Bacalao

Here is the salt cod stew from the Scandanavian Cooking Show. The recipe is linked here.

Very tasty, and surprisingly easy! After soaking the salt cod for about a day and a half (I refrigerated it, as the fish does smell a bit…fishy), all you really have to do is chop the vegetables and throw them in the pot. And no stirring! I did what he showed on the episode, and just cut an entire head of garlic in half and tucked each half on either side of the pot. You can fish it out afterwards, and it tastes like tomatoey roasted garlic. So good on some crusty bread. Also, don’t be frightened by the cup and a half of olive oil – there’s no other fat in the stew, so it’s not as bad as you think! (also great for crusty bread mopping) It’s a good winter stew that doesn’t involve lots of red meat. (not that there’s anything wrong with a little red meat once in a while)

I promise there’ll be more sweater news soon- right now I’m just working up the body in a giant tube.

Haiku Eulogy for a Discontinued Yarn

fluffy and warm, speckled tweed

strangely feels linty

why were you unpopular?

Goodbye, Skye Tweed!

I heart the Scandanavians!

My husband was flipping through stations yesterday and he came across this show on PBS that is a 13 episode series on Scandinavian cooking.  The recipes are pretty great, as they were featuring bacalao, known to us here as salt cod.  Around Boston, we see a lot of it in Portugese and Brasilian cuisine, but maybe that’s because there are very few if any Scandanavian resturants around.  Why is that? Anyway, while the fish stew looked VERY tasty, and I may just make it this week, if I can find some salt cod, but what really impressed me was the sweaters worn by Andreas Viestad (the chef) and the local women tasting his recipes.  Check out Mr. Viestad:

Now that’s a man who can wear a sweater! The website has great recipes, and you have to love a show that titles it’s episodes things like ‘Ugly But Delicious’.  It sounds like a lot of what I put on the table!  Here are the local women who come on and try his tasty onion soup with port and Jarlsburg:

Thank goodness for DVR – I love their sweaters, as well – very traditional, drop shoulders, lice on the bottom (that’s the little dots), and colorwork on the top.  The two colors are great because it creates two layers of wool, because you are holding one strand behind the working wool.  Cozy.

New Year’s Resolutions

Okay, so my first New Year’s resolution is to post on this blog much more, as sometimes life gets in the way of blogging.  The baby is much more manageable,  and I’m able to get more stuff done.  The more daunting resolution I have is completing the Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Knitter’s Almanac.  Yes, the entire year.  Over at Knitpicks, Kelly Petkin started this undertaking in July 2007, and she is using all Knitpicks yarns, natch.  Totally worth listening in to her fabulous podcast to hear about her progress.  As much as I love Knitpick yarns, I am going to attempt to knit as much as I can from my stash.  I have started the body for the sweater and cannibalized my yarn for a different sweater and used my hibernating project as a gauge swatch.  And wouldn’t you know it, but I got gauge! Hurrah!  I’m actually liking how the yarn behaves in the January Aran Sweater more – it’s knitting up fluffier and softer because of the texture of the stitch patterns.  Here’s what Elizabeth Zimmerman calls ‘Fishtrap’.

So far, so good.  I’m making the small size, so I don’t have to increase stitches, as EZ has you put a certain number of purl stitches between motifs to increase size.  I’m knitting essentially a tube to the top of the shoulders, then the sleeves, and then…steeks.  Never done them before, and if you don’t know what they are, just imagine cutting your knitting. Nerve wracking! I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.  Right now, I’m just happily knitting in denial, trying not to think about cutting the armholes, and the front for a cardigan.  It gives me the heeby jeebys just thinking about it!  Here are the cables:

Most of the motifs in this sweater are done in Bavarian Traveling Stitches, which are a very clever way to make your knit stitches wander about wherever you please and your purls hide demurely behind, making a very Beautiful, Fluffy and Warm fabric (it being German, I also feel the need to Randomly capitalize.)I Highly recommend this pattern for anyone who wants a Good Challenge.  I also might add, it being an EZ project, it is more of a Pattern Suggestion with many opportunities for Customizing to your Own Tastes.  I saw this Brilliant knitter’s interpretation of the January Aran Sweater, and it looks Quite Sporty.  I think I may eschew a button band for a zipper as well, and knit a zipper lining in a complementary color.  The question remains, what color, and can I possibly do justice to Bluegarter’s fine example?

Back from the abyss!

Sorry I’ve been so remiss in my posting, but I have had a few things going on lately, most notably an icky sinus infection which landed me in bed for the better part of the week.  Thank goodness for my brother who works for a European company, and therefore gets lots of time off.  He took care of the baby who also caught the snufflies from me, but not as bad.  Luckily, the baby was able to celebrate Halloween in style:

Good Grief!

This is my first original sweater design, and it was a hoot to knit.  I used Knitpicks Swish Superwash, which knits up fairly quickly at about 5 sts/in on size 7 needles (5 for ribbing, natch).  I knit it straight up with no shaping to the armpits, inserting the zigzag after about 4 inches of solid yellow.  I then knit the sleeves, increasing evenly, and attached the sleeves, did raglan decreases and knit up to the neck, switched to ribbing, and bound off using this very stretchy bind off, because babies heads are notoriously big and hard to get through sweater necks.  I’d love to sell this pattern,  but the estate of Charles Schultz would not be happy.  I wonder if I can make it available free?  Anybody out there know?

