Tricky, stupid shawls

 

Shawls are tricky projects.   They start off first by giving you hope.  It tricks you because at first, the knitting goes so quickly that you're making good progress.   You can see the shawl growing in size as you are knitting.  This gives you energy to keep knitting because you want to see it in its full, finished glory! 

 And then... and then you  realise you are still knitting. You realise that shawls are liars. You're half way done and there are still yards upon yards of balled of yarn waiting for you, even a shawl like this which is made of leftover yarns.   You keep knitting, and knitting, and knitting.  Slowly, ever more slowly does the shawl grow.  Soon it's taking you 15 minutes  or a bit more to knit one lousy row.  Now, you knit and can hardly tell how much you've accomplished in the past hour and a half because you only knit an inch!   And still, you have several more balls of yarn, and the lower lacy border.  That joy that the photo and pattern of the shawl is starting to dim because yep, shawls are liars. 

Now instead of enthusiasm, you're asking yourself when will I actually finish this?  You're wondering to yourself if it will actually be big enough because surely it should look bigger than it is now after what feels like weeks of knitting every day.  As well, the knitting needles that you love in other sizes, now feel just slow, stodgy and wrong in your hands, like you chose the wrong needles.  Maybe the aluminium needles would be better, or needles with better points, or rounded tips or better joins.  And because these are convertible needles, you're also telling yourself you're thankful that they haven't broken because you just found 2 different sizes of this brand of needles broken in your needle bin, which doesn't inspire confidence when knitting down the home stretch of the stupid shawl.

Yep, shawls are tricky liars.   The photographs hook you.  They hook you into forgetting how much time it actually takes to knit a stupid shawl.   They hook you  into thinking this will be a fun and satisfying project  It will of course be so in the end, but that will be mixed with some relief as you cast off the last of the 325 stitches you end up with when you're finally finished.  Of course that is when you also realise that there are 250 stupid yarn ends to sew in before you're actually finished the shawl. But then it's done.  You sigh in relief and are happy because it's pretty close to what you wanted.   

Then, because you need a new project on the needles,  because you realised that the shawl you just made won't work with the dress you ended up buying to wear to a wedding, you look through your stash, and look through pattern books, Ravelry, your friends projects and suddenly you find the perfect pattern for those skeins of yarn that have been insulating the craft room.   It's this elegant, drapey, and quite perfect shawl!  And so it starts again, the circle of the shawl: excitement, enthusiasm, the frustration, the boredom, the hopefulness of finishing and finally, the relief and satisfaction that you're done, before you start something like that again.  

STUPID, TRICKY SHAWLS!

above photo - a simple shawl, using leftover yarns, some dyed and a brown that doesn't go with any other yarn that I have,  Some might be handspun, one isn't for sure, but they were unlabelled because I went through a very long phase of thinking that I'd remember the fibre content, yardage and brand/ or sheep breed of every single skein of yarn that I have had over some ridiculous amount of years.   I'm now labelling everything, or tucking in the ball band if it's commercial.   It sure took me long enough to get into that habit.

K update

I was playing with dyes.   I had some grey in the slightly wrong shade that I over dyed with some blue.  I wanted a pale blue grey, and ended up with a pale grey/greenish blue.  I'd been trying with the old Cushing's dyes, but ended up realising that some of the dyes are union dyes, not acid dyes, and this colour was one of those.  I wasn't impressed.   Kevin liked them though.   As I set the skeins to finish drying in front of the fire, he cozied himself up to them like they were his new best friend.   However, his track record with drying skeins hasn't been good.  Usually it has to be something I have plans for, or some sort of expensive fibre like cashmere.    We've had plenty of "conversations " about his attraction to my damp yarns, whether dyed or just wet finished.   I know he understands where I stand on this issue " don't touch it", when every other second he glanced at me, sometimes with squinty eyes, like he was. warning me off.    

