November 2010 Archives

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Thanksgiving treat for you all is my review of the new Interweave Knits. (Ok, mostly because I have little interesting to blog about and the magazine showed up yesterday).

Of a Different Stripe

• Charvet Pullover: Cute and nice colors. Not something that I'd probably knit. The picture in the magazine is nicer than the ones online.


• Latvian Braid Mitts: In this case, the picture online shows the mitts better. The picture in the magazine is dark and shows off the model's pretty yellow jacket more than the gloves. I don't quite understand the color combination. I feel "mitts" isn't the best term either because these go nearly to her elbows.


• Barcaly Sweater: Meh! A sideways striped sweater seems a good way to make yourself (or your male significant other, in this case) appear very fat.


• Flowering Plum Pullover: Pretty and nice colors, but not for me. The online photos are nicer than the one in the magazine, which makes it seem as though the sleeves are poorly inset.


• Kinetic Cowl: This is pretty and the colors are great. But again, the in magazine photos are glamor shots that don't really let you see the piece.


• Spoked Hat: Cute hat and a gorgeous color. I like the little edge detail.


• Lollipop Cap: I'm not a huge fan of berets. I think that only a few people can actually pull them off and look cute. The striping is cute, but I'm not a huge fan of these colors.


• Isobel Skirt: I prefer the picture online because you get a better sense of the length of the skirt. It is very cute. I don't know if it is the yarn or increases, but there are some weird sized stitches in the knit columns.

The County

• Prism Pullover: The only thing that I like about this is the color. This is not flattering to any body type.


• Evergreen Vest: Maybe it is the styling of the model, but this vest feels old. Not like it is aging her, but like it is from another decade. Definitely not going in the queue.


• Tuckerneck Cardigan: Cute kid and pretty color. The ribs and cables are also very nice. Can it be upsized for an adult?


• Crocus Cardigan: In this case, they definitely published the best picture. The online pictures are truer, but less flattering to the knit. Other than the color, I'm not interested.


• Slouchy Cable Pullover: Again a nice color, but not flattering sweater. If this were a cardigan, I might like it more, but it seems like a heavy, bulky, yet not warm sweater.

Come Together

• Galvanized Cardigan: I like this one, but not the yellow detail. It would be a cute basic sweater.


• Ginevra's Pullover: Love, love, love!! I must knit this immediately!! I wish I could wear yellow/orange and not look sickly... but in another color, I will have this sweater!!!


• Oslo Walk Shawl: This is very pretty. I like the white with the silver beads. But I don't know that this will inspire me to take up lace knitting.


• Winter Wren Cardigan: This is a pretty sweater, but I'd rather buy it in the store than spend all that time myself.


• Thandie Funnel Neck: On the cover, I loved it. When I saw it inside, I didn't like it as much. Then I looked at the pictures online and really didn't like it. I like the stripes and the colors, but it doesn't fit the model well. It is baggy in an odd way and makes the model's breasts look like they are on her waist in the magazine shot. If this sweater was body hugging, I'd probably like it much more.

We Love Socks

• Pinked Socks: The pink and gray version show off the pattern nicely, but the blue version looks like a plain pair of socks. In fact, I didn't know what the blue version was until I saw the pictures online. In the magazine, they aren't identified. The more I look at the pink/gray ones, the more I like them.


• Art Deco Argyle Stockings: These are cute and I like the color choices. But seeing how I'm having trouble finishing normal socks, I don't know that I'm in the mood for stockings.


• Stranded Boot Stockings: In a color other than mustard, I might like these, but eh.


• Alpha Stockings: These I love!


• Pavo Slipper Socks: These look like a cute, quick knit.

The Great Outdoors

• Houndstooth and a Half Jacket: This looks cheap and old (old as in, this has been in the closet for 25 years). I do not like this at all.


• Gloucester Coat: After seeing the online pictures, I actually sort of like this. I don't think I would knit it or wear it, but I do appreciate the design.


• Ginza Sportcoat: No, no, no! Anyone want a Grampa sweater?


• Burnham Wood Capelet: Pretty, but who wears a capelet these days?

Lastly from the advertisements, I am absolutely in love with this...

I finally finished off "Seedy" the Alpaca scarf for Kevin. It is lovely and squishy and soft. Only a little over a month to make a scarf isn't a terrible pace. And it is one portion of Rhinebeck yarn used up.

And so I moved on to another Rhinebeck purchase. I started the "Elegant Scalloped Scarf" from Still River Mill.

It is knit in the lovely Beauty and the Beast yarn that's Yak, Alpaca, and Bamboo. The pattern is super easy. And while the yarn is soft to knit with, as it forms the fabric of the scarf, I swear it gets even softer.

Cookbook writers are ridiculously bad at guessing how long it'll take to prepare a meal.

The author of this article is not alone. I'm right there with Jesse in typically needing double the time to complete a recipe.

I think the most telling part is the two comments from cookbook authors that the published times are from people who have made these recipes a lot.

The first time I'm making a recipe, I typically first assemble all of the ingredients and then carefully prepare and measure them. And then carefully go through each step of the recipe. But with more experience, I don't need to keep stopping to refer to the recipe. I know the order to add ingredients. I also know when corners can be cut.

So I totally appreciate this quote:

But it was Chris Kimball, editor of Cook's Illustrated, who cut to the heart of it. "Utter bullshit," he said when I asked what he thought of cooking times.

Right on Kimball!

Since we're talking about homemade snacks kicking the grocery store versions' butts, let's talk pop tarts. I have a back and forth relationship with pop tarts. As a kid, I liked the cinnamon ones, but I'd quickly grow tired of them (and I never toasted them!). I would sometimes think that I liked the apple ones and make my mom buy them, only to eat one and remember that I didn't like them.

