June Update

Every season except a couple months in winter seems to be rife with time-sensitive work and projects – so much has been in the process of needing to be done, with no time to blog.  So, finally, here is what I’ve been up to, and how things are progressing.  Naturally, it’s all interspersed with the usual cooking, baking, laundry, and cleaning, esp. the spring cleaning, which is still in progress – my bedroom and the entire upstairs still need doing.  It would help if I had the 6 arms of the Buddhist goddess Vasudhārā.

I weeded then manured the 2 raised beds, made hills, and planted Italian zucchini in one bed, which is coming up well,

and Ronde de Nice (French heirloom) zucchini in the other bed, which isn’t coming up well.   As you can see, our picket fence is sorely in need of repainting, though not sure if hubby will be able to get to it - his hands are now both needing surgery.  We'd just get them replaced, but the fence sections are 10' wide, not the 8' wide which seem to be all that can be bought now.

I grew this variety exclusively back in the mid-hudson, and it flourished, but not so much here, so yesterday I added enough Italian zucchini seeds to fill out that bed.

The pine of these beds *really* needs to be ripped out, as they’re rotting, which means ant fodder, but that will need to wait until autumn – springtime is just too busy!

8 heirloom tomato plants are planted in amongst the heirloom roses, where I hope they’ll be happy.  I rigged up simple bamboo pole teepees around each one, which I may need to reinforce with some thicker bamboo poles, if there’s any left in the bamboo patch in the back yard.  I used to have a slew of them, which have magically disappeared!

The 2 gutters hanging on the stockade fence have been seeded with Five Color Rainbow beets.  They won’t grow large in their shallow beds, but there’s no other place to plant them, and at least their colorful leaves will brighten up that area of the fence.  One of these years, I’d love to plant some kind of flowering vine along the entire stockade fence, as it’s just a long, tall, boring brown wall.  It’s screaming for a living adornment.

Pots of chives and parsley seed on the back deck railing.

The 2 hydrangeas I planted a couple years ago, on both sides of the front of the house, seem to have taken well, but not the 4 azaleas which flanked them, so I’ll need to rethink what to plant there next spring.  Buying bulbs and plants seems to be as iffy a proposition as buying veg from Stop and Shop!  LOL, which is why we don’t, we only get veg from Shaw’s.

 

Remember these 3 white begonia plants? 

I bought the 3 begonia bulbs when I bought the gladiolus, astilbe, ranunculus, and lily of the valley bulbs for the driveway bed.  As I posted to FB last year, “Like race horses, one shot out of the gate at breakneck speed, one can’t get out of second place, and one remains firmly in last place, dragging its butt.”  

Well, Mr. Dragging Its Butt went kaput.  Mr. Second Place has been on the way to kaput, leaving just Mr. Breakneck Speed remaining.  Fortunately bulbs cost a lot less than plants.  So, I am adding that to the List - find other bulbs I can grow indoors. A plus would be if the flowers are scented.  Unscented flowers always seem pointless to me, though showy flowers make up for it.

Adding to the scentless flowers is this waxed Amaryllis, which was a Christmas gift from a neighbor.  Not wanting to throw it out, after the flower died, as many do, I googled and found this video that walks through the process of removing the wax and planting it.  Susan also points out that these Amaryllis really aren’t, they’re Hippeastrum.  And the bulb is re-growing, so I'm very pleased!

They’re rather pretty shown together in the softer colors, so I’ll be looking to get some – the house needs more plants!

Speaking of which, after the scent of lilacs and lily of the valley filled the air for several weeks, the air is now redolent with roses, especially wild roses!  Hubby gave this bush a massive haircut a few years ago, which the bush seems to have not minded at all, as it’s blooming wildly now!

He also gave this rose bush a huge pruning last fall, which I’m sure was necessary, as everything growing on that side of the house was planted too closely together (by previous owners), and it was all getting tangled up.  

The huge, ugly holly bush took awhile to cut down and out, but now the rose bush gets the sun it needs.  As it was all so overgrown, we couldn’t see the *form* of this rose bush until now.  Its canes are tall and arching, so now I need to think about a trellis of some kind to anchor the canes.  Come autumn I will need to re-prune it and try to root the cuttings.

The small honeysuckle I planted 2 yrs. ago by the arbor is finally growing.  I think it was just an inexpensive qt. size plant, so I knew it would take several years to grow up into the arbor and the adjoining picket fence, so I’m pleased that at least it hasn’t gone kaput like the azaleas and a couple of the white begonias.