I got him to move and thought my yarn was safe.  The next day though, I found that particular skein on the ground and in a bit of a tangle.  When I wound it into a ball, I found it was now in three pieces.   While I wasn't too happy with it, I wasn't surprised.   I was much happier than the cashmere skein which I'd found in a thousand tiny little pieces and was totally unusable.   I used to keep my drying yarn safe by setting a towel over the top bar of my Fanny loom and hanging it there.  I recently gave away that loom though, and didn't even think about the K issue.  Obviously a chair isn't a safe option.  

A few fibery projects

Another critter made of leftovers.  The white parts are a bit of leftover acrylic yarn.  I know that because it squeaked a bit when knitting.  Also, because it wasn't in my bin of handspun yarns but in the bag of leftover bits from a cow I made last year.

He's very cute.   The original pattern has a wreath around his neck, but I'm just going to put a nice bow on him and call him done.   The pattern was a free pattern available on-line.  It's fiddly though, really, really fiddly.  The main part of the moose is fine, and so are the arms and legs.  They were all easy to knit up.  The ears and antlers though were quite fussy, small little pieces.  Nothing difficult about it, but it did take a lot of pinning to get those bits and pieces even close to the right places. 
 

I had some fleece leftover from various projects.  This was washed fleece, and most of it had been run through a drum carder.  There was some coloured stuff that I'd used to pick up extra acid dyes when I was experimenting with the old, vintage packets of Cushing's dyes.    I hand carded the bits and pieces, wound them up and layered them into big balls to make dryer balls.  I had to stop in a a dollar store after a meeting the other day to pick up a pair of nylons so I had a pair to stuff the balls into for felting.   

I stuffed a fleece ball into the toe of a stocking, tied a knot, put in another ball and tied a knot, 3 times.   I used a slip knot so that hopefully I could reuse the nylons again.   I put them into the washer, with a load of laundry, and then into the dryer.  They felted up really nicely.  The only issue I had was they were also trying to felt themselves into the stockings.   I got the first 2 out with a little effort, but had to cut the final one out as the stocking wouldn't peel off the dryer ball.  Of course once I snipped the toe of the stocking off, it was easy to peel the little bit of nylon off.   By knotting the cut end, I'll be able to reuse the nylons for another batch if necessary or I can use them to tie garden plants to supports if necessary, like that one stem of the tomato plant which doesn't want to stay confined to the tomato cage!     

Next projects on the list include having to divide and repot my snake plant (Dracaena trifasciata ).  It's been growing and growing.  I was thinking it needed repotting over the summer, but put it off.  Now it's obviously too big.  Well the one with the striped leaves is.  The more solid green one is still a baby but I'll probably repot that one at the same time. It will be a big, ol' repotting party because the spider plant and the lemon tree are also getting too big for their pots.  I may have to wait for the spring though, because I have a feeling this will be a messy job.

Still winter here..

 

Finally the Great Lakes are frozen enough that the constant lake effect snow squalls have eased off.  Despite it still being stupidly cold, we've had a couple of sunny days and a couple of sunny-ish days, where it was bright, although there was cloud cover and those lovely white/grey wintery skies we get here.   We've also had hoar frost, and icy fog which is both beautiful and odd at the same time.  

This was first thing this morning, just a bit after sunrise.  A few minutes later, I was heading into town and had to put my lights on because that little layer of fog, became a heavy, almost engulfing fog, which lasted until about 10 minutes after I got home  an hour and a half later.   Literally 10 minutes after I'd gotten home and made some tea, I looked out to see no fog, and sunshine.   A happy surprise for sure, but a surprisingly quick switch in the weather.

At least it wasn't -23C when I left the house this morning.  It was a balmy -17C and had actually warmed up to -14C when I got home.  The local groundhog has predicted an early spring.  Realistically, even if we get 6 more weeks of winter, that's doing pretty good. 

 I remember the year we got the sheep.  They arrived in March and it was -25 during the day and much colder at night.  They were about to lamb and did so before the cold weather broke.   With the birth of the first lamb, I ended up routing through the kids cast off sweaters,  found a couple and cut the arms off to make little lamb sweaters because I worried that these tiny babies with no body fat wouldn't survive the cold.  I slipped them on after mama had finished cleaning them up and they'd dried off.   Neither the lambs nor the mamas cared and a few days later, the babies had outgrown the sweaters, had nice fluffy coats and were thriving.   I don't think they actually needed the sweaters, but it made me feel better!   

