sunday baking

Sunday Morning Granola.

Saw it on Milk Eggs Chocolate first.

Greatly influenced by Leslie's post.

Rose early this morning and baked.  

Filled the house with sweet and spicy aromas.

Ate mine with yogurt.  Yum.

White Milk Bread from Apples for Jam.

Have coveted the book for months.

Finally broke down and bought it a few weeks back.

Tried it once, and it didn't rise; I only had ap flour on hand, and it really does require bread flour.  

This time, it was positively perfect in every way. 

Slathered my slice with butter.  The kids ate theirs with strawberry jam.

i *heart* socks.

As if you didn't know it already.


Socks almost always flatter.
You never have to worry if they are hiding a bulge or a sag.
They typically don't accentuate a feature you try really hard to keep from daylight.
It's not of importance whether the color you selected is complementary to your skin tone.
Shouldn't you love socks, too?


The yarn is hand-dyed by Sarah, the [fabulous] Plucky Knitter. But don't expect you can rush right over and ask her to dye you up a skein, for this particular beauty was only dyed for Plucky Classics (of course, you could try to get into the next go-round). Hitchcock is her new muse, and this colorway, Madeliene Elster, was inspired by "Vertigo".
To remind me I'm not perfect, there are two mistakes, both in the same sock. 1. I forgot to twist a cable on the leg; 2. and maybe more distressing of the two: I knit the cuff a half inch longer on one sock! Yikes. Thank goodness they'll be covered by pants.

The pattern is the Baby Cable Rib (rav link) by Charlene Schurch. I don't like the Schurch toes, though, so I went with the toe from Charade (rav link, too), another lovely pattern featuring a nice, wide toe. I've knit a few pairs of Charades before -- and loved them, but it was Amanda's comment from a previous post that reminded me of the great shape again.
Love.

in a month's time

The silence over here in my space of the knitting blogosphere is deafening.  Some days I'm a little disappointed in myself for not writing more and allowing flickr to be my only avenue to you.  Other days, I know that NOT spending the time posting is the best thing that I can do: my family needs my attention, my sanity deserves it.   I've resolved to be like Kerstin, Blogging Without Obligation.

July 24 was my last post, and detailed the Snicket socks that I adore but haven't yet had a chance to wear in our summertime heat.  That posting seems like a long, long time ago.  Even the "I've-completed-the-Snicket" high I was riding feels aeons away.  The last week of July was the finish of Pre-K for Annika and quickly melted into the first week August-- which was our last week of summer break.

When school starts, I always heave a sigh: one that's half-filled with relief at the prospect of a little more quiet, a little more time, and a little more routine; but the other half is filled with a little more stress, a little more scheduling, and a whole lot more commitment.  School is important to us, no doubt.  Our homework gets done on time, reading is done every night.  Instilling the study skills of a successful student is paramount, and I'm positive it is the same for a lot of those that read this blog.  This reign over school/home scheduling is not necessarily difficult, it's just the other side of the leaf I have to turn once August hits.  And this year, it's taken all of my focus since there are two children in school.

So in a month's time, not a whole lot of tangible things have been accomplished, but here's the run-down of what has been on the needles:

Pomatomus sock.  Began as a sock for me, but is too tight, so is now on its way to be socks for Laurel.  Socks that Rock Lightweight in Puck's Mischief.

Slouchy Cardigan from Greetings from Knit Café.  This pattern has caused some heartache for so many knitters.  The sleeve cap doesn't fit into the arm hole well, apparently.  I've looked and noted many knitters' modifications, but I'm just going to forge on with the pattern as written.  As an unexperienced sweater knitter, I feel that I really can't deviate beyond the pattern too much.  Debbie Bliss Alpaca/Silk DK in sky blue.

Baby Cable Rib Socks from Sensational Knitted Socks.  I love this pattern, as I do all of the patterns in this book, and it's sequel, More Sensational Knitted Socks.  I only have to finish half of the foot and toe of the second sock, and I've got another pair to add to my drawer.  I've found a couple of mistakes in the second sock: one twist I forgot to make in one cable, and I knit the cuff of the second sock two inches long but the first cuff only one-and-a-half inches long!  Thank goodness they'll hide under pants when I'm wearing them. The Plucky Knitter's Plucky Classics Superwash Merino Wool Handpainted Fingering in Madeleine Elster.