The driveway bulb bed is mostly flush with green and buds, esp. what looks like hollyhocks at the front of the bed, that I thought I had all pulled out last year!  Summer is so humid here, that the hollyhocks get a fungus and die off, eh, like my heirloom roses.  BUT, I searched for natural DIY anti-fungals and have a batch mixed up, awaiting several spray bottles (in 3 diff. colors) to come from Amazon, for the anti-fungal spray, and for the bunny-stop spray!  So, we’ll see if I can keep the hocks and roses looking healthy this year. 

 I can't wait until the astilbe bulbs below get to their full width and height - their feathery flowers will be a nice textural change from the gladiolus and hocks.  I've not seen many ranunculus come up yet, so they might not have survived, despite the 4 layers of frost cloth on the bed this past winter – will see!

 

Indoor work is no less busy!  The very long (70”) kitchen window, kitchen door and sliding glass door in the breakfast area all need new curtains.  The kitchen window faces east, and the morning light is blinding, esp. if one needs to get up to pee at 5 am and through half-closed eyes one gets a shock of unwanted bright light, making it hard to return to sleep.  So, the color and thickness of the fabric for that window is critical.

The other issue with curtaining that long window is the type of rod.  The current tension rod is wimpy.  Even being supported midway, the rod sags on both sides.  I don’t want a surface mount rod, which hangs the curtains 2.5 to 3” from the window, so I’ve begun the search for a better tension rod, whose ends will fit the 3/4” available for them.

For this project, I’ve pulled out every unused curtain and valance we either had or bought at local thrift stores, along with my small stash of fabrics, and am in the process of seeing how to rework what I have into something pleasing yet situationally functional for all these windows.  My vintage Brother VX-710 still plugs along sewing straight and zigzag.

 

After that is tackled, I need to rework my bedroom curtains, as this time of year lets too much early morning light in as well!  The 5 windows in the adjoining living and dining rooms also need a rethink, although I may just buy all new curtains, instead of getting a 20 yd bolt of fabric, which is about what would be needed to sew 10 panels, not counting lining fabric!  I really don’t want to be glued to the sewing machine for weeks on end.

Now, this is more enjoyable - knitting a pullover design sample in heavenly extra-fine merino, from Yarn Undyed.

It’s listed as DK wt. and has the exact same yardage/100 grams as the Nature Spun Worsted, in the first design sample, but I am finding that both yarns also knit rather well at the usual 5 sts/1” worsted wt. gauge.  I never judge a yarn by the words ‘worsted’, ‘dk’, or ‘bulky’ in its name or its suggested gauge, as I’ve seen enough yarns that are mis-classified.  

Both these yarns have 70 yds/oz. which screams DK wt, They both can easily knit a dk wt. gauge, but, perhaps its their 3-ply construction, making rounded instead of flattened sts, which also allow for a worsted knit gauge.  Whatever the reason is, I’m happy with the fabrics, which is saying something, as I’m rather fussy about knitting good wearing fabrics, which usually means more snugly than recommended.

The merino also still smells lightly of the sheep it came from, which I love!  Every now and then, I stop and take a deep sniff of this lovely wool.  

And knitting it?  Stitches seem to just fly off the ndls.  It does only come in the one natural white color (hence ’Yarn Undyed’), but I am sorely lacking in white sweaters, as in I have none, so in addition to this v-neck pullover, I definitely see a cardigan and perhaps an aran design in my future, not to mention that it would also be fab in hat, scarf, and cowl designs - SO much to dream up!  

Onward!
Dawn

On the Go!

It’s not usually like me to have more than 2 projects on the go at the same time, aka *startitis*.  Until recently it seems!  

I’ve had 5 projects in various stages, filling all available storage and horizontal spaces in my bedroom/office/knitting room, not counting the yearly sock re-knitting projects: 

* a stockinette knit bag (to be felted),
* a pair of slow-going fingering wt. socks at 8.5 sts/1”,
* a Fair Isle mitten and hat design, with just one mitten knit thus far,
* a worsted wt. striped pullover, and
* the last 2 samples for my newest design - Midnight Snowfall Stockings (whose first 2 samples sat waiting since 2020!)

As the Christmas stockings are done, I’m down to 4 WIPs.  But, only temporarily, as I have a Bohus-style yoke design to swatch.

As for the sock re-knitting, almost every spring to summer I assess my sock drawer to see which are worn enough to need their cuffs through heel flaps cut off from their feet, so to reknit the heel turns and feet.  When re-knitting, I use whatever yarns I have available, as, inevitably I won’t have the exact yarns or colors with which they were originally knit.  But I’m not fussy about such things – they don’t need to be pretty or even matching, just functional and warm.  One pair has been mended again, and will eventually be re-knit again!