This is what I made during the past couple of evenings.  He's a free pattern from Ravelry.  The yarn is some of my early spinning, that I dyed with woad that I'd grown.   The green is leftovers from the green shawl I'd just made.   The yarn is a bit uneven with some thicker and thinner sections.  It's been in my hand spun bin for years.   I believe that beginner handspun yarn should be used, even if it's years later.   He's cute.    I use safety eyes on some of my knitted stuffies.   To make sure those eyes stay put, I cut a square of felt, cut a tiny slit or x in it.  I put the eye through the knitted fabric, then I put the square of felt over the post of the eye, and then put the safety back on the post.   It pretty much holds those eyes solidly in place.

Mrs. Rorer's Peach Pie 1886

This was a super easy and delightful treat which tasted like summer!

2 crust pie dough - home made or purchased

peaches - fresh, frozen, tinned

1/2 c sugar

1/4 c water (or reserved peach juice/liquid)

1-2 tbsp cornstarch (optional)

I made a standard 2 crust pie dough and lined a greased pie tin with it, reserving just over 1/3 for a top crust.   Since peaches are definitely not in season here, I used a tin of peaches, drained with the juice reserved.  I could have used almost 2 tins to make a really full pie, but they're expensive so I tried just one and it was still a nice amount.   

Peach prep:  fresh - scald peaches, peel off the skin, slice and remove stones.

Frozen - thaw and drain reserving juice

Tinned - (I used the no sugar kind) drain and reserve the juice

Mix the peaches with the sugar, water or juice and cornstarch if using.  Put the fruit filling into the lined pie tin.  Roll out the remaining crust dough and lay over the fruit to make a top crust.  Crimp the edges and cut vents.

Bake 400F for 20 - 25 minutes, reduce heat to 350 F and bake until the crust is nicely browned and the filling bubbles a bit.    It's likely a good idea to set the pie tin, on a cookie sheet in the oven, just in case it drips.

This was quick to whip up, tasty and very pretty on the plate.  I used a fancy pie topper template which looks way better before it's baked, but just a few vent slits cut into the pie or a little hole in the middle of the top crust would work just as well to let the steam out

Shawls

This is the green shawl finished, except for blocking.  It's become a favourite of the cats, who seem to enjoy sleeping on it.   I like it too because of the more muted colours.  The pale green, not one of my favourite colours at all, looks rather nice with rest of the greens and the grey.  They work well together. The amazing part of this shawl is that I thought it knit fairly quickly and was quite fun.  Of course after the fact, it may have taken my longer to knit than I recollect.   Its size was limited by the amount of yarn that I had.  I have leftover pale green and grey, but the last section of dark green used the last of all 3 different shades.  I was just a few rows short with the lightest shade of dark green, so worked though the bits and pieces, cut ends, short balls of the other greens, working from the lightest dark green to the darker shade.   It looks just fine, and I only had a few little ends left.  It has a grey garter stitch border so that it would hang straight after casting off and wouldn't curl.

I'm not sure about blocking it though.  It is large and drapey.  I don't think I have a large enough space to block it properly.  I may just wait until the spring and block it outside on the deck.  

Currently I have another shawl on the needles.   I found several balls of this beige/grey colour in the bin of my handspun odds and ends.  I'm not sure if it's handspun because it's been in hand wound balls rather than skeins for who knows how long.   It's a bit flattened in places. Rather than re-skein it, wash it gently and let it dry before I used it, I jumped right in and started another shawl. My first try was a garter stitch shawl, a simple, plain every day garment.  However I got bored of the knitting fairly quickly.   I ripped it out, a whole evenings work, which was a bit irritating, and restarted.  This is almost as simple as the original start, but has a bit more interest in having to count the stockinette stitch rows, and the garter stitch stripes.  

