Bread starter

I'm so jealous of these bakers with starters passed down from Medieval times! Yesterday I decided to begin my descendants' starter. There's a bowl of half flour half water on the counter. One day they will pinch off bits and give it to their children headed for Mars. I washed my Central Park Hoodie and it grew a little. I need to block it back to size but I can't take it off. I'm not sure if I'm shivering from the rum raisin ice cream or trembling from the concentrated ice coffee.

Coffee concentrate

Lynne of Splendid Table - the soundtrack of my life - mentioned making a coffee concentrate by mixing a pound of medium grind coffee with 11 cups of cold water and letting it sit all day and then keeping it in the frig. I halved the recipe yesterday and this morning I tried mixing 2 oz of concentrate with 6 oz of boiling water. It wasn't hot enough for me. It had an even wonderful full taste, but it wasn't hot. Then I began sipping ice cold concentrate from the measuring glass and it was glorious. Tomorrow I will make milky ice coffee - very milky.

2/1 edit: I've relaxed the formula a little, I mix a half pound of coffee ground on an 8 and 6 cups of cold water and leave it overnight. In the morning I strain it into a glass pitcher with a tight cap. I'm going to start using some as a flavoring in meringues and chocolate sauce.

Stormsvale collar

I'm almost ready to begin the next band of Fair Isle. I'm going to have to wear this around as a cropped, high-collared vest for a while. I need to be sure about the width before I commit to the next band.

All Creatures Great and Small

We have been watching All Creatures Great and Small in the evenings while I make my way through Stormsvale's collar band. I can imagine dozens of Stormsvales inspired by all of Tristan's Fair Isle sweaters. James's aqua pullover in that cobblestone pattern is so beautiful under a brown jacket! In one scene Tristan stood next to him in his green zip-up tweed and they looked like a page from a knitting book for men who take their sweaters to work.  

Stormsvale for lazybutts

I began the wonderful Stormsvale pattern the other night, but could not keep the details of Michael Wood's In Search of Shakespeare separate from the decreases in the herringbone pattern. And so, like Shakespeare, I made a choice. I'm going to save the herringbone pattern for another version. Yesterday I knitted every minute of the Inauguration. 

Wall accessories

Last month I saw a magazine photo of a bedroom with silhouettes of birds flying over the bed. I have been going through my clip art books looking for something to perk up our walls/furniture and/or appliances.

Altered books

The cover of the FT magazine last Saturday featured Su Blackwell's "The Girl in the Wood" - a handmade popup carved into a book of fairy tales. I found a lovely book to re-use as my daily planner. Perhaps I should forget about pasting calendar pages into it and instead concoct a popup for each month.

Smashing pumpkins

I'm feeling like Ma Ingalls, butchering my Halloween pumpkin for soup. I roasted this baby and threw it into some stock. I'm knitting away on a Central Park Hoodie and planning how to use my stash.

Thyme and cornmeal

Do you listen to Splendid Table on your local NPR station? For me it was like discovering an old cable series now available on Netflix. Their e-newsletter for this week had this advice:

"Instead of making yet another new year's resolution aimed at self-improvement, consider what Sally Swift, the managing producer of The Splendid Table, often does. She picks a cookbook that's new to her and cooks her way through it during the coming year. She says it's a fun and simple way to learn a new cuisine. Select the book, stock your pantry with the staples unique to the cuisine you'll be "studying" and you're good to go. I love this idea!"

This worked out so well over the Summer with David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop. I may try an Indian book. Today I began my journey through the 2006 Martha Holiday Cookies magazine. (I think this is the issue they turned into a cookie book.) This is what you can make with some raggedy old thyme from your yard and a handfull of currants. They are wonderful.

Cookie plans

I'm not finished with the holiday cookie binge. See how pretty these are? They tasted like spicey cardboard. I have that Martha cookie magazine from a few years ago - the one with the picture index organized by texture. I'm going to make cookies this year. 

The red sweater

My version of the Cardiff sweater is off the needles and living its own life. It is so gratifying to knit from an old photograph, like time travel without the temporal anomaly worries. I will explore this category of knitting further in the new year.

They are fine

We made these potato doughnuts last week. Towards the end of the batch we tired of rolling out the dough and cutting doughnut shapes. I liked the way the little blobs of dough we threw in at the end turned out best.

Tis the season

This is my current scarf relaxing with some of the pastries we enjoyed today. Knitting Contessa has been posting interviews with crafters (me today) and recipes for handmade gifts if you need some ideas. I mailed off all my Pay-It-Forward gifts, Cristina. I'm in the clear now and can rest easy with you and Benjamin Franklin!

