Knitting

WIP Wednesday 1/30/13

January 30, 2013January 30, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

ON THE NEEDLES

I’m still plugging along on the Phloem Socks but on the home stretch for the second of the pair. I really love this pattern and so it will probably show up again on the needles at some point. Hopefully I’ll have it completed tonight, I so want to start the Etched Rio Wrap, I can hardly contain myself. Jeez Louise! I ran out to get a quick pic in natural light and it’s windy and cold. I bet the neighbors across the back think I’m nuts. This is what I imagine is going through their heads, “She takes pictures of YARN, for heaven’s sake. WHO does THAT?”

Phloem Socks from Knitty, Spring 2012

IN AND OUT OF THE OVEN

I made Snickerdoodle bread Monday evening as a special request from Mr. Iknead. My recipe makes two loaves, a good thing since one gets eaten up pretty much as soon as it comes out of the oven. It’s addictive, this stuff. Here’s how it goes:

SNICKERDOODLE BREAD

2 1/2 c. all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 c. butter, softened

2 c. sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

3/4 c. sour cream

1 pkg. Hershey’s cinnamon chips

TOPPING

3 tbsp. sugar

3 tsp. cinnamon

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Cream butter, sugar, salt and cinnamon until fluffy. Add eggs and mix well.

2. Add vanilla and sour cream and mix well.

3. Mix flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Add to wet ingredients and mix until all combined.

4. Add cinnamon chips and stir into batter.

5. Spoon batter into two regular sized loaf pans (about 2/3 full)

6. Mix 3 tbsp. sugar and 2 tsp. cinnamon in a bowl and sprinkle over the batter in each loaf pan.

7. Bake at 350 until cake tester comes out clean. Let cool before removing from pan.

Recipe from Kristyn (Lil’ Luna) on Pinterest – Thanks

NOTE: If you have trouble finding the cinnamon chips, (like me) in the store, there are several recipes online to make them at

home.

Go to Tamis Amis for more great WIPs.

ANSWER TO WHO DOES THAT QUESTION: Fiber fiends, that’s who! ; )

The secret of getting ahead is getting started. Mark Twain

Knitting

My Winter Tonic

January 25, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

TRENDING NOW (what’s that mean anyway?)

Any time one of us had the droops or doldrums, especially in winter, my grandmother always said we needed a tonic. She never gave us a tonic, just said one was needed, which was probably a good thing since when I hear the word tonic, I think of cod liver or castor oil, both of which are off the scale on the official Disgust-O-Meter. My own personal winter tonic is this:

Take one cold and cloudy day

Add a nice fire and some knitting

Mix in a couple of grands, chocolate milk and cookies

Monitor closely as not to miss anything

and

Watch your contentment rise

Repeat as often as necessary

IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE?

The Papoose Gives the Sprout a Clean Bill of Health

ON THE NEEDLES

I’ve done very little knitting the last day or so, still working on the second Phloem Sock; I did remember that I promised a quick show and tell of the Metalico yarn that The Yarn Mart ordered for me and it’s more beautiful than I remembered –

Here are the stats:

Metalico

Blue Sky Alpaca

50% baby Alpaca and 50% raw silk

All natural/No dyes

Gold Dust

This is going to transform into Sarah Smuland’s Etched Rio Wrap and I can’t wait to get started. The softness and shimmer of this yarn is amazing. Check out the Blue Sky Alpaca website for a look at the pattern.

POP THE QUESTION

What’s your favorite winter tonic?

The only limit to your impact is your imagination and commitment. Tony Robbins

Knitting

FO Friday 01/18/13

January 18, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

ON AND OFF THE NEEDLES

This week’s FO Friday is Meg White’s Cabled Hat, a free Ravelry pattern. Turned out right nice as a friend of mine would say.

A quick knit, with just enough fiddliness to keep me interested. I think the yarn is some I picked up at Hobby Lobby a while back, I Love This Yarn 100% wool. Due to our (Mr. Iknead’s and mine) new austerity plan, I’m working toward losing at least a little of my yarn snobbiness. I’m trying as hard as I can to bring Mr. Iknead, a very thrifty (read tightwad) guy over to the dark side, knitting him a pair of soft, warm, merino socks, I think it might be working. The upshot of this plan is that in order for me to be able to stay home, baking and knitting, I have to scale back on some things, like high end sock yarn. Ouch.