And here's what has been baking:

First week of school request: Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Plain-ol'-regular-off-of-the-back-of-the-Toll-House-bag Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Since these are Laurel's favorite, I won Mom of the Week.

Second week: Duncan Hines Brownies.  Laurel went grocery shopping with me and asked if we could buy this particular box because there were three box tops on the box.  Her new class is the recipient of most collected box tops award each year.  She is bound and determined to help keep the honor in place.

This week: Rice Krispies Treats.  (Do you see a trend towards laziness here?  And really, since they don't bake, can they even be labled a Cookie of the Week?  I don't know how much lower I can slum when next week comes around.  Pretty soon I'll be doling out Mother's Circus Animal Cookies.)  Oh, but I do add 1 tsp. vanilla extract to my marshmallow-butter mixture, a tip that was given to me by a mom from Laurel's first playgroup.

There is one possibly redeeming cookie here though, under all of this mundane.  Yesterday was the Annual Cream Can Dinner that my husband's Nebraskan family puts on.  Never heard of it?  Neither had I, until a few years back.  I was asked to bring a dessert, so I chose Fresh-Peach Drop Cookies from Cookies.  Fresh-Peach Drop Cookies sounds down home enough to finish off a Cream Can Dinner, don't they?  Too bad I forgot the cookies on the counter at home...

... because I really didn't want them at home.  These cookies are just okay.  They're very moist, and is suggested that they're consumed the day they're made.  If they're not eaten, they become even more moist.  Uh, like puddly-moist.  Anyway, I expected some great peachy flavor, especially because I bought organic peaches and a high-quality peach preserve.  Sadly, if it wasn't for the cinnamon-sugar topping, these would be nearly tasteless.

Oh, and remember how I mentioned that my mother-in-law said she is disgusted by the idea of me throwing away my cookies of the week?  She knew of my plan to bring these peach cookies to the Cream Can.  When I showed up with a Whole Foods Cherry Pie and Gianna's Ginger Snaps instead, she told me she'd need to know when to come out this week to eat up the peach cookies.

a series of unfortunate events

Well not so much as a series as just one unfortunate event: I ran out of yarn when I was 85% of the way through the pair of Snicket Socks, way back in April.

Sarah graciously dyed up another skein of Suri Alpaca/BFL as close as she could get to the original, who's colorway name was "Bobbing for Apples". The new skein, "Not Quite Bobbing", arrived late last week, and I was able to finish the second sock yesterday.

Yes, there is a completely obvious difference in hue. And yes, the reds don't photograph the same every time. But I'm still in love. The socks are so soft, and very warm, and I can picture lounging around the house in jeans, a tee, and these socks come winter. And if I want to be super anal, I could go back and buy that pair of shoes I walked away from at the sale last week, as the toe box would hide the mishap ... Then I could wear them out and about with nary a glance.


The pattern is from the obsolete Mag Knits website, but if you're on Ravelry, you can download the PDF or save it to your Ravelry pattern library. It's a well-done pattern, and though I ran into a few hiccups, they were so little that even I could figure them out! I did make the heel modifications that I'd seen on iSeL's Snickets, and that was easy, too. But really, here's my advice: don't believe from the pattern that it will only take you 230 yards to fashion your own pair of Snickets. The pattern does state that the yardage is correspondent to a women's US 7 shoe, and I wear a 10, but it took a total of 360 yards for my pair. Most other Ravelers have used quite a bit more than the pattern suggests as well, so there's my warning to you.


These socks were my opus, until I ran out of yarn. I still really, really, really like them, but they don't quite sing the same tune they once did. I have a feeling you may see more Snickets from me. Especially ones similar to these, or these, or these...

three for three

Recently, Annika mentioned to the Man that she would like to repeat a day in San Francisco that we had in March. The first place we hit that day was Tartine, a small but well-known neighborhood bakery in the Mission District. While we were there, Annika munched on Mexican Wedding Cookies, covering herself in powdered sugar. This memory, and her wish to return to Tartine helped to decide our Cookie of the Week.