Re-knitting makes good use of down time, when I need a rest, or just need something mindless to knit on, while I mentally figure out a design or other issue.  

For a long time, I’ve been fond of a k2, p1 rib for cuffs, as the repeat translates well into the stitch counts my socks need:  36 sts for bulky wt., 42 sts for chunky wt., 48 sts for heavy worsted, etc., and which work with my preferred 6 pt. round toe dec.  I also prefer how the this rib looks, as well as being less tedious to knit than k1, p1 rib!

And these WIPs are just the knitting projects.  We still need to finish putting the floor loom back together, upstairs, then I can rethread the rug warp for the remaining 3 rugs in a new series.  

The first rug in the series is still sitting, waiting for me to knot the warp ends, sew the hems, trim the tails and adjust any weft irregularities, then wet finish it.  I have read that rugs don’t need wet finishing, but I don’t find that to be true.  A good soak relaxes the materials used, helping to even out the fabric, and drying,  whether outside on a warm day or in the dryer, lets me know how the rug will wash and dry, for its new owners.

I’ve been putting the finishing off, rationalizing that until I can weave off the rest of the rugs, *this* one doesn’t really need to be finished, as I do want to present the entire collection at the same time.

As for new pattern – Midnight Snowfall Holiday Stockings – I began this design in 2020, then I went off on a tangent, designing the tea cozy, then the hat and mittens, then the cell cozy of the same name! 

In this design, I’ve kept my usual round toe shaping, but used wrap and turn short row heels, the shape and size of which seemed to suit the stockings.  I also tried the German short row heel for this design, but I find it easier to *read* the wrapped stitch heel turns rather than the pulled-snug double stitch heel turns in the German SR heel.

I've not knit SR heels in my socks, or wearable sock designs.  As you might guess, I’m a dyed-in-the-wool heel flap and V-heel sock knitter!  I like that a heel flap can be reinforced with heel stitch, eye of partridge stitch, or color patterns, none of which can be used in a SR heel, without a fair bit of trouble.  A heel flap's height and width is easily adjustable – it can also have as little or as much depth as is needed.  It seems that the only way to easily reinforce SR heels is by knitting a finer, strong yarn along with the sock yarn.

Thankfully, Christmas stockings don’t need to be reinforced, and SR heels *are* quicker to knit than a flap, heel turn, and gusset.  In an allover stranded pattern, like these stockings, a SR heel also eliminates the need to add in a separate gusset pattern, which I can imagine turns off some knitters, as they are more complex to knit, especially if the sole is *also* in a separate, though coordinating pattern.  Keeping track of 3 patterns while decreasing the gussets is a lot to be getting on with!

The pattern offers two sizes each in two yarn weights.  

Knit in Lamb’s Pride Worsted and Bulky along with Nature Spun Worsted, held single for the worsted stockings, and doubled, for the bulky stockings.    

Design details include:
corrugated ribbing,
allover stranded pattern,
duplicate stitching in a 3rd color,
wrap and turn short row heels,
rounded toe shaping, and
applied I-cord edging with a hanging loop.

Pattern includes 4 easy-to-follow color charts, and 4 short row heel turning charts.  The heel turnings are also written out.

Substitute Yarn Weights:  heavy worsted and bulky

Pattern is $6, available on: Ravelry, Etsy, Payhip, and soon, Lovecrafts

Start them now, and they’ll be done long before Christmas, to hang from your mantel, or string up and hang on your staircase!

Onward, to, hopefully, finishing more things than I start!

Happy Knitting!
Dawn

I Have a (Bohus) Dream

Ever since I bought Wendy Keele’s “Poems of Color, Knitting in the Bohus Tradition”, I’ve hankered after a ‘Blue Shimmer’.  Pullover or cardigan, it doesn’t matter!

The book was released in ’95, so that’s a long time to wait on a sweater, but the kit is expensive, and I need my luxuries to be frugal.

What quelled this Bohus desire (actually the desire to knit *any* sweaters) was discovering secondhand cashmere sweaters years ago at Goodwill and on Ebay.  Every other year or 2, I would spend $45 to $60 and get 3 new-to-me cashmere sweaters, to replace the ones that were falling to bits.  I still kept the bits going with patches and mending, and would relegate them to wearing to bed.  If you’ve never worn a cashmere sweater to bed, instead of a cotton or cotton blend top, you’re definitely missing out!  