I’m still working on the Phloem socks using a happy discovery of two hanks of beautiful Shibui Sock that I found during a stash dive. Hopefully by the next FO Friday, I’ll have them ready to wear. I loves me some Shibui!

BY THE BOOK

Another ~~casualty~~ opportunity to cut back is with my book and audiobook habit. I downgraded my Audible membership and have been using our local library instead. I love the downloadables, both e-books and audios and I’m nearly always at the ten book limit at any given time. One I’m listening to now is Danger to Self: On the Front Line with an ER Psy.chiatrist, by Paul R. Linde. Fascinating.

IN THE OVEN

Have butter and eggs sitting out, getting ready to make Sour Cream Pound Cake, a recipe from my trusty Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, a wedding gift 33 years ago. It’s been well used and well loved, judging from the stains and sticky stuff between the pages and is the first cookbook I grab when thinking about what to have for supper or what to bake when my sweet tooth kicks in. A classic and a favorite.

Check out Tami Amis blog for more FO Friday goodness.

Simplicity is the key to brilliance. Bruce Lee

Knitting

WIP Wednesday 01/16/13 and Home Again

January 16, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

ON THE NEEDLES

Here’s my current WIP for this week. This sock actually started out a really fiddly Celtic cable, but after about five rounds, I knew it was way over the top too fiddly to work on while visiting the Stuttgart grands, sent it to the frog pond and restarted, this time on Rachel Coopey’s Phloem, from Knitty Spring/Summer 2012. It’s also fairly fiddly but doesn’t require a cable needle, a definite plus when keeping company with a very curious and busy two year old.

The yarn is one I ran across while stash diving looking for a good take-along project for my Stuttgart visit. It’s Shibui 100% superwash merino, color 6001 and since I believe everything should have a real name, not just a number, I’m calling it Sand and Sky. Nice, I think.

BACK IN THE NEST

Bigmommy brought me back home this morning and as much fun as I had with the babies over the past few days, it sure is good to be back. Back where my chair is dented in all the right places, my pillow is always perfect and I know where the toilet paper is kept. Funny what things make homes homey, isn’t it?

THE CRISIS CONTINUES

The great washing machine crisis is now in its fifth day and I don’t mind telling you that the laundry has somehow learned to multiply and seems to be doubling itself by the hour. Really though, the new kid on the block is to be delivered and hooked up between three and five o’clock this afternoon. I’m thinking positive and have already separated darks from lights, delicates from heavy duty and hand knits get to solo. No unintentional felting allowed, zero, zip, zilch, none, not on my watch, nope.

Don’t forget to check out Tami Ami’s blog for more awesome WIPs.

It takes less time to do a thing right, than it does to explain why you did it wrong. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Knitting

FO Friday 01/04/13

January 4, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

OFF THE NEEDLES

Yay!! Catnip Socks completed and ready for this week’s FO Friday. Here they are:

Sorry about the less than wonderful photo – it’s just too cold to stand outside in my pjs to get a good picture in natural light. I know that that’s probably WTMI, with my pajamas and all, but rest assured, we DO have a privacy fence so the neighbors are safe. This particular sock stands a good chance of becoming my go-to pattern for socks. Yeah, I like it that much.

ON THE NEEDLES

Still working on this cabled scarf. The patterns calls for it to be nine feet long, I currently am about 70 inches and thinking seriously about finishing it a little shorter than the pattern says. I mean, I’m 5’2″ and nine feet of scarf is a LOT of scarf, kind of overwhelming, I think. What’s your opinion?

BY THE BOOK

I’m still working my way through Robert Massie’s Nicholas and Alexandra, nearly finished, though. The imperial family has just been moved to Siberia after the revolution. The second is one I’m really excited about, The Journal of Best Practices written by David Finch, a man diagnosed at age 30 with Asperger syndrome and how he and his family cope with this diagnosis. Funny and at times poignant and a little sad. I’m really, really enjoying this book.

