Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich
Knitting Friday and a recipe
I found three 6 oz. containers of plain Greek yogurt in the fridge, out-of-date and lonely. I ate the first with no ill effects so I decided to make cookies for the kids with the other two. My thinking being: they like cookies and I can pack some good stuff in them. Here's my recipe, which is still a work in progress :
Nutritious, Easy Cookies (about 4 dozen)
Pre-heat the oven to 350.
Oil spray two large cookie sheets.
1 box cake mix (I've used yellow and lemon)
1 egg
12 ozs. of Greek plain yogurt
1/2 of a regular box of a healthy cereal crushed into about 1 cup of crumbs
1 cup dark chocolate chips
water
(Note: you can add all sorts of healthy things like wheat germ.)
1. Combine all the ingredients except the chips and use the water to make a consistency like soft, spreadable cookie dough so you can drop in on the sheet, not roll it out.
2. Stir in the chocolate chips.
3. Drop by the rounded teaspoonfuls on the cookie sheets, each 1" apart.
4. Bake for 15 minutes. If necessary, continue baking a few minutes to get them lightly browned.
5. Remove from the oven and cool on a cookie rack.
That's it. The kids loved the cookies. The girl wants to eat them for breakfast with a glass of milk. They both want me to make them for the holidays. These are very fast cookies to make and they also go fast.
Not much diverse knitting this week. I did finish DH's red scarf which is the same garter pattern as the one shown on 11/30/12. I've been spending all my time on the Advent Scarf pictured in #1.
 |
| #1 2012 Advent Scarf |
Today is Day 14 of the patterns and I just ripped out Day 10 because I really didn't like how I was knitting it. After three years, I pretty much know the drill: I'll never use all patterns unless I want a 150" scarf so I just pick and choose. While you could say that on Day 14 I'm working on Day 11, I'm really not that caught up since I've eliminated Day 8 and 10. My cast on of 56 stitches (as opposed to the called-for 91 stitch cast on) seems to be working. Only on one day did I have to add 14 stitches (7 each side) to stay in pattern. All the other days, the most I've added is 6 extra stitches (3 each side) and many days I've had to add no extra stitches.
One thing I did finish this week is a 5-years-in-the-making house shawl (warm but for house wear only.) As of last Friday I thought I had finished it in a knitted version. But I hadn't. The one problem with knitting is that you have to use a lifeline and take the stitches off the needle before you can determine fit. Which is what I did when I followed this really nice, really easy pattern:
Well, I did make one variation; I used US 17, not the called for US 36 needles. However, when I tried it on I discovered that the tails went to below my knees and my back was only covered half way down. So it was back to the frog pond and this is the pattern I made up which is shown on the picture, right (You are looking at the bottom of the shawl which is knitted; the top is crocheted):
 |
| #2 Many Yarned House Shawl |
Many Yarned House Shawl
US 17 needles
N crochet hook
a good selection of yarns spliced or joined together
1. CO 3 stitches (or more) and K 1 row.
2. Every row: K to 2 stitches before the end of the row. Pick up the horizontal thread before the last 2 stitches and M1; or make 2 stitches in any way you like. (You will increase 2 stitches every row and work bottom up.)
3. At no more than 90 stitches (I used yarn doubled), BO but do not break yarn
4. Using an N hook, work a half double crochet in every stitch across the BO edge. (You should get 90 hdc, but I got 97. If you do, just decrease back to 90 hdc on the next row.)
5. Work one more row of hdc.
6. Then work in even rows of double crochets until you have the width you want.
 |
| #3 R edge shows straight crocheting |
(As you can see in Picture #3, the sides of your shawl are straight since you are not increasing.)
7. Once the shawl is wide enough, work a row of dc down one short edge (see #3) and then continue working 2 dc in each stitch across the bottom of the shawl for a slight ruffle. (Down the short edge you are working in the crocheted stitches; on the bottom edge you are working on the knitted section again.) If I had enough yarn, I would have worked a row of single crochet around the entire shawl. But I didn't and the stitches I was supposed to use for the row of dc were not that defined but you can fudge it easily.
8. Work a row of dc up the second short edge of the shawl. Cut yarn and weave in ends.
 |
| #4 Finished Shawl from the Front |
At this point, I was out of yarn but you could work a deeper bottom ruffle, an edging across the top of the shawl, whatever you want until your yarn runs out.
#4 shows the shawl from the front. It may look a little wonky but it's the first time in 5 years that this yarn has been made into a shawl I can wear. It's 52" long and 25" wide. It's a very "soft" triangle (wears more like a crescent) so you get maximum back coverage. Right now, I'm typing and wearing it pinned in the front with a chop stick shawl pin (which is a house shawl pin also.) The side edges go to my wrists and I'm covered front and back to the waist. I'm warm! Finally, I can say: I love this shawl.
Final thoughts on this project: I think the Pickles pattern would make a very nice shawl but it was not going to work into the shawl I wanted. First, US 36 needles are very uncomfortable for me to work with. Also, only increasing 1 stitch at the end of every row gave me a defined triangle which I didn't want. Plus, in the original you are making very long tails to wrap the shawl into a scarf - something I was not aiming for, though it is a very attractive look. And finally, the cable of my US 17 needle popped from the weight of the yarn on my first try (I had about 120 stitches), so I decided to bind off the stitches as soon as I had reached my length and carry on the rest of the shawl in crochet.
 |
| #5 A Yarn Mess |
Also last week, I frogged this project (#5) because when I went to continue working on it, the hook had disappeared from the bag. I remembered the pattern but I didn't write down what hook I was using. Now, I'm redoing in on an N hook and I'll leave this as a teaser because if I can get the kinks out this wool it is going to be a knitting miracle. More on this next week, I hope.
And really finally: I got my replacement needle tips and 47" cable from Knit Picks and both are perfect.
See you next Friday. Happy knitting.
No comments:
Post a Comment