The only way to get sweaters as soft as cashmere, is with baby alpaca or angora, both of which are pricey, so I put sweaters out of my mind.

What made me think of Bohus again was reading Meg’s blog post recently about the new-ish “Bohus Stickning på nytt, The Revival”, by Viveka Overland.

Yes, an 8-yr old book isn’t new, but it is, compared to the books in my library!  It seems, though, that the first edition is sold out – I can’t find it anywhere.  I can only hope they are planning to reprint it.

But, it got me thinking.  Specifically about the leftover skeins of Yarn Undyed’s (non-superwash) superfine merino DK and baby alpaca DK in a natural white, which I bought to weave a couple batches of winter scarves, along with Valley Yarns’ Becket, Sunderland, and Hampden - all beautiful yarns, the latter two of which are especially soft, and purchased during one of Web’s 30% off sales.  I was saving them for more weaving projects, that iss, until now.

I have a few skeins of lt. grey, med. grey, a deep blue, and charcoal in the Sunderland and Hampden, which get the same 6.5 sts/1” gauge as the 100% baby alpaca DK.  I may need to add more lt. grey or perhaps a fawn/sand – I won’t know until I swatch a few ideas to see what the final design needs in order to sing.  

The majority of the sweater, however, would be in 100% baby alpaca, and, of course, I’m questioning the wisdom of doing this, unless knit snugly enough.  All this softness, though, is yummy, so, I may go for it, regardless.  

As it turns out, the superfine merino DK works best at 5.5 sts/1”, where the baby alpaca (with the same yardage) is denser/thinner and knits at 6.5 sts/1”, as would a sport wt.

If I was just knitting stockinette, the gauge difference would be an issue, but, all the finer yarns will be in the stranded yoke pattern, so the overall fabric thickness of the yoke and the body will be similar, so long as the st count is adjusted at the transition.  

As I don’t have the lovely blues and teals needed for the “Shimmer”, my eye then turned to “The Large Swan”, another beautiful design, where the colors I have might work better, although I have less colors in total.  Part of what makes Bohus designs so beautiful is the total # of colors used.

But I also really like “Regnmoln - Rain Clouds Pullover”, which looks similar to the “Red Palm”, or “The Mists”.  I’m especially fond of that effect, as no matter the color used, the simple pattern just *glows* – it’s so striking!

So, I have a fair bit of configuring to do. If I do decide to rework a Bohus into a DK wt. gauge, it will also be affected by having less colors to shade, and the fact that i never work top down, only bottom up, so I’ll need to reconfigure where the purl sts go, as the (adjusted) yoke chart will be worked upside down from the usual Bohus top-down method for yoke sweaters.

All in all, it will be a good mental exercise, if not actually mental, although we knitters are used to adjusting designs, right?!  

And, it will still be special.  LOL, if I actually stick with making an adjusted Bohus, instead of doing what I am usually inclined to do, and that is design my own pattern, in the Bohus genre.   Which I have already embarked on!  It is a genre in which I have, thus far, only made 2 designs, so there is much more exploration that can be done.

I’ll re-post when I get these niggly details worked out.  In the meantime, i can dream of a lovely, super soft, yoke-patterned sweater!

Onward!
Dawn

Applied/BO I-Cord Methods

I’ve been knitting a lot of I-cord edges and straps lately, for my new collection of cell phone/eyeglass cases, and thought I’d post on the various ways to knit applied/BO I-cord, as well as ways to deal with the dreaded color blip!

I’ve knit some samples to demonstrate each method, knit in 2 contrasting colors of Bartlettyarns Fisherman Bulky on size 11 ndls.

The way I used to knit a 3-st I-cord
With the body sts still live on either dpns or a circular ndl, CO 3 sts in the I-cord color onto a separate ndl.
K2, ssk (the last CO st and the first body st) = 3 sts rem.
Slip sts to other end of dpn.
Rep last row, until all sts are BO.

With this method, the blip shows through the center of the first *row* of I-cord sts.

I have used this method with live sts to BO, but I have also just picked up an edge st (as with a cardigan front edge) and worked it into the I-cord.  One of the blips is rather large, as that edge st was a bit looser than the others.  It also shows *between* the first and 2nd I-cord sts.

However, unless the last row or rnd of the body is the same (or close in color) as the I-cord color, this method will cause color blips, either in the center of the first *row*, or between the first and 2nd *rows* of I-cord sts.

Here's the I-cord worked in the same white yarn as the swatch – no special treatment is needed, as there's no color to show through.