FUN WITH ELECTRICIANS

Like I posted earlier this week, we had a couple of electricians in to do some updating and replacing in our house. I was so excited about the new undercabinet lights they were installing. Well, when they got ready to do the installing, they were the wrong size, the lights, not the electricians, so they were a no go yesterday. They did get a lot done, new lights, new ceiling fans, adding outlets etc., but I was pumped about my lights. Crap. This is a lesson in patience with delayed gratification, two things that I don’t have much of.

For lots more FO Friday projects, skip on over to Tami Amis’ blog and enjoy.

It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day to day basis. Margaret Bonnano

Knitting

Bright, Shiny and New

January 2, 2013 mud&stringLeave a comment

SOMETHING REALLY NEAT

Babymama and Babydaddy got me the coolest thing for Christmas, it’s called Q&A A Day, a five year journal that asks a single, simple (or not so simple once it’s thought about) question a day. Each day a new question with room for five years of answers. For example: the January 1 question is “What is your mission?”. I’m looking forward to answering each question as it comes and reading the previous year’s answers.

ON THE NEEDLES

For this week’s WIP, the Catnip socks are still up. I’m turning the heel on the second sock and have high hopes for FO Friday this week. Here’s my progress:

ON THE STOVE

I tried a new recipe this evening, thanks to Pinterest and the blog, the-girl-who-ate-everything.com and it was an out of the ballpark hit, both with me and Mr. Iknead. Here’s the pic from the original blog:

White Chicken Chili

So good on a cold, damp day!

IN THE OVEN

The last piece of holiday pie (blackberry) is finally gone, thanks to Mr. Iknead. Now I’m casting around for something to bake, maybe a recipe from King Arthur Flour for Baked Raised Doughnuts. It won’t happen tomorrow I’m pretty certain, we’re having some electrical work done on our house so I’m pretty sure we’ll have no electricity most of the day, but the next day for sure. Off the oven subject but I’m especially excited about the LED undercabinet lighting we’re having installed. No more dark corners or eyestrain trying to read in the dark. Exciting, right??

There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want, and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second. Logan Pearsall Smith

Knitting

Winding Down/Looking Back/Moving Forward

December 31, 2012 mud&stringLeave a comment

AS PROMISED

Here are the promised photos of the grands. I hadn’t forgotten to post, in fact, I thought about it a lot, several times a day but was just too freakin’ lazy to put down my knitting, get up out of my comfy, warm by the fire chair and log on. I kept telling myself that “no I’m not procrastinating, I’m building anticipation”. See, I can rationalize anything.

CHRISTMAS WITH THE GRANDS

Babymama, Babydaddy, Bigmommy and Bigdaddy conspired, booked a photographer and surprised Mr. Iknead and me with a words fail me photo collage of the grands. Here are just a few of the pics. Get ready, you might not be able to handle the sweetness –

Left to Right – Annabelle, Susannah and Harper

Harper in Charge

Sleep in Heavenly Peace

Every Day Should Be Christmas

And one more just because I love the excitement and innocence captured. They look like they’ve seen Santa!

Do You See What I See???

Told ya they were amazing, beautiful and sweet.

ON THE NEEDLES

The Zigzag Lace socks are toast. Finished the first sock, decided I didn’t like it and that life’s too short to knit something that I didn’t love, frogged it and started over with the Catnip Sock pattern. Much, much better. No documentation yet, probably for WIP Wednesday. Second first sock completed, first second sock started.

RESOLUTIONS?

I have a couple, one of which is to deliberately set aside 30 minutes a couple of mornings a week for blog housekeeping and updating and Ravelry following. Funny, I thought when I retired, I’d be doing a lot more of each but I’ve found that not to be the case, probably because I’m not sitting at a computer all day. I have a few more possible resolutions, I’ll share after I put the finishing touches on them. Maybe I should call the goals instead of resolutions. Hmmmm.

What are your goals/resolutions?