In grand Jewish holiday tradition, we celebrated at the Korean restaurant, just like on Christmas Eve!  Jonah got lots of offers for candy, but as he’s still working on mastering prunes, he’ll just have to wait.  Plus, you can’t rot teeth you don’t have yet!  And where’s the fun in that?

Custom Bunnies, anyone?

Emma and the White Bunny

Aww, doesn’t this kid look like she’s having lots of fun with the bunny?  You know you want one too!  If you’d like to get a bunny as cute as this one, I can make one for you!  Just send me an email.

Left Leaning Decrease Tip

I have no new shop things to show you today, but I do have a knitting tip, which I discovered a few weeks ago, and it has changed my knitting!  When you want to make a left leaning decrease, one usually does a SSK (slip, slip, knit).  This is a great left leaning decrease that most closely matches K2TOG (right leaning decrease).  However, most people slip both stitches knitwise.  If you slip the first stitch knitwise, and the next stitch purlwise, you will get an even smoother decrease.  It really makes a difference!  I’m sure that I’m not even close the only one to get this, but it’s still pretty exciting to me.

I’ve had a wonderfully busy weekend going to a wedding, and it was very special, because I introduced the bride and the groom!  A coworker and I decided that we had too many single friends, and that we needed to set someone up.  We got them to go on a blind date, and the rest is history!  It was a beautiful ceremony officiated by a dear friend.  That was followed by a fabulous reception with lots of food, drink (open bar!  Woo hoo!) and much dancing.  I even convinced my husband to dance to a fast song!  A milestone in our relationship.  Oh, and it was my birthday.  Fun was had by all, especially the beautiful bride.

Breaking the circle of itchyness

Yesterday, we had a ear infection scare, but it turned out that the boy was just itchy!  We brought him to the doctor, who said that he was grabbing his ear because the same nerve that is aggravated by teething is also connected to his ear.  Who knew!  Anyway, he was scratching so much, he broke the skin in his ear, so the scabs were itching him as well.  So, our goal is to break the circle of itchiness, using many moisturizers and hydrocortizone cream.

Blissed Out on Oraljel

Which brings me to my next bit of news…a friend of mine requested a super moisturizing soap, so very soon we will be carrying a lovely shea butter and silk soap.  Keep checking back, and I’ll let you know when it will become available.  But, for now, here are our new soaps. They’ll be up on Etsy tonight as well as a special 3 bar discount.  Buy 3 for 10 dollars.  What a deal!

Man Soap

With notes of cedarwood, frankincense and cinnamon, this is a woodsy, spicy soap that is gentle, yet masculine.

Raspberry Mint Soap
It’s pink! It’s minty! Like walking through a raspberry field that’s also planted with mint bushes!  Sure to perk you up in the morning.

  Cinnamon Spice Torte Soap

Mmmm…like one of our favorite fall treats, cinnamon spice torte.  Creamy, spicy, but not for eating!

Mulberry Almond Soap

Sweet berries and exfoliating crushed almonds come together in a beautifully shaped soap that is sure to get attention.  generous 4 oz size.

Enjoy!

Suds and bubbles

Today I experimented with making perfect soap for selling on my shop.  It was fun, easy and fast!  Did I mention I did four recipes in one day, and in between feedings/naps?  Hurrah!  I made Oaty Chamomile, Cinnamon Oatmeal, Cranberry Cornmeal (great for Thanksgiving favors!) and my personal favorite of the batch: Rosemary Cinnamon.  Sadly, the Cranberry Cornmeal will have to be redone, as someone (I’m not saying who) had a complete and total meltdown just as I was pouring the finished soap into the mold.  So, the cranberries were not evenly dispersed, as my attention was directed more towards the screaming infant, and not so much as the boiling glycerin soap in my hands.  Sometimes I question my sanity.  They will be posted on Etsy tomorrow.  Enjoy the pictures below!

Oaty Chamomile

Like a warm cup of tea, but sudsy, and um…exfoliating.  There’s oatmeal on the tops of the bar, and chamomile flowers on the bottom. 4 oz bar.

Cinnamon Oatmeal

Very comforting soap, generous sized 4 oz. bar.  Cinnamon scented with real cinnamon and oatmeal in the bar.

Rosemary Cinnamon

Refreshing, yet warm scent.  Has organic rosemary essential oils, cinnamon oil and real ground cinnamon and organic rosemary in the bar.  Smaller, guest room sized 3 oz bar.

Frankenbunny

From the dark depths of the knitting bag emerges the myth, the legend, the Frankenbunny! Actually, this is a before picture of my very first bunny prototype, before he gets sewn up and fluffed up. He was very fun to work, with lots of shaping involved. I am going to a craft shop this afternoon, and getting all the materials to stuff and fluff. I hope that he turns out to be a good bunny that does not scare the villagers.