 I had knit too far to rip it out when I realised that I had grabbed the wrong knitting needles and am using a slightly smaller size than I'd normally use for this weight of yarn in a shawl.   I'm blaming that on the fact that my interchangeable needles in my favourite size had one break.  They are stupidly expensive and I haven't wanted to spend the extra money on a new set of that size needles.  The cord is fine of course, although I have to figure out how to wiggle the broken end off it.   Still, the needles are wooden and feel really nice to use.  The one on this shawl is aluminium and has a stiff cord, which just isn't quite so friendly.

Also, I lost one of the needle point protectors, which I use to keep the stitches on the needles while I'm not actively knitting.  It fell off as I was moving it to photograph it and it seems to have just vanished.  I moved it barely 2 metres.  How can it disappear in that space?  There was a cat lurking, sooo.....

I'm pretty sure I don't have quite enough of the main yarn to finish the shawl in the size I was aiming for.   I do have some darker brown which is of a similar grist which looks like it might have enough yardage to do a final repeat or at least a bottom border.  Maybe I'll go for a seed stitch border this time.

I have 2 more shawls in the planning stages, possibly 3 if I weave the one.   I'm spinning up my birthday merino right now.  It's going to be a 2 ply yarn.  I have 454 g of the commercial roving, so it' spinning up fairly quickly.  With that much roving, I should be able to spin enough yarn for a decent sized shawl.  Right now the plan is to dye the yarn in shades of blue or blue grey.   Sometimes plans change though :)

 

Mrs. Rorer's Chocolate Blanc Mange

I had a hankering to try a new recipe, and had some milk to use up, so I spent way too long looking for a simple blanc mange recipe.  There are a lot of them.  Blanc Mange goes way back to when it was a main dish of rice and chicken cooked in almond milk, to various forms as it changes to become the corn flour/corn starch recipe of today.   There are a lot of mid 19th century recipes using egg whites as an addition, but not necessarily cooked.   I found several fancy recipes for a layered pudding and finally found this simple recipe, for what is basically a moulded chocolate pudding, in a fairly modern form.

Mrs. Rorer's New Cook Book, 1902

This was a simple recipe.  I'll admit I used the microwave instead of a double boiler, but it worked.  

Ingredients -  

1 pint milk (2 cups)

4 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp corn starch or corn flour

2 oz chocolate

chop the chocolate.   Mix the milk and sugar together and stir to dissolve.   Heat until almost boiling and remove 1/2 cup of the milk and set it aside.   Into the small portion of milk, add the corn starch and stir until mixed in completely.   Add the chopped chocolate to the rest of the milk and heat until the chocolate melts, stirring until it is well blended.  Add the milk/cornstarch mixture back into the pot, and heat it up until it thickens and just starts to boil.   Stir constantly so it doesn't burn.   Pour into dishes or a prepared mould.

I used standard bakers chocolate. I think using chocolate rather than cocoa may have helped it firm up to be a mouldable pudding.   If I had to substitute cocoa, I'd add 1 or 2 tablespoons of sugar, and a bit more cornstarch to make up for this.

Using a double boiler minimises the risk of burning, and if you don't have an official double boiler pot, just stick a not melting mixing bowl over a pot of boiling water.   Stainless works well, but a quality glass one should be fine too.  Just don't use plastic.  I used a glass bowl in the microwave.  I set it on high for 3 minutes to heat up, removed the portion of milk and added the chocolate, set it at 1 minute and stirred after each time.  It took less than 3 minutes melt and stir in the chocolate.  I added the reserved milk/cornstarch mixture and heated it for another 2 minutes until it was thick.   If you undercook the cornstarch it will taste a bit raw and starch.  Fully cooked, it's nice, thick and a bit creamy.

Iused little cups for moulds.   This makes about 2.5 cups of pudding, so a proper pudding mould in that size would be very effective for a display piece.   I stuck the cups in the fridge to cool.  It didn't take too long before I could tip the pudding out onto the plate.  I didn't serve it with cream or milk, but a bit of whipped cream on top would be a lovely addition.

It's a nice, simple and easy pudding.  The ability to mould this makes it suitable for a fancy presentation.  Definitely a recipe to use again.