Button crafts

This is a very addictive craft project from an old Martha Stewart Kids. 

A lighter gingerbread cake

I've been making this gingerbread snacking cake from Martha. This time around I switched out the molasses for agave syrup in one cake and brown rice syrup in the other. The spice mixture comes through a lot stronger. I wish I had kept track of which syrup went into which cake. I'm going to try this with cookies next. I'm shuffling the spice mixture around as well. I like cardamon. This post is to remind me to take notes, or repeat the mistakes of the past!

The Three Kings Go Shopping

A Small Miracle by Peter Collington is about a nativity set that gets ready for Christmas. There are no words. I like to listen as people read it.

Mario Kart

Mario Kart fans, I don't know if you caught Cassie Smith's Mario Scarf in the latest issue of  Nintendo Power, but here's Cassie's blog for photos and story. It's beautiful. If you still can't get enough Mario love, listen to this. Listen to it over and over until your whole house can sing it. The three inches of striped scarf in the photo is another stab at the Gap scarf. The cobbler's husband has no shoes! 

Raku firing and dates

We did a small raku firing outside the studio today and I had to borrow an orphaned bowl to be a part of it. I was going to use the dates for some tea bread, but we ate them. This post is to remind me to be prepared when good things come my way.

Cardiff sweater

Looking through old albums, I remembered taking this in 1985 somewhere in Cardiff and wondering if I would ever have a sweet little boy who would wear red cabled sweaters! I used a cable from a baby sweater similar to B Walker's Four-Rib Braid in Second Treasury and complicated things a little with a Double Wave on each side from Third Treasury.

With Thanksgiving behind us already, I am determined to slow the holiday season down. Last year I promised myself I would look into gingerbread and the new issue of Martha has me curious about the wood grain cardamon cookies. 

Stormsvale color choices

Now that I've sent the Sweetpea coat off to school, I am ready to begin my own Stormsvale. I sent away for the color card thinking I would pick slightly different blue/grays. Now that I see all the possibilities, I'm a little stunned. I bet this yarn makes incredible mittens.

Sweetpea coat

The Sweetpea coat from Twist Collective for my daughter is almost complete. This pattern uses Harrisville Heathered Bulky at 2.5 stitches per inch. This is a gorgeous yarn if you want to go bulky. The heathered texture keeps the surface interesting.

For Miss Lear's petite frame, about a child's size 10, we began knitting at the top using the shoulder measurements for the smallest size, began the armhole shaping a little early, and then knit straight down with a few increases ending just at her jean pockets. This is a smart way to knit for a sweater recipient with opinions. In the picture here you see the second crack at a collar. She wanted it to stand up around her neck a little more and reach out to her shoulders. So we coped with those issues before we finished the armholes. An hour later she tried it on again and we decided it was too roomy under the arms, so I ripped back 4 rows and gave her a little less ease.  She kept trying it on until we liked the length. Today I'll fiddle with the sleeves. 

Gap holiday scarf

This scarf modeled by Jason Bateman in the Gap holiday booklet has me thinking. I imagine it in two different Kaffe Fassett stripes, smaller gauge, heather and tweed textures. I would knit the two sides flat with a purl stitch in the middle so they would fold nicely. Then I'd sew them together and pickup stitches on the end and do a simple rib just like the picture. This would be a nice project for using up sock yarn leftovers, but I bet I'd end up buying more yarn in the end. I always do.

I've been clicking through the Winter issue of Twist Collective. I can't decide which projects I like best. 

Persimmons

Three persimmons are all I managed to claim from our tree. Like rude children, the squirrels take one bite of every fruit. Persimmons are plentiful at the market right now and I am eager to try this bread recipe on David Lebovitz's blog. I am casting about for another baby sweater project and working hard on mittens. I really like Rowan's Felted Tweed for mittens with bits of Silkywool thrown in.

Dog sweater - first fitting

This is the cabled sweater from Judith Swartz's Dogs in Knits - before the sleeves and ribbing. I used Brown Sheep machine washable worsted and I'm surprised at how soft it is.

It's been getting cold at night here and I'd like to knit robes for the little Lears - similar in shape to Lucinda Guy's versions. I'd like them to look like they are from the original stage production of Peter Pan - jewel tones, cables, mother of pearl buttons, appropriate in the nursery and in battle on deck. When taunted by pirates, one can say, "This isn't my bath robe, it's a very long sweater my mother made me."

Baby sweater

Elsebeth Lavold Silkywool and an old Debbie Bliss pattern finished and ready to go. I should always have a baby project going so I am never caught off guard.