pomatomus begins

I have been a crazy sock knitter lately. The portability of them is appealing, as I am tying up loose ends and running around everywhere. In my many errands, I stopped by Nina and aquired 2 skeins of Lorna’s Laces shepard sock in Motherlode. They pretty much insisted on their own that they must immediately be turned into a pair of Pomatomus socks. I dropped the Jaywalkers (about 1/2 of one sock done) and started these yesterday. Contrary to popular opinion, they knit up quickly and are pretty easy. The pattern is well-written and easy to follow–so far anyway. I love how quickly the pattern appeared, making me want to knit faster and faster because I can’t wait to wear them. That’s the sign of a good knit, eh? The yarn is richly colored and, honestly, intoxicating. I love it all together. Hopefully they will be done soon! These will officially be my first pair of completed socks, provided I don’t get sucked into another pattern and lovelier yarn. Nah, not possible.  That doesn’t sound like me at all…

today I made an apatosaurus

Field Museum Day! In honor of my mom being in town, I woke up early and took the train into Chicago to meet her. I’m trying to do all my favorite things before we move and hitting up all the museums one last time is mandatory. The weather was amazing today, perfect for strolling around, lunching outside and admiring skeletal dinosaurs in their natural habitat. You know, natural history museums.
I love the train and wish I had taken it more often. It wasn’t terribly convenient for my job once Sean and I left the city. It would have taken twice as long to get to and from work. Driving made more sense for time, as I was already working long days. Maybe if I had taken the train I wouldn’t have enjoyed it half so much as I do now. Regardless, I knitted and listened to music and it all felt very meditative and lovely.
My Aunt Carol surprised me and joined us for lunch. It was good to hear the family gossip and talk up our New York trip next month. She had to head back home (she’s a private tutor and school would be out in a couple of hours), and my mom and I ventured over to the Field Museum. The museum campus in Chicago is located on the lakefront and on a near 80 degree day, you almost don’t want to go inside it’s so perfect. Despite the tempting conditions, we walked up the steps to a world of mummies, dinosaurs, global artifacts, and taxidermy. It’s such a reliable favorite for me in Chicago, along with the Art Institute (I used to go every Wednesday when I was in college), and the Shedd Aquarium.

We spent a few hours there and when leaving the Ancient Egypt exhibit at the end of our visit, I spotted the Mold-A-Rama in a corner. Why had I not seen it before? Hot plastic injection molded dinosaurs for sale and I had missed it on previous visits?? I had gotten some knitting done on the train, sure, but no day is complete without making something beginning to end. So I made an Apatosaurus. A wonderfully green Apatosaurus, to be exact. I’m like a scientist, making dinosaurs and all.
After a post-museum coffee, I said goodbye to my mom and walked to the train. The weather was still amazing and I caught an express train home. I did a few inches of Jaywalker socks on the way home and admired my dinosaur. It was such a fun day.

Thanks to Monkey River Town for the Mold-A-Rama photo. I had forgotten my &#!*ing camera at home. I really hate going undocumented, but it was the only bad thing about my day, so c’est la vie.

bunny

Today I just wanted to make something fun. Nothing fancy, just plain cute.

pattern: bunny by Jess Hutchinson

yarn: sugar ‘n cream cotton yarn

needles: size 8 bamboo

time: One day, for a few hours at a time (as always, while watching movies)

overall: So cute! The pattern is just for the bunny, but I incorporated a dress, similar to another doll Jess Hutchinson had made. The bunny on it’s own is great and very simple to whip up, but sometimes you just need to make a lady bunny. Yep.

Happy weekend!

I am the way, the truth, & the Muffin

Yes, it’s true. This Muffin is the son of God.  It is the holy Raspberry Cream Cheese Muffin made and created by your truly.  I mean God.  Whatever.  I get us confused.  It was immaculately conceived??  However it got here, it rules the world with truth and grace.

Up until recently, I managed a bakery in Chicago. Over the years I have picked up a wealth of “odds and ends” baking information and it’s helped in my home baking a lot. We used to make sour cream buns at the bakery a long time ago, so I looked over that recipe, reduced it from about 30 batches to one, then made some substitutions. They weren’t always perfect in the beginning, but now they rule. These are my favorite muffins of all time.

preheat oven to 350 degrees and gather round:

• 1 3/4 C. all-purpose flour
• 1 t. baking soda
• 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
• 1 stick butter, also softened
• 1 C. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 t. vanilla
• 1/4 C. milk
• 1/2 pint of fresh raspberries (may be substituted with blackberries, blueberries, or other fresh fruit)

Grease and flour or release spray a 12 cup muffin tin. 

In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.

In the bowl of a mixer, beat cream cheese, butter and sugar together until fluffy (2 minutes or so).  Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time.  Add the dry ingredients, alternating with the milk until well combined. 

