My First Monster

My friend Amy brought a monster with her to Saturday knitting.  She got the pattern from Danger Crafts on Etsy.  They have a bunch of really cool patterns.  I had to make one, so I got the pattern and this little girl emerged.  You might recognize the yarn.  Laura from SuddenExpression gave it to me during the Blog Hub swap.  The colors look wintry and girl-y to me so I whipped the first monster off for the kiddo.  She took one Sunday to make.  I made some mistakes.  Mostly, she is a bit crooked, but maybe that's how a monster is supposed to look?  Who really knows?  I think she is sweet.

Simple Solution

This summer I went shopping on-line at Webs.  They have 4/8 Wool Mill Ends on cones.  It is about 1,000 yards for $15.  That's a steal.  I picked up a cone of teal green with no particular idea of what to do with it.  I finally decided on this felted project.  But knitting off a cone is not easy.  It falls over and rolls away.  It had to be below me or I had to stop every so often to pull the yarn off the cone.  I started to think about either rewinding into cakes or buying one of those those plastic yarn jars.  Amazon has them for under $10.

Then the Farmer offered an empty oatmeal canister to the kid for whatever crafting she wanted to do with it.  She decided that the best thing to do with it was to create a storage container.  She took it, papered it, and painted it.    

The next morning, we realized that it would make a perfect yarn jar.  It is tall and has a lid that we cut a slit in and a hole for the yarn to come out of.  It does not fall over and the yarn feeds out of it easily.  I love it.  It was free.  Best of all, my daughter made it for me.

Pumpkin Imposter

Did you know that Butternut Squash makes better pumpkin pie than pumpkin does?  There are folks out there that swear by this.

Darwin likes pie...

This week I took two roasted butternut squash and made them into a pie.  I used the fresh pumpkin pie recipe from Pick Your Own.  I ran it through the blender to make sure that the squash was not stringy in any way.  It says that it will be a very thin batter but will firm up and it does.  It actually makes a very good fluffy pie.  If I did it again I would cut down the amount of evaporated milk to one can.  The recipe filled up a full deep dish pie pan with a cup or so left over.

I also had about a cup and a half of mashed butternut left.  I hate to waste stuff, so I made bread.

I started with a real recipe, but I changed it so much it is unrecognizable....  Here is what I actually did.

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups mashed squash
• 1.5 cups left over pumpkin pie filling
• 1/2 cups vegetable oil (I subbed applesauce for some of the oil called for in the original recipe and knocked it down some because the pumpkin pie filling seemed to count as a fluid)
• 1/2 cup apple sauce
• 3 cups white sugar (the original recipe called for 4 cups of sugar so I decided to knock it down and add some honey instead)
• 3/4 cup honey
• 5 eggs
• 4 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt



All that is left after 2 days...

• 1 1/2 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 9x5 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the wet ingredients: squash, oil, apple sauce, sugar, honey, and eggs. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spice; stir into the pumpkin mixture until well blended. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour. The top of the loaf should spring back when lightly pressed.

The bread is great.  It made 3 loaves (one has already been given away).  Do not be afraid to mess with recipes.  You can makes lots of different substitutions to suit what you have on hand.  Be brave.

If you really want to do something with a pumpkin, check this out: How-To-Brew-Pumpkin-Beer-in-a-Pumpkin-in-20-Easy-Steps.  It's pretty cool.

Tarn Satchel

The inside

Sometimes a crafting bug gets in me and does not let go; even when the original project is finished.  That's what happened with the tarn.  Two pink tee shirts got cut up and I only used a little bit of them in the original basket.  They kept calling to me and it seemed like it would be cool to make a satchel type bag for the kiddo.  She really likes pink.

There are not many tarn patterns out there, so again I devised my own.  It's pretty simple construction.

You need: Size 9 circular needles (I used a 32" cable), Size 9 straights, and several tee shirts cut in 1" strips.

Step 1: Decide on your measurements. 

Step 2: Knit a rectangle for the bottom.  

Step 3: Using the circular needle, pick up stitches from the remaining 3 sides.  Mine ended up being 25 stitches front and back and 8 for the sides.

Step 4: knit round and round until the bag measures 2 inches less than desired.

Step 5: Place markers at each corner.

Step 6: Purl alternating rows for the front stitches.  Knit all others.  This makes a garter edging for the front that is less likely to curl.  Do this for 2" and bind off the front 25 stitches.

Step 7: Using straights, knit the 8 stitches from the side. Purl the next row, decreasing 1 stitch at the beginning and end, leaving 6 stitches.   I left all the other stitches on the circular needle as a stitch holder.