The way I knit I-cord now
With the body sts still live on either dpns or a circular ndl, CO 3 sts in the I-cord color.
Knit 1 st from the body edge = 4 sts.
Slide sts to other end of dpn.
K2, k2togtbl = 3 sts.
Rep until all sts are BO. 

Even though a st is knit up in the I-cord color, before dec’g on the next row, a blip can still occur, even if less obviously.

3 ways to deal with the color blip
A color blip can occur when the color of the last row of the knitting (that the I-cord is worked onto) varies in color from the I-cord yarn color, as is clear with these red on white swatches.

This blip of color can peak through between the 1st and 2nd I-cord sts, along the front of the work, or through the center of the first I-cord sts, depending on which way the cord was attached.

Fix #1
I have seen some mention that by working the I-cord from the WS, that *row* of blips will land towards the WS of the work, instead of the RS.  I haven’t used this method, but, in swatching, the blips do indeed fall to the WS of the work, as expected.

And here's the crisp RS:

The 2 fixes I *have* used before follow.

Fix #2
The simplest fix is to knit 1 row/rnd in the color that will be the I-cord color.  As the I-cord curls around the edge, this extra row/rnd visually becomes part of the I-cord.

Fix #3
This fix is more fiddly (and time consuming), especially when working snugly.  This method was un-vented by Joyce Williams, mentioned in Schoolhouse Press’ “The Opinionated Knitter”, pg. 55, in their “Knitting Glossary” DVD, and I’m sure also in many articles.

Her method adds a yo to Elizabeth Zimmermann’s I-cord method of k2, sl 1, k1 edge st, psso.

With live (un-BO sts):
CO 3 sts in the I-cord color.
Slide sts to other end of the dpn.
K2, sl 1, yo, slip 1 body edge st, pass the yo and sl 1 over this last slipped st = 3 sts.  
Slide sts to other end of dpn. 
Rep until all sts are BO.

If the body sts aren’t live, as with a cardigan’s front edge:
CO 3 sts in the I-cord color.  
Slide sts to other end of dpn.
K2, sl 1, yo, knit up 1 st along body edge, pass the yo and sl 1 over the knit up st = 3 sts.
Slide sts to other end of dpn. 
Rep until all edge sts are incorporated into the I-cord.

 

I have also seen the yo coming before the sl 1, as follows:
K2, yo, sl 1, knit up 1 st along body edge, pass the yo and sl 1 over the knit up st = 3 sts.  
Slide sts to other end of dpn.  

BUT, I do not think this method makes the neatest looking edge.  There’s no color blip, but it messes up the appearance of the first *row* of I-cord sts.

I find the sl 1 and yo business, then passing the 2 sts over, slows down the I-cord process enough that I’d do almost anything *not* to work the I-cord this way!

If working the cord along a vertical edge, I’d still likely knit up sts along that edge in the I-cord color first, and of course, in the proper st to row ratio, before working the I-cord.

Happy Knitting!
Dawn

Meg's Blog

I should have done this ages ago – add Schoolhouse Press’ blog to my sidebar.  My oversight has now been corrected!

I taught myself to knit by reading EZ’s “Knitting Workshop” in the late ’80’s.  Actually, I just read the first few chapters, then walked to the local dime store to buy circulars, and CO for a color pattern pullover in my handspun wool.  

Up until that point, I was knee deep in washing fleece, picking, carding, spinning, naturally dyeing it, then weaving it.  No, we didn’t live on a farm!, just a small house in a village.  I’d lay washed fleece out on the grass and skeins of yarn would hang from the wash line, to dry.  The neighbors had never seen anyone do what I did.

Later, when we sold that house, I also had to sell all my equipment - the picker, the carder that hubby had motorized, and the floor loom.  

But the knitting needles stayed, although I replaced the cheap dime store ones with Addi Turbos and Bryspun’s previous style of dpns with the blunt tips – both still my favorite needles.

When all else is lost, there is still knitting.  I have a floor loom again, though I don’t get to weave as often as I’d like.  I no longer want to process fleece, and although I *think* about dyeing yarn, I never seem to have the time and real motivation to carry through with this thought.  Maybe one day.

Knitting, though, is a permanent fixture.   Most of my ideas involve the endless hours of enjoyment in making those hundreds to thousands of loops of yarn.

Blogging, however, I know I am not as good at!  Ideally, it would be like Meg’s blog, which is a delight!, but there is only one EZ and Meg, with Cully’s video skills.