Fill muffin cups halfway.  Add 3-4 raspberries to layer of batter.  Fill remainder of cups with batter.  Press 2-3 additional raspberries into the top layer of batter until covered.  Make sure fruit is covered by batter and not exposed to heat. 

Bake 20-25 minutes, until golden and top springs back when lightly tapped. 

When removed from the pan, cool upside down on a wire rack.  The inside of the muffin is malleable when warm, so invert only when cooled completely.

Enjoy! 

Update: These look great with sanding sugar sprinkled on top before baking.  It gives them a much more finished look. 

knitting needle roll-up

Well, I’ve finally grown tired of my double-pointed needles stuffed into a porcelain cream pitcher. I’d have to sort through all of them just to find that one last #3 for a project. Now I have a nice, tidy roll for needle sets #1 through #10. I’m going to make another for my long, regular needles, in addition to a zippered organizer for my accessories. I was originally planning on layering the pockets–dpns in the front, regular needles in the back. Alas, it was too bulky. At any rate, everything will soon have a home.

fabric: Ikea Pernilla (pretty much the only cute fabric they have right now that is decently thick.)

pattern: Lotta Jansdotter’s tool roll from her new book.

skill level: easy

time: just under two hours

overall: Simple project anyone can do. If you have a solid base of sewing knowledge and some experience, anything in her book will be a lot easier. Explaining a simple concept can be wordy and seemingly complex to the beginner, so a little experience with your machine is recommended. Either way, this is a solid project that continues to be useful long after you’re done.

sweet potato casserole muffins

Okay! So these are good muffins. Good, not great. They are from the Cupcake Doctor book, so the base ingredient of the muffin is from a cinnamon swirl mix. This is one of the exceptions where the add-ins are disappointing for the time they require. That is my doing, though. The recipe calls for canned sweet potato, but I much prefer to boil and mash the sweet potato. I hate canned foods. I really do wish the add-ins had left more flavor. I’m not even leaving the recipe here because of it–just use the mix. The topping were cute–cinnamon and sugar, chopped pecans, and mini marshmallows. They added a lot for the presentation. Overall, these were good, cute muffins, but just go buy the mix and save yourself some time!

first sock

Alright, so here it is. It’s my first sock. I’m not entirely finished with it, but I don’t care. The yarn is too thin for this gauge and I didn’t wrap the heel stitches. The pattern didn’t call for it, but I know better, so this sock isn’t going any further. I am going to use this very cute yarn to make Jaywalker socks instead.

I’m sorry if all this has made me cranky. This sock is stupid. I’m also cranky about Photobucket. Apparently I no longer have an account with them. My photos are still being hosted, but according to the assholes in charge, I just don’t have an account anymore. Which means that I have to fucking organize my Flickr account (which I don’t want to do right now) because it will be looked at. Photobucket was easy for Myspace and photos I didn’t really want to catalog and commit to. I’ve been wanting to organize my photos for years now, but all the wedding photos last year took precedence. I put together albums for our parents and for us and it was crazy time consuming. Now I’ll do it digitally. In the meantime, please ignore my unorganized photos and enjoy the existing sets and collections. Hopefully by the end of the week I will have everything organized.

The end.

Oh, and fuck you Photobucket. I always thought you had a stupid name.

maybe I could knit breakfast

I’ve been making tons of stuff the past couple of days.  Delicious sweet potato “casserole” muffins, raspberry cream cheese buns, cornbread with homemade honey butter (I’ve been on a breakfast food kick lately), as well as one of two socks and a knitting needle organizer.  My camera ran out of power yesterday and I need to get new batteries and take some pictures.  For some reason, the dock that charges it stopped working and now I have to use regular batteries.  Lame.  I’ll put up some new posts tomorrow with photos.  

Socks are proving to be super easy.  I’m not in love with the sock, so once I finish it, I may scrap it and start a more wearable pair.  My gauge was a little off and they weren’t as stretchy as the pattern indicated.  Oh well!  These were mostly a practice pair.  I’m hoping to get some new yarn for my birthday so I can try out a couple of new patterns.  I love birthdays.  My husband, Sean, is the most amazing gift-giver.  He always manages to find something I never knew existed, yet if I had known, I would have wanted badly.  How do people do that?  I’m constantly amazed and always excited for my birthday.  Maybe he’ll get me some yarn I never knew existed. 

 Until tomorrow, I’m off to get my kitchener stitch on…

Bainbridge Scarf

Easy as pie! And just as good! 

yarn: pale blue cotton ric-rac-esque yarn, terribly soft and purchased in a bargain bin in a town attic sale in France two years ago.  Maker unknown, yardage unknown. 

needles: #5 16″ circular

pattern: Bainbridge Scarf by Pepperknit

time: A couple of evening hours here and there, over three days.  The broken rib stitch is something you can do in your sleep.  You can even do it watching a movie you enjoy and want to pay attention to.

overall: Cute, doesn’t take a lot of time, perfect paired with a light jacket.  Mine, being cotton, stretched out a bit upon wearing.  I may try shrinking it.  I’m mildly allergic to wool, so I avoid it where possible.  Those of you who aren’t should try a wool blend for more structure.