Closeup of the flap

Step 8: Continue these 6 stitches in stockinette stitch (but knitting the first 2 and last 2 stitches of the purl rows so it will curl less) until the total strap measures 32".  I worked up the opposite side too so that I could use a different color and have the decrease done.  Fasten each side of the strap together with a Kitchener stitch.

Step 9: Work the back flap in stockinette until it is 2" less than desired.  

Step 10: Work final 2" in garter stitch and bind off.

I think if I did it over I would do the straps in garter because they still really want to curl.  I guess I just need to accept that.  I'm still thinking about attaching a loop and toggle closure for the front.

The kid likes it.  It fits all of her stuff for Theater Class.  At the very least, it is unique and probably indestructible.

If you are interested in another tarn project, also check out: Tarn Basket.

Sick Quilt

When I was a child, we had an old, tattered quilt that was named "The Sick Quilt."  It only got used when someone (usually a child) was ill.  I suppose the rationale was that it did not matter if someone threw up on it.  I remember that it was blue and white cotton calicoes and had square patches, but I don't remember the pattern. I also don't know who made it.  I don't think that it was my Mom; I guess I could ask her.  I loved it.  It was so soft from wear.  I associated it with being warm, tucked in, and cared for. 

Now I have a little kid.  We also have a sick quilt.  It is the first quilt I ever made.  I was 16.  It is a trip around the world.  It was pastel to begin with, and now has faded to tints.  It has a rips and some spots where the fabric has worn away.  At some point I tried patching it with applique hearts.  I don't seem to be motivated to repair it, and pastels are no longer my favorites, but it is still special to me.

Luckily, the kid does not get sick very often.  She did get sick this past week with a fever that came and went and came back again.  Now the fever is gone, but she has a rash...  She is snuggled up on the quilt now.  I love that this old quilt still has purpose and brings comfort.

Bath Mitt

Okay, so the knit washcloth kicked my tukus.  They also tend to look like dishcloths which is not quite the "spa-like" feel I am going for.  But then I found this pattern.  It's a free pattern from Bernat Yarn Studios but you have to register to see it which is a bit annoying.  I had found some green Lily Cookies and Cream this summer with the intention of making a washcloth.  I really need to be careful about buying yarn before I am ready to knit with it, but this has only been waiting for 2 months, so not too bad.

I'm really pleased with this little mitt.  It took an evening to knit up.  I got a bit confused by the directions to make the thumb, but once I understood, it went quickly and worked very well. I don't think it will be confused with a pot holder.  My only worry is that cotton projects tend to "grow" and I don't want it becoming a monster mitt.

I think I will make a few more for Christmas presents.

The CSA Recap

Last Tuesday was the final week of the CSA season.  CSA is community supported agriculture.  Basically, you pay in advance for a box of produce from a local farm each week.  In our case it was $565 for 20 weeks.  Our CSA offered a "working share," where in exchange for 20 hours work on the farm, we get $150 back at the end of the season.  

It has been a mixed experience.  I do not know that we will contract with this particular farm again.

The cons: 

• We did not always get what we were told would be coming.  It made it hard to plan a menu in advance.
• Sometimes the produce was bruised, old, or just not the best quality.  I would not have purchased it at the farmer's market.  It sucks to throw out 3# of rotten potatoes the night you picked them up.
• Some of the stuff we did not want.  No one here likes rhubarb.  And, to quote Rory, "Beets taste like dirt."  Some we did not need.  We had a ton of basil and tomatoes.  Getting more from the CSA was not helpful.
• .Sometimes it was a challenge to eat all of it in time, especially the greens.
• This group was not always well organized.  We did not contact them much, but when we did, they were sometimes slow to respond.  One Saturday, the farmer went up to work as arranged and there was no one there.  He finally found one of the farm workers who confirmed that he was in the right place but could not put him to work because the Volunteer Coordinator was not there.  This weekend, he again drove up and there was no power, the owner and workers were shouting at each other, and they told him that they had no work for him.  He drove 30+ miles for that?  I wonder when we will get our working share back.  I suspect it will be very delayed.
• When we were away, we gave it away.
• Its expensive.  Sometimes it did not appear that what was in the box was really worth $25.
• We missed going to the farmers market, but we did not need more produce so it was silly to go most weeks.

The pros:

• It was local.
• it supported a small farm.
• It was easy to pick up the box. 
• It encouraged us to try new things: garlic skapes, tatsoi, chickory, mizuma, and a host of greens, sun chokes, tomatillos, celeriac, turban squash, etc.
• Most of the produce was in good shape.
• We ate a lot more vegetables.
• We spent time in the kitchen together cooking
• We had to carefully plan our menus.
• It gave me the push to start this blog.

I am glad we did it. I don't regret the adventure at all.  But, knowing what I know now, I suspect that we will do some more research this winter about what other CSA's are in our area and maybe just be more adventurous at the farmer's market.