhaas By Jared Flood
1 I have one skein of gorgeously dyed Aran weight Courtesy of Knitting in the Red (Check out Jana on Etsy)  It’s either going to become Koolhause or the Snapdragon Tam by Ysolde Teague.  I’m waffling…  The yarn is has some variegation and Snapdragon has so much going on I think I may prefer a something a bit more solid for that.  Don’t get me wrong though the Koolhaas has plenty going on I just think the more architectural  pattern would lend itself better to varigation than Ysolde’s more organic twists and cables.
iii.The Cowgirl Cowl by Pam Powers
1.I love the tassel.The tassel is the entire draw for me. Now that we got that out of the way I like the buttons to but the pics without the tassel I’m little “meh…”add the tassel and I’m stash diving looking for the perfect yarn.I’m mourning my lack of worsted weight. :P
3.What’s In My tea Pot
a.It’s fall and one of my absolute favorite things about fall is Hot Apple Cider. More importantly Hot Apple Cider the way my Mom Makes it.  I think the original copy of the recipe came from a now closed farmers market on the west side of Cleveland called Danny Boys.I did some searching on the internet and found almost the same recipe online at http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,183,154164-237203,00.html The recipe calls for:
1/2 gallon of apple cider
a 1 inch knob of fresh ginger
1 whole lemon, cut in quarters
1 whole orange, cut in quarters
1 or 2 (2") cinnamon sticks
pinch of allspice (optional)
5 whole cloves
I do not use the ginger. My mom sometimes does not use the lemon. Cooks.com makes their cider on the stove top in a non aluminum pan. In our houses we make it in the crock pot. I put the cloves in the oranges an toss everything into the pot swishing it around a bit to mix in the allspice if I’ve used it that day. I keep it on High until it hot and then turn it down to Keep warm.  I’ll keep the pot going all day until I run out of cider. I do recommend not letting the lemons sit in the pot enire time. When the pot gets low the lemon bitterness of the lemon rind starts to come through. The oranges are sweet enough to leave in. There’s just something about coming in out of the chilly October air to the smell of hot mulled cider (You can even ditch you Airwick!). It’s one of my very favorite things (would be on my Death Row last meal request…) Halloween just isn’t Halloween with out it! (Well really Fall isn’t fall… cause my local orchard is still selling cider…..)


4 Shipping
a.It’s been a while but there’s finally something in shipping. The I Heart Lace Shawl By Inese Andzane is done and blocking as I speak. I had a few foibles on this pattern. They were my own issues.  One was me trying to warch TV and knit at the same time…. The other was pushing to get “just one More row”. It was my standard hour for screw ups… Midnight – 1 AM and I wanted to finish the purl row so I could start fresh on a pattern row the next day. I was talking to Joe and by some freakish slip or spasm the dropped the last 10-15 completed stitched fell off the right hand needle.ACK! I thought I had gotten them back on correctly but alas when I completed the 1st half of the pattern row I had the wrong number of stitches. I tinked back to make sure it wasn’t a AJ is watching TV and not counting stitches problem to no avail and thus after sleeping on it… tore back to the second lifeline. Which wasn’t so bad as I only lost 4 rows. Things I liked: The Back Seam Detail and the chart was EASY to read. One fiddly thing I wished was there…. I was not having an “Intelligent” day when I started the chart section. It took me a good half an hour to figure out that the entire center section was the lace repeat. Yes I know that was incredible air headed of me. I’m not proud… but we’re all friends here so I will be honest. This pattern is recommended for BEGINNER lace knitters (I checked the Ravelry group….). Knitters who may or may not have been exposed to charts before.  I think a little out line in Red and an * denoting the lace repeat wouldn’t be out of line. Especially if it helps me look less inept. J



5. Material Sourcing
a. I had set a mental goal for myself to finish the Cauldron Knitty and Color Bat by Halloween. Soooo Close! I finished the spinnig on the 30th and have it half plied. I’m hoping to finish that off ASAP and get it finished and posted as my second entry for the Autumn Jumble SAL. I plan on naming it Toil and Trouble because I always get the Shakespeare quote wrong on think it’s Double Bubble Toil and Trouble when it’s “Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.” I thought that Double Bubble implied pink like bubble fum and not the Witchy Cauldron colors I had… If you’re interested in the full context from Macbeth it’s linke to on the show notes page. http://www.potw.org/archive/potw283.html
b.Sooooo many goodies to spin…. I’m not sure what I’ll grab next Thinking right now It will probably be the one of the balls of coopworth or one of the merino’s from Copperpot Woolies.  Of course there is the angora……
6. After 5
a. So where the heck have I been this week.
i.6th wedding anniversary dinner at the melting pot.
ii. Joe has been home for a long weekend.
iii. Kent Halloween on 10/30
1. 4 Stinking houses?
2. The body suit Lumberjack hat combo.
iv. Real Halloween at my parents on 10:31
1. Skyline Chili
2. B does another 4 houses with Daddy and then Grandma saves the day!
v.Creeping crud?
vi.So busy I forgot about #knitchat!
b. Joe’s knitting Update.
i. Slow progress
ii. He’s somehow splitting the cotton yarn and then increasing by Knitting the split. I’ve fixed this twice
iii. We’re at the point where things are going to get interesting in the pattern stitch.  This is where we find out if he’s really interested in learning or if he bails when it get’s complicated. Cross your fingers!
c. Winner! My Lumberjack Hat for Nate won the Cuyohoga Falls Knit and Hook Group’s Winter Creativity contes. It was up against from still competition from a “Garter” Snake Scarf (Done in garter stitch no less!) Woohoo! I knew I had a hit on my hands when the teenager wore it constantly but it’s always nice to get the thumbs up from your peers.