I love beautiful yarn

I’ve been sitting on two hanks of Artyarns Regal Silk, deciding what should become of it.  It’s this gorgeous hand-painted saffron and lilac colorway.  I tried varieties of stitches out and this yarn falls flat with anything basic.  The Branching Out scarf from Knitty 2005 was the winner.  It’s a lovely lace pattern that’s easy to work with and gratifying as you go.  It’s dense enough to show off the yarn, yet open enough to flatter the pattern.  Everyone wins!  I can’t wait to block it and see the finished result.  Only 22 repeats to go…

No-Knead Bread: attempt #2

Success!  This bread is amazing, it’s perfect, it is the champion of easy bread!  Hell, it’s the champion of some fancy breads too.  This time I baked it for 30 minutes, lid on, but then only 5-6 minutes lid off.  It may just be my oven,  but yesterday I had pumpernickel-looking loaf after 15 minutes.  I should have learned by now to trust my gut, not the directions.  Especially if you’ve been baking for a while, you know how most things should look.  Anyway, I love this bread.  Everyone should make it. 

No-Knead Bread: attempt #1

I first saw this recipe published in the New York Times about a year ago, adapted from Jim Lahey at the Sullivan Street Bakery.  It recently resurfaced in the Oregonian with rave reviews, so I figured I’d give it a try.  It’s simple and practically effortless…who can argue with that?  I’ve made quite a bit of bread in the past, but traditional recipes can be terribly time consuming with an inconsistent outcome.  Half the time you fail, a fourth of the time you succeed, and a fourth of the time you have mediocre bread.  It takes a lot of trial and error, which doesn’t always work for home bakers who prefer variety over one perfect loaf.  This is just good bread.  

 Gather together:

• 3 C. bread flour or all-purpose flour, plus more for shaping dough
• 1/4 t. instant yeast (such as Fleischmann’s RapidRise brand)
• 2 1/2 t. salt, or more to taste
• 1 1/2 C. + 2 tablespoons tepid water
• Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt.  Add the water and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and very sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap.  Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18 hours, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.  Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles.
2. Turn dough out on a lightly floured work surface; sprinkle dough with a little more flour, and fold it over on itself once or twice.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.
3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball.  Generously dust a cotton (not terry cloth) kitchen towel with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal.  Cover with another kitchen towel and let rise for 2 to 3 hours.  When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
4. At least 30 minutes before dough is ready, preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Put a heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic; anywhere from 31/2 quarts to 6 or 8 quarts) in oven as it heats.  When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven.  Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that’s okay.  Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes.  Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 5 to 30 minutes (depending on your oven), until loaf is nicely browned.  Cool on a rack.  Makes one 1 1/2 pound loaf.

Next time I’m going to try using parchment on the bottom of the second rise, rather than a cotton towel.  I completely ruined the towel I used because the dough was too sticky.  Be warned!  The technique of baking the bread in a heated dutch oven or covered pot is a huge key to the success of this recipe.  The only problem I had was over-baking, thus this is attempt #1.  I would recommend keeping an eye on the bread once the lid is removed in the baking process.  My first loaf was too dark on the outside, even after 15 minutes.  It tasted amazing, the inside chewy and perfect.  You can try different flours, though for best results, substitute whole-grain flour for no more than half of the white (and use even less rye flour, which tastes great but is heavy).  Fold fresh herbs or olives into the dough as desired, or enjoy it as it is.  Voila!  Perfect bread and you’ve hardly lifted a finger.  What could be better?  Attempt #2 tomorrow…

April Fools’ Cupcakes

Oh strawberry cupcakes, how I adore you!  I know you’re a fake flavor, like grape soda, but I love you for that very reason.  I am a self-professed food snob and still you–least classy cupcakes ever–are irresistable.  I especially love your Spiderman cupcake liners and leftover Valentines non-pareils.  You make me happy, even though you are mostly disgusting.  Almost a joke.

For cupcakes, use strawberry cake mix and bake accordingly.  I don’t usually make a mix without adding something to it, but thse are the exception.    

For chocolate whipped cream:

• 1 C. (1/2 pint) heavy whipping cream
• 2 1/2 T. granulated sugar
• 5 T. dutch-process cocoa, sifted
• 1/2 t. vanilla extract

Combine ingredients in mixing bowl and stir to dissolve sugar.  Cover and chill ingredients (still in mixing bowl) and whisk for one hour.

Whip on high speed until desired consistency is achieved.  After cupcakes are completely cooled, top with the whipped cream.  Decorate if needed. 

Eat five of them all at once!  Just kidding, more than two would make you sick from all the whipped cream.  Enjoy!