On my rather long to-do list is to one day redo the videos I have, and add more.  Mine were done decades ago, with a camera of low resolution, as was typical then.  Even the camera I’ve had since is out of date, resolution-wise.  Hence, its place on the list.

Meg’s videos are excellent, clear, and charming.  I find myself clicking on topic after topic is the tag list, eager to read and see more, even with topics I know.  So, I defer to their excellent presentation of knitting info!

Happy Knitting, Happy Spring!
Dawn

Ticking off the List!

My posts lately are few and far between, but, for the usual good reasons – work and life.

That’s always the way, isn’t it!?  Things crop up which demand all our time, energy, and attention.  

For me, it’s turning 65 in April, which means reading the 180 pg. Medicare manual several times, and sorting through plans online several times before choosing plans, at least for this year.  

I’m still not done, though.  I still need to work on choosing a pharmacy.  My heart meds are very expensive (if and until they come up with generics), so, trying to save $$ is as important, if not more so, than earning $, especially as patterns don’t earn a lot!

But I’m working on that situation, as well.  I’ve released 5 new patterns since February, one more is coming soon, and several more are in the knitting stage.   I'm also considering creating weaving patterns for my rigid heddle designs.

I’d like to get at least a dozen new patterns released this year, as I’ve had a few years, recently, when I released little to no new work, due to illness.  

Thankfully, the heart meds do a great job of keeping me from quickly sliding into crap (and ending up in the hospital). All the hormones I’ve been replacing for many years also help me to function much better than if I didn’t replace them.  BTDT, so I well remember how non-functioning I was after chemo, radiation, and menopause occurred all at the same time.

I’m also working on a Payhip store, not the least because I had to close down my WP store over a year ago.  The hosting costs were more than sales, and I never liked the WP/Woo interface.

The new store is several weeks in progress, and several more are still needed, but it will give knitters yet another source for my designs, besides Ravelry, Etsy, and Lovecrafts.  Etsy interest and sales have slumped a lot this winter compared to previous winters, despite new listings.  I don't want to judge it yet, but in the back of my mind, I know it's a good idea to create an independent site.

I’m almost halfway through this year’s list of major To-Do’s.  I’m not ready to rest on any imaginary laurels, though, as one never knows what hiccups are around the corner, to slow progress down, like the surgeries hubby has been needing more frequently the past 5 years, so I need to allow for sometimes not having much time to work. 

LOL, the only time I ever procrastinate is when I really need a rest, then I detach from all computer, knitting, weaving, and spinning work, and veg out for a week watching a long mystery or legal series.  It’s the closest I ever get to a vacation, and much cheaper!

Along the way, I’ve needed to do some computer file maintenance/clearing out.  In prepping the Payhip store, I’ve noticed that all my pattern files have extraneous and/or old files taking up space.  Everything is saved on a zip drive, so there’s no need for all this fluff.  That’s also the way – start one project, which then balloons into multiple projects!

Onward!
Dawn

Who Did Do It?

In a recent post, I mentioned my January mini veg out, watching whodunits. To be specific, they’re mostly British mystery series.  I’m not an Anglofile, per se, but there’s just something about British productions.

Maybe it’s the real-looking people, who aren’t forced to be a size 0, and are pulled and lip-plumped to within an inch of their lives.  These same actors I’ve seen over and over in various series since the ‘80s.  Maybe it’s the acting.  I really think, though, good acting is only half the job – it’s the writing and directing that make for a really good series.  If only Hollywood was more British in their approach to television!

I’m sure you all know about these, but I just thought I’d list all the mysteries I so love to watch.  Maybe you do too, and will see something new to enjoy.

Inspector Morse.  I’ve loved, and watched the series *so many* times since 1987, and used to hum the entire Barrington Pheloung Morse theme song, to my husband’s amazement.

Then came, in more or less descending order:
Poirot, another long-time fav
Foyle’s War
Marple
Midsomer Murders
Father Brown
Inspector Lewis
Inspector Lynley
Endeavour
Sherlock
Death in Paradise
Zen (because Rufus Sewell is just so handsome!)
Rosemary & Thyme
Pie in the Sky
Murder in Provence
Shakespeare & Hathaway
Hetty Wainthropp Investigates
Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries

and very recently added these:
Magpie Murders
Vienna Blood
Unforgotten
Professor T
Annika
Miss Scarlet and the Duke

In scanning my Watchlist, it’s amazing how many *other* British productions I also return to again and again.

If you’re also into legal shows, I recently re-watched The Good Wife, which I hadn’t seen in years, and the sequel, The Good Fight - both excellent!