This particular recipe is from Martha Stewart's Cookies, although most of the recipes included are also available online, and you can find it here. The recipe produced a cookie with a very solid, typical taste of a Mexican Wedding Cookie; for that I was grateful, since they didn't exactly look typical. The recipe called for pressing whole, blanched almonds onto the top of the cookie, but whole, blanched nuts are something that would have been picked out by the kids, so I omitted. However, the recipe also asked one to "flatten slightly". It is obvious to me that I flattened "awholelotta". Mexican Wedding Cookies should be dome shaped.

In any case, the cookies are almost gone, which as Martha would say, is a very good thing. After all, 1 cup of butter and 1 cup of almonds is the bulk of the recipe that only yields 20 cookies. Yikes!

WIP Wednesday

... only I spent this Wednesday finishing the WIP and marking it FO.

The yarn is sKNITches Syncopation in Mint Mocha Latté, knit on size 2 dpn's, and is a mish-mash of sock patterns. The heel flap, with its garter stitch border, and the toe are from Knitting Sensational Socks by Charlene Schurch. The body of the sock is an Ann Norling pattern, Adult Basic Socks #12. Only recently did I start using the Knitting Sensational Socks toe, and I have to say, I need to investigate other patterns. I really dislike how few stitches are left to kitchener. Any suggestions?

Since a few of you have shared your summer book selections, I'm revealing a small part of the stack I have yet to read. Through the Children's Gate by Adam Gopnik, known for his book Paris to the Moon; The Mother-Daughter Book Club by Heather Vogel Frederick, which Laurel and I take turns reading aloud; A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, seems suitable for the current times; and The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald, which has just been languishing on the bookshelf for years...

a duet

because two are always better than one.

I finished the second Miniature Cowichan Cardigan today, resulting in two very happy daughters with two very sweet looking dolls.

Laurel's doll, Nellie, is wearing the blue cardigan. Annika's doll, who she named Nicki, is wearing the magenta cardigan. Although Laurel has another American Girl doll, Samantha, she has said that just one cardigan is enough. Visions of themed cardigans are dancing in my head: cardigans in school colors, cardigans in holiday colors, cardigans without collars, cardigans with matching shells.

This pattern was featured in Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2007 issue. I had queued the pattern over on Ravelry way back in November or December, but never really had any intention of casting on right then. When I was finally prepared to start the projects, I went back to the issue and realized that the pattern was never included in the magazine; one had to go online and download the PDF. I set out to locate it, only to find it had been removed from the site! (growl)

"web exclusive" it says there in the blue circle.
wish i had seen that earlier.

Kerstin had knit one for Olivia's American Girl, so I asked Kerstin if she still had the PDF. Thankfully, she did, and promptly e-mailed it to me. (Many others thought they had access to the PDF and tried their darnedest to no avail -- thanks to them as well.)

Both sweaters are knit in Cascade 220. The magenta was knit on size 3 needles, as suggested by the pattern. I had swatched for this first sweater, but apparently the swatch wasn't really large enough (is 4"x4" the proper size for a swatch?) and my gauge was off. While the cardigan still fit Annika's doll, the fabric created was very dense. When I cast on for Laurel's blue cardigan, I decided to use a size 4 needle. Typically, I always have to go up a size in needle anyway, so I didn't bother with a swatch. In the end, the gauge was correct with the blue cardigan knit in the size 4 needle (6.5 sts/1"), but I like the fit of the magenta cardigan on the size 3 better. Both the collar and the sleeves seem to fit the doll better.

The pattern in of itself is a very fun knit, and I think should be required knitting prior to first attempts at "people sweaters". Although maybe not written for a true beginner, the pattern, if carefully read and executed, could be knit by an early knitter. I liked this particular sleeve/body construction: the sleeves were knit in the round separately, then knit onto the body at the armhole, then decreased raglan style as the cardigan continued on up. At the finish, six armhole stitches and six bottom sleeve stitches were kitchenered together.

hello raglan decrease!

Since these are now off the WIP list and on the FO list, I can resume my sock-knitting. First I'll finish the Mint Mocha Latté socks, which are about 75% complete. Maybe by then, I'll have received the extra Bobbing for Apples Alpaca/BFL I needed, and I'll finish up the Snickets. Sarah has told me that the new yarn is a few shades darker than what I had, but you know what? I just don't care. That will be part of the story those socks will tell.