What I've been doing

It has been a while since I have blogged, so to catch up with what I have been doing:

Knitting – I made a wool scarf using a Paton’s light and medium tan (two strands twisted together) and sent it to my son. Then I started trying to knit some socks. Trying is the operative word here, I knit three swatches trying to find the right needle size, well twice was the same needle, just a skinnier swatch, I cast on way to many the first time, still not happy and need to get skinnier needles. So that got set aside for a bit. Then I started a shawl for me, using a variegated black Lion Brand Homespun. So far I have one skein (of four) knit up, and I am getting bored with it. But committed to finishing it too. I have looked for a different pattern to use for the next one, one that will teach me something. So far, this one has taught me how to purl faster. That is a good thing too. The current one is stockinette with a garter stitch border, boring, but it will be useful when done. Since the other patterns also use US size 13 needles, need to finish this one or get more needles to start a new one. And I want to bring this one on the cruise, so want to get it done. So there you go.

Sewing – been making more SBS blocks, have four done this month, although one of them needs to be unstitched a bit, and then redone so I am happy with it. I got 11 or 12 done in January, so have 85 or 86 done right now. Getting there.

Dear Jane has been marked. Still not totally happy with that last corner, but it will do for now while I stitch the triangles.

Cooking – I have a ton (OK, not a ton, but a lot!) of apples from the farm share which I need to process.
I have not been cooking as much as I should, but did last night, and actually cooked Kale where I liked it. Mostly I boiled it for a long time (between 10 and 20 minutes), let the water come to a boil then added the leaves without the stems to the water and let it cook while I prepared the meat. Pan fried pork tenderloin cut 3/8” thick and sprinkled with lemon seasoning in olive oil, removed to a pan, added more oil and a bit of butter to sauté a few sliced mushrooms, then added 1 T water, 1 T Worcestershire sauce, 2 T Jack Daniel’s Old #7 mustard, and the juice of one lemon, let it reduce a bit, added the cooked Kale and the browned pork slices, let everything get warmed back up and serve. I served it with brown rice.

Catching Up

I seem to be pulled this way and that lately. Too many things I would like to be working on, Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler, Dear Jane, two new quilts (both designed by Sue Garmon, one pieced, one appliqué), Patchwork Party using the Prairie Paisley line, knitting, reading, cooking. And of course, a big chunk of my day is actually working my day job. Retirement is a way off. So what have I actually been doing? Working on SBS blocks, got the January challenge done (list of 14, 4 done previously, so I did the other 10) and all of the Blocks of the Week, so far this year, another 3, so that is lucky 13 done this month. No new challenges for a few days on that quilt, so I need to get back to Dear Jane marking (yuck!). Will I do that tonight or read and knit, only time will tell. Hopefully all three.

54-40 or Fight – last of the January challenge blocks

Another Knitting Needle Case

Somehow quick and easy knitting needle cases are not in my repertoire. Again, I used up leftovers, this time from my High Country Garden/Cube Lattice quilts. I still have a few more fat quarter-ish sized pieces, but I think they will just go into the stash at this point. Most of these are pseudo-solids, the one fireworks print was the backing for HCG. I cut out one side of a shopping bag from the fireworks fabric, so that could be the tote that goes along with this set. The first knitting accessory zippered bag was from this same group of fabrics, more or less . It is about 22" wide and 18" tall. At this point, all of my needles fit in these two cases, so I can hold off on making anymore and actually knit. I am still working on the wool scarf for the troops, and a shawl (or two) for me. Along with sewing of course.

Sylvia's Bridal Sampler - January challenge

After a bit of a hiatus, I gotten back into the groove making Sylvia's Bridal Sampler blocks, the BOW and the SBS offline challenge. The challenge this month was to do nine blocks from a list of 14, of which I had already done 4. I am trying to do the other 10, so far have done six from that list, plus 2 of the BOW (I had already done one of them, which also happened to be on the challenge list, ah well, done is good).

Needle Holder and accessory bag

I've been knitting. And buying yarn. Buying yarn for socks that I am afraid to start in case I make them the wrong size. So I signed up for a sock class and this week I went back to the store to get supplies, yarn for socks, and needles, lots of double pointed needles. The teacher wants us to bring needles for the guage on the yarn, along with one set bigger and one set smaller. I have used DPN on occasion, and circular needles, and I much prefer circular needles. So while there I discovered 9" circular needles that can be used to make socks. So I bought some of those too. I've been thinking about a needle holder for a while, in fact I have even blogged about making one (still to be made, actually). But today I made a needle holder for all of those tiny needles. I still need one for the larger ones. And I made another accessory bag to go with it. All from leftovers from Katie's quilt! The size was determined from the leftovers, I had made 12 1/2" strips from 2 or 3 fabrics for the blocks, and had the bits left after the cutting the blocks (12.5" by various widths) that got combined for the outer fabric. I had one large piece (2 fabrics stripped together) that became the lining, and various other bits that became the pockets. I use the lovely crane fabric for the accessory bag and the binding and ties of the needle case. I had a long piece about 6" wide of the cranes. And I used batting that had been trimmed from a quilt after it was quilted. The only thing that wasn't a scrap was the 7" zipper for the accessory case, and that I had. The case fits nicely into the upper right pocket.

Cauliflower Quiche

Yesterday for the first time in four weeks I got a Farm share! One of the things talked about in the newsletter was making quiche, and I thought that sounded great. I ended up making my own (modified from a few) recipe, cause I forgot to bring home the one I printed, but hey, it worked. Quiche is wonderful that way, so many variations are possible.
Crust: 1 1/3 cups flour, 1 cube butter (cut into small slivers), splash of salt, mixed it together with my pastry blender, and added ice cold water until it mixed together well. Rolled out and placed in 10" quiche pan.
Quiche:
Sauteed 6 slices of Niman Ranch applewood smoked bacon, remove to drain, and empty pan of most of the fat
Chopped 1 red onion, sauteed in remaining bacon drippings
Steam about 2 cups of Romanesco cauliflower (4.5 minutes in microwave)
Grate Gouda cheese, enough for 3/8" to 1/2" layer in the bottom of the pie crust
Cut bacon and sprinkle over cheese
Sprinkle onion over bacon
Drain caulifower and mash slightly, to break up large chunks into 1/2"ish chunks
Sprinkle over onion, then lightly sprinkle with nutmeg
Mix together 4 eggs, 2 tablespoons flour and 1.5 cups milk (I used 1%) until well blended and pour gently over mixture in quiche pan
Sprinkle a bit of Gouda cheese over top.
Bake in 375 degree F oven for 40 minutes or until center is set.
Remove and let cool a bit, and enjoy!

Essential knitting accessory case

Beth got me the Yarn Harlot “never not knitting” 365 days of wit and wisdom for Christmas. Today’s bit talks about an essential knitting accessory case that contains stitch markers, a darning needle, little scissors, Post-it notes for marking your place in a chart, a pen and paper for taking notes, some waste yarn, a row counter, and a measuring tape.
I was thinking of using more of the leftover bits from the cube lattice/high country garden quilt for a knitting needle case (or two, this morning I was organizing my needles a bit…). After reading this, I realized that the little zippered case I made with some of the same scraps would be perfect for the “essential knitting accessory case.” I am thinking of using some of the leftover bits to practice making Half Square Triangles using a new method. I can use the resulting squares to make the outside of the knitting needle case pieced rather than a plain piece of fabric. Perhaps I can even make a knitting bag (using my shopping bag pattern) using the same fabric. Tonight's project (if I am not too tired).
At least I got the Christmas decorations packed away last night.