Bottoms Up
Last Thursday found The Boy and I at an interesting event. It billed itself as a mixology class/showcase for OYO products. We're fans of OYO (stop by when you're in Columbus, and then walk next door to Brother's Drake Meadery for some really yummy drinks), and we've been known to enjoy the odd adult beverage from time to time, so it seemed like an interesting way to spend the evening. It was much as promised. Snacks, tasty drinks, and of course the requisite re-purposed warehouse as the venue. They even gave us recipes for their tasty offerings (I'm sharing my [...]
Off to a Great Start
So, we thought we'd turned off the pipe leading to the outside faucet. We really really did. Then, we opened the outside faucet to let it drain and to keep it from freezing. Now, we did this after it was already super cold, so no water came out of the outside faucet. But still, we thought the situation was stable. Then, when I woke up this morning and headed into the hallway, I heard the noise. The noise that means 'somewhere in this house, water is running.' Now, normally, this means one of the toilets didn't quite flush right and [...]
Rhymes with Yarn
So I have a confession. I've been playing a game of chicken with the laundry. I somehow decided it would be much more efficient to wait to wash knitted socks until I had a whole load full. Have you looked at a sock lately? Even for the big footed among us, they're pretty small. It takes a lot of socks to fill one washing machine up. Still, I've knit a lot of socks, so I'm getting close to that point. But, in working my way down to the bottom of the basket of socks in the closet, I've come across [...]
Preserve, Part II
Really, this is very easy. So easy I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking. Ready, here we go. 1) Juice several of your backup lemons. I usually need about one lemon per jar, and in this case I'm doing 5 jars. 2) Cut the tips off your Meyer lemons (optional, but it feels tidy to do it). 3) Cut your Meyer lemons almost all the way into quarters (cut most of the way through the lemon, leaving just enough to hold them together at the bottom). Don't panic if you slip, you can still use them. [...]
Preserve
It's freezing cold outside today, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to hole up at home and make something yummy. Today's plan is preserved (or salt cured) lemons. I made these last year and have fallen completely in love with them. They are delicious in any sort of vegetable dish (we use them most every time we make chicken or vegetable soup) and are called for in lots of Moroccan recipes. They've become a must-have staple in my kitchen. There is a bit of a seasonal aspect to them. They're best made with Meyer lemons, and those are easiest [...]
Not That Powerful
So it seems the sock, the pale blue, leafy, spring-tastic sock, has some limits to its magical powers of winter banishment. This is what I woke up to this morning. That's one of my office windows. This is another. It's a wee bit brisk out there. And gray. And windy. All of which is completely appropriate. It's January in Cleveland, this is what it's supposed to be like. But I am definitely going to spend the day in woolly socks to compensate. And I may set the leafy socks aside for today. Knitting on them when it's like this out [...]
According to Plan
This is going awfully well. Awfully well indeed. I have a sneaking suspicion this yarn (Chubbie, by Vice) is going to become one of my favorite fat sock yarns. This is especially good news, since the sad closing of Schaefer Yarns has meant that my beloved Nichole is going to become harder and harder to find. The discovery of Chubbie will totally help console me. I'm unreasonably taken with the heel flap on this one, it was rather a lot of fun to knit (I do need to figure out just how to reverse one part of it for the [...]
Envy
About a zillion years ago, I got to know Lizzy on Ravelry. She tested some of my earliest patterns, then she knit some samples for KCC1, and now she's gone and done that thing that so many of us yarn types have a secret hankering to do somewhere deep inside. She's started a yarn company. And of course, it's fabulous yarn. And of course, I sweet talked her into letting me play with it for KCC2. Just recently, she and I were talking about another little project I have kicking around in my head. A few days later, yarn showed [...]
A Piece of Scrap Yarn
You know that line in a lot of my mitt patterns? The one that says 'set thumb stitches aside on a spare needle or piece of scrap yarn?' Yeah, I'd really sort of suggest you take the piece of spare yarn option. I know that means you have to dig out a bit of extra yarn (hint, don't use the yarn you're knitting with, use a nice thick one of a different color) and a needle, and sometimes that's too much of a pain, but if you can, it's the best choice. Why? Two reasons. First, when you try [...]
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