Liel's new hat

I saw this super cute hat pattern on Ravelry today and I immediately decided to make it for Liel. I searched around for yarn leftovers and found some bulky charcoal gray Wool-ease and Peace Fleece in Baghdad Blue, Kamchatka Sea Moss, and Latvian Lavender. All held together got me the gauge for the pattern, so I set off knitting. In about 40 minutes I had the hat done (I still need to braid some proper ties for it, though)! And holy crap, it's so cute! Liel looks adorable and pixieish in it, and even though I'd probably feel goofy as hell in one, I kinda want to make one for me, too.





My last knitting project of 2007. Happy New Year, everyone!!!

And Cheese!

I recently read Barbara Kinsolver's new book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. It's a great book, well written, interesting and funny. At one point in the book she talks about making mozzarella at home, and it sounded so fun and easy...I just had to try it. I haven't been able to just yet, as I lack a couple of important ingredients, but I just ordered supplies to make mozzarella, cream cheese, yogurt, and cottage cheese from New England Cheesemaking Supply. It was tempting to order for all sorts of other cultured dairy products, but I managed to restrain myself for the time being. If my foray into soft cheese goes well, however, there might be no stopping me!

So now I eagerly await the postman with my starter cultures and cheesecloth. I'm trying to decide how long it might take...they mail things within 2 business days but sadly tomorrow isn't a business day! Which would mean it should be in the mail by Thursday. They aren't too far away from me, I might be able to have it by Saturday....hope, hope, hope!!

Little goose (+rogue)

Zion has really been enjoying pretending to be a little goose lately. Nearly every morning he turns my comforter into a nest to keep him dry during frequent rain storms. At bedtime tonight I gave Zion a little back scratching. After a couple minutes I stopped, told him I loved him and gave him a kiss.

"Honk", said Zion, sleeply. "Honk, I sighed".

(Also, I finished the hood on Rogue. Hooray! Now I need to start the sleeves...)

More fermenting

Back when I got on the "ferment cool things in your own kitchen" kick I was pretty excited to try making root beer at home. So I ordered up several kinds of roots used in root beer, and in the time that elapsed between ordering and their arrival I was consumed with other projects, as is often the case. So the poor roots sat all unloved in a corner of my kitchen.

Finally last week I started making a ginger bug, which is basically a fermented ginger mixture that's the starter for the root beer (because traditional root beers were beers, mildly alcoholic). Shortly after it starting actively fermenting I accidentally killed it by leaving it on my very hot oven. Whoops. But I started again and today I decided it was bubbly enough to use. So I made a tea of various dried, chopped roots (sassparilla, ginger, burdock, and a tiny bit of licorice). When it had cooled a bit I strained it and added honey (about 1 cup to my 1/2 gallon of tea). Then I added my ginger ferment, and the whole thing is sitting on my counter now. Allegedly by tomorrow it will have started to ferment and bubble, and then I'll transfer it to sealed containers to carbonate.

It tasted pretty alright as I was mixing honey in, so here's hoping it'll taste alright when it's done!

Rogue update

At this point I'd say I've put about 25 hours into Rogue. I am not a fast cabler. The hood on this thing is going to take me about 10 hours. For the hood. I've done 50 rows on it so far, and have 32 left to go. As I was knitting on it yesterday I timed myself and it takes me about 8 minutes per row. Good thing it's so beautiful, or I'd probably be in despair. Here's a picture of the hood so far:


Ooooo. Ahhhh.

Beautiful Butterfly

I just put Liel down for her nap. As I lifted her into her crib I swung her a bit and said, "You're flyyying!!"

Liel giggled with delight and squealed, "I a turkey!"

Warms a mother's heart, that does :)

Food freaks

Everyone has weird food habits, right? I mean, my friend Becka eats all her bread and salad dry- no butter, mustard, dressing, nothing. That's pretty weird.

One of my own food weirdnesses is mayonnaise. I know plenty of people who hate it, but I adore it (and Veganaise, which I feel is just as tasty). Everyone in my family natal family loves it, too, and we grew up eating on all manner of vegetable and meat. Broccoli? Dipped in mayo. Crab? Dipped in mayo. Artichokes? In mayo. Sliced tomatoes? With mayonnaise, of course! Any kind of meat is fair game as far as I'm concerned and I've never had a bad combination. My brother and I drew the line at peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwiches when we were kids, but they used to be a favorite of our dad's. My mom used to make a carrot salad that was essentially grated carrots with raisins and mayonnaise. When my mom was growing up my grandmother would serve her half an avocado with the pit removed and hole filled in with mayonnaise.

In grad school I had a friend who enjoyed snacking on bananas with mayonnaise and peanuts. Yesterday I glanced into the kitchen at my brother's house and saw our friend Jay eating a pickle with...mayonnaise. I was intrigued. I love pickles and of course I love mayo. He assured me that it was delicious both plain and as a sandwich. I haven't tried it yet, but I shall, and soon.

Tonight I'm in a mayonnaise kinda mood. But what shall I use as my vehicle? Both oven fries and potato salad are up for consideration, and in the end it probably doesn't even matter. As long as it's cloaked in smoothcreamyfattysalty mayonnaise goodness I'll probably be happy.