Happy Viewing!
Dawn

Need More Hands, and Honey Mustard Chicken!

I’ve been remiss in my blogging, but that’s only because I’ve been SO busy designing, charting, knitting up samples, then writing patterns.  

No time to spin or weave, and barely enough time for housework!  I figure if the bathroom and kitchen are kept clean, the rest can wait until one of us can get to it.  

Cooking, however, I don’t take shortcuts on, as we have been eating only home cooked meals for many years, esp. as I need a very low salt diet, but also, eating out is pricey, and neither of us is into eating junk food.  Today’s dinner recipe is below.

Just yesterday, we were out doing a few errands and trying to find hubby a new easy chair, as his is worn down enough to make him uncomfortable, and as he has enough pains, it’s important to alleviate body stresses where we can.  

As he’s driving, and we’re chatting, I mentioned how much I love to chart new color designs, which he likened to being a kid who loved to color.  Perhaps, although charting software means we can create many versions until we find the one(s) we like best, without ever having to erase anything.   I never tire of it!

So, as soon as I got dinner on a simmer and took photos, it’s back to the computer, until I need to rest and get my feet up, then I knit on new design samples.

Honey Mustard Chicken
This has become our new favorite chicken dish.  One day I was trying to think of something new to cook, as although shake and bake chicken is easy, I am now needing my chicken ro be softer. What came to mind is the honey mustard viniagrette I make for summer green salads, even on chopped salads, and I thought, “why not?”

The recipe is easily adjusted to a smaller or larger # of chicken thighs.

Ingredients
4 chicken thighs, skin removed and trimmed of fat
1/2 lg sweet onion, like Vidalia, rough chopped
a handful of flour with S/P mixed in
olive oil
honey
mustard - we tend to have spicy brown mustard on hand, although I prefer Dijon
no-salt or low-salt chicken stock, almost a quart, bought or made
lemon juice - bottled is fine
white wine - optional, we can sometimes have a semi-sweet Riesling on hand
thyme, chives, parsley, garlic powder
cornstarch

Easy Homemade Vegetable/Chicken Stock
We always have a gallon Ziploc on the freezer door, to hold fresh or already cooked chicken bones, and veg scraps, always onion skins, carrot ends, and celery trimmings, sometimes also zucchini and mushroom trimmings.  When the bag is at least half full, into a stock pot they go, then cover with filtered water.  Bring to a boil, then simmer at least 30 mins.  Strain.  If I’m not using it all that day, it gets refrigerated until the next day, then  poured into ice cube trays to freeze, then into a freezer bag.

Toss the chicken in the flour mix, shake off excess and sauté in a generous amount of olive oil. (A splatter screen helps.)  Brown both sides.  Remove temporarily to a clean bowl.

Add the chopped onion, lower the heat a bit and sauté until somewhat softer and browned.

Pour in the stock - stand back as you pour into a hot pan!  Add a good squirt of lemon juice and a splash of white wine.

Scrape up any brown pan bits, add the honey and mustard - several TBLs of each, and the herbs and garlic powder, all to taste.  Don’t add the cornstarch.  Stir to blend.

I like a lot of flavor in the sauce, especially when pouring it over egg noodles, which soak up the flavor!

Add the chicken back to the pan, replace the splatter screen or a lid if you prefer, and simmer for 30-40 mins.

To thicken the sauce - put 1 heaping TBL cornstarch into a cup or small bowl, add a little filtered water (not hot water), then stir into a slurry.  Drizzle it into the pan a bit at a time while bringing the pan to a boil. Stop when it’s thickened to your liking.

Bon Appétit!

How EZ Always Brings Me to My Senses!

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been knitting up samples and beginning the pattern writing for a new collection, then I got stuck with one design.  

Three pattern reps (of 2 cable stitch patterns) worked well enough at a larger gauge, but then I wanted a 2nd sample in a thinner yarn and spent a couple days fighting with it.  I tried 4 reps with this thinner yarn.  Of course, it works, but the resultant size would be too large for the intended purpose, and 3 reps would be too small.  I then substituted a different cable for one that I used in the first sample, but I didn’t like the look of it.

No matter how much I wanted to use this particular yarn with these particular stitch patterns, it would not work.