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, And the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. Buddha

Knitting

All is Calm/WIP Wednesday 12/26/12

December 26, 2012 mud&stringLeave a comment

WHAT’S HAPPENING

A day out from Christmas and like I said before, it was the best Christmas ever. We had the three grands, along with mommies and daddies yesterday and I couldn’t have wished for a better, happier, busier and all around more perfect day. More on the grands later, Mr. Iknead was chief paparazzi so he’ll have to get the pics loaded onto the computer so I, in turn, can get them to Flickr and then share.

OUTSIDE

Did I mention that we had a real, live, only once in 80 years according to the weatherdude white Christmas? Just in case I didn’t, it began raining, which in turn changed to freezing rain, then sleet and then finally, snow, starting about 2 p.m. yesterday. I’m not a great estimator of stuff but I’m pretty sure we have at least 6-8 inches on the ground. Thank you God that we didn’t lose power like so many others did. I think Mr. Iknead and I ran ten miles back and forth, looking out various windows, just to watch the snow fall. Because the snow came in on the heels of an ice storm, I’m sure the streets are very slick, with a sheet of ice under the snow. Grateful to have a warm house, with lights, hot water and heat; if we really want to feel like we’re roughing it, we build a big fire in the fireplace and take turns rearranging the logs and stuff to get maximum heat. Used to be a country chick, I guess now I’m more of a city chick. Still build a mean fire though. It must be like riding a bicycle, you never forget how. Here’s a few pics from yesterday and this morning.

Backyard last night

Front yard this morning

ON THE NEEDLES

OMG, I’ve been so distracted by the snow that I nearly forgot about WIP Wednesday. A new pair of socks is in progress, Zigzag Lace from Vogue Knitting Ultimate Sock Book. Many moons ago I took a photo of the yarn I’m using, it’s called River Rock and I must be living right because here’s a pic –

Denali from Pagewood Farm

Merino Superwash/ Nylon

80/20

Zigzag Lace

Love WIP Wednesdays? Hop over to Tami Amis blog and check them out.

Stay tuned, more to follow.

With self-discipline, most anything is possible. Theodore Roosevelt

Knitting

WIP Wednesday 12/12/12

December 12, 2012 mud&stringLeave a comment

ON THE NEEDLES

A couple of WIPs this week, Mr. Iknead’s Simple Skype Socks and a pretty cabled scarf that I started on a whim, both coming along nicely. The second sock has great potential to be a FO Friday project, only lacking the leg and the top cuff. Hope I haven’t jinxed it.

Simple Skype Socks

Cabled Scarf

IN THE OVEN

Today is my mother’s birthday, I’m in the process of making a lemon pound cake to take up to the nursing home for her to share. I’ll post a pic when it’s finished and ready to go. Happy birthday Mom, I love you!

For more WIP happiness, check out Tami Amis blog. You won’t be disappointed, I promise.

Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom.

Knitting

WIP Wednesday 12/05/12

December 5, 2012December 5, 2012 mud&stringLeave a comment

ON THE NEEDLES

Mr. Iknead’s first sock continues to grow and it’s close enough to being finished that I need to have him try it on just to make sure it fits perfectly. Since this is the first time he’s requested any kind of knitting, I want it to fit perfectly and be all he wanted in a sock and then some. To me, knitting+socks=warmth+love with a little practicality thrown in. Here’s where I am on the first one –

WIP – Simple Skype Socks for Mr. Iknead, modeled by yours truly and

a close up of the stitch pattern

WOOHOO!

Yesterday, I blogged about breathlessly waiting for my new Kitchenaid mixer’s arrival; believe it or not, I hit the publish button, my doorbell rang and there stood my UPS guy with an armful of gifts I’d ordered for the fam on line and then he said, “I have a mixer in the truck, I wanted to make sure you were home before I carried it to the door.” I couldn’t hold my happy dance in check and by the time I’d wound down, I had my new KA. Here she is in all her glory –

I christened her this afternoon with a recipe from Pinterest, Meili’s Cinnamon Cream Cheese Streusal Coffee Cake. I think we’re made to be together! Sugared Pecans are on the schedule for tomorrow, a Christmas tradition in our house.

Check out Tami Ami’s blog for more WIP Wednesday love.

Clear your mind of can’t. Solon