Finally, I remembered an anecdote by Elizabeth Zimmermann, in her Spun Out #11 “Fisherman’s Guernseys”, where she talks about how she admired Mrs. Laidlaw’s guernsey pattern in Gladys Thompson’s book, “Patterns for Guernseys, Jerseys, & Arans”, except whatever yarn Gladys had used allowed her to get 10 sts/1” in pattern.  Elizabeth picked up size 0 ndls and Homespun wool, and, naturally, couldn’t get any tighter than 6 sts/1”.   Gladys must have been using fingering wt. wool, not worsted wt.

LOL, this reminded me that yarn can not always do what we want it to do, just because we wish it to do so!   Of course, after 3 decades knitting and designing, I do know this, but even seasoned knitters can fall into the trap of fruitlessly trying to make a yarn fit the bill.

In the end, I acknowledged that if I wish to make a 2nd design sample with 4 reps in that particular pair of stitch patterns, I will need to use a sport wt. or, possibly, a DK wt yarn.  

I put that design temporarily on hold and CO another color work design, which always soothes me and flies off the ndls!

Which reminds me of another of Elizabeth’s anecdotes about being in a boat knitting, whilst her Gaffer fished, making the first ever Aran sweater, for Vogue, if I remember correctly, and how it felt to her like her hands had done it before, long ago, in another life, on another shore.  I know that feeling well.  I feel it when I weave, spin, and when I knit, especially color patterns.  The hands remember, even if we don’t.

May your yarn always give the correct gauge, and suit its desired purpose!
Dawn

The Pause and Reassessment Month That is January

Every month seems to have an impetus that drives us forward.  April and May have us eager to get out into the garden.  June, just to be outside and enjoy the pleasant weather and blooming gardens before the heat and humidity descend in July and August.  October, eager to revel in autumn’s colors and cooler temps, then the rush forward through all the holidays.

Then comes January.  Which can feel like a month without a purpose.  With February, at least we can feel closer to springtime, but January?  It’s almost a non-month.

And that’s OK.  We all need time to recover from all the recent busy-ness.  I tend to knit on small projects and watch far too many whodunits, the better ones of which tend to be darker, brooding, like “Endeavour”, “Inspector Morse”, “Inspector Lewis”, and the latest one I’ve eagerly watched – “Unforgotten”.  LOL, however, this doesn’t help the feeling of malaise that can permeate January.  

So, after about 2 weeks, I pull myself up my bootstraps (one of those old, odd phrases!), and shake off the not-wanting-to-do-much, and begin to dig into one of my least favorite chores – paperwork, namely tax prep, but also (as I’m turning 65 in April), wading through the piles of Medicare info that has been pouring in for months already, which I’ve not had the time to properly digest. 

I tackle pattern-writing in a similar way. I’ve been knitting up a growing pile of design samples which will be a collection, either all in one long pattern, or split into two or more patterns.  I am undecided at this point, but I’ll know how to present the designs, once I’m nearing the end of the knitting.

As I design on the needles, I begin with handwritten notes, which, for this new batch of designs, I then write them up in TextEdit, so I can edit the language and decide how the info should best be presented.  Then it gets formatted in iWork Pages.  I used to use, and loved, the old ClarisWorks, but then I’ve been using a Mac since ’94, and have seen a lot of software changes since then!

Once I get to this point, I can see the finish line.  I wish I could produce more patterns than I currently do.  In looking at my finished work, I seem to only publish 3 patterns every other year or so.  I do alternate knit design with spinning and weaving, where weaving also suffers from a lack of production.  With the floor loom still in pieces in the (cold, unheated) upstairs, I managed a flurry of rigid loom weaving, but that now is also on pause, whilst I focus on knit design.  

Life in the past several years has also impacted on my work, as hubby’s health has required some surgeries that resulted in very long recovery periods, during which my household workload increases to the point of having not enough uninterrupted downtime for good creativity.  Another surgery is likely imminent, so that’s another reason I am dragging myself out of the winter repose I really enjoy into making hay mode, as I’ll have more imminent responsibilities again soon.

For the knitters who enjoy my patterns and wish there were more, although I could just limit my fiber work to knitting, so to produce more patterns, I find it beneficial to pause and spin for a few weeks, then pause and weave a bit.  Spreading myself around can, though, leave one *feeling* under-productive, even if that’s not the reality.  

But, at this point in our lives – not getting to do any of the traveling I have yearned for *forever* and had hoped to do at this point in life, and not having the kind of property I’ve always wanted so to have the large gardens I’d love to have – my work is my salvation, so I really can’t imagine giving up any of it.  Life imposes enough limits, so I have no intention on being self-limiting!  

I’ll always be grateful for those who enjoy my work, and thankful for their patience!
Onward!
Dawn