Now, the current pop tarts seem a poor version of the ones I remember as a kid. The icing doesn't seem to cover as much and the pop tarts generally seem smaller. But every now and then in the store, I get tricked into buying them by my unconscious who suggests that I might still like them. And sure enough I eat one, and don't feel the need to finish any more.

I've been reading a lot of food blogs and I saw a link to homemade pop tarts, specifically pumpkin pop tarts. Imagine... pumpkin pie in pop tart form, in which you get the yummy taste of pumpkin pie with tons of crust!

(As an aside, I only recently started eating pumpkin pie. My very first forays into pumpkin pie eating were stealing the edge crust off pies at Thanksgiving. Then I tried some of the actual pie filling and found that I liked the flavor. When I eat pumpkin pie, I generally just like a little sliver. I love the crust, but too much of the filling makes my stomach feel funny. I'm weird, I know. But I'm not the biggest fan of the custardy filling texture.)

So I had to try my hand at pumpkin pop tarts.

Unlike the recipe, I made my own pie dough from scratch (which is super easy in a food processor). I also added a bunch of pumpkin pie spice to the filling. I used a cookie cutter for the cut outs. These were a bit big for pop tarts, but they were delicious. It is such a great justification for pie for breakfast!!! I have plans to in the next weekend or so try making cinnamon pop tarts!

Are you a fan of Ginger Snaps? Not those rock hard, crumbs everywhere, store-brand kind. How about some crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, gingery goodness?

Don't you just want to eat 100 of those?

The link at the top is for the King Arthur recipe. I made these over the weekend (when avoiding grading) and they were delicious. Kevin and I both loved them. Kevin's coworkers also really liked them. I used butter instead of shortening, and nutmeg because we didn't have cloves. Next time, I will kick up the ginger to a tablespoon for more bite.

The best part about these cookies was that I froze half of the sugared cookie dough balls. Tonight after dinner was heated in the oven, I popped a few cookies in to bake up. Fresh cookie smell in the apartment and fresh cookies in our bellies!!

I made a nice little effort to blog more, and then a week of radio silence. Mostly because I have been sitting on a mountain of grading and have been pushing through it only because there is even more grading coming in. Why did I give so many written assignments?!

I also have a real problem with grading things immediately. Or rather, not grading things immediately. Frequently something due on Monday doesn't even get looked at until the next Monday. I tell my students to expect 2 weeks to get something back. For some reason, I need that first week to stare at it and contemplate how to avoid grading.

Then when I start grading, I read a few good papers and think "wow, these are good, why did I wait, I should finish in no time." Then it all goes down hill. A few progressively worse papers and my mind turns to mush. I can grade a 7 page good paper in less than 10 minutes, but a 4 page bad paper can take an hour (and that's with only circling grammar/typo errors).

Of course, others have stated all of this more eloquently than me... The Five Stages of Grading. Today was spent in a combination of 3 and 5.

Of course, I have 18 other papers that I promised the students they would get back tomorrow. And I'm in stage 1... my plan is to grade them all in the morning tomorrow before class. Hahahahaha!! I'm insane.

I try to impart on my students the importance of citing sources. When someone else's idea, work, research, etc inspired you, you need to give credit where credit is due. When you don't give that credit, to the reader, it appears that you came up with the idea yourself. And while we all have brilliant ideas from time to time, most often our brilliant thoughts were inspired by someone else's brilliant thoughts.

I've been keeping up with the Yarn Harlot and her self-imposed sock of the month club. She began in January and now in November is reporting great success and great new socks. Back in January, I thought... wow this is a great idea. I have a butt load of sock yarn and no plans for it. I should do this too (I'm sure many bloggers and Harlot readers thought the same thing, and I'm sure some followed through). Well, the Spring semester wore me down and I did nothing, and now nearly a year later with the knitting bug chomping at my heels, I am inspired again, especially now seeing her success.

So I am declaring that today, I will start my own sock of the month(ish) club. First pair on deck is to finish these socks:

by the end of the month.

Then I get to pull things out of my sock club! Unlike the Yarn Harlot, not all of my potential picks will be new fresh options (or socks... I've got a pair of fingerless mitts that just needs one more!!), but I'm going to try to have a little (little compared to sweaters for monsters) project for each month to get myself to be more productive (and have blog fodder and to stop wasting pointless time reading rants and crap on Ravelry).

I finally got around to taking pictures of my Rhinebeck goodies.

My first purchase was some beautiful, heavenly, soft Prime Alpaca. I purchased two skeins from Misty Mountain Farms. That's 665 yards per skein, so I have a lot of lovely alpaca yarn. The yarn is 100% superfine natural colored alpaca, and I honestly wish I could have purchased 50 skeins and created a nest to live in. It is so nice to pet.

This was actually my last purchase. This is from Still River Mill. I was attracted to their tent by some interesting yarn called Puppy Love, which I found out was made from puppy fur... well, not puppies, but sled dogs. Very cool! I would have purchased some, but all of the colors were icky, pastel types. They also had some gorgeous and affordable cashmere, which if there was better color choice, I would have scooped up. Everything at their stall came with a free pattern, and so I ended up deciding on the Beauty and the Beast yarn because I like the Elegant Scalloped Scarf. Beauty and the Beast is 160 yds of 40% yak, 40% alpaca, and 20% bamboo. So soft! I really, really want to wind this up and start knitting it. I inquired about purchasing another pattern (for to die for fingerless mitts) and the yarn (Yakaboo) that goes with it, but unfortunately they had sold out of the yarn and didn't have any more copies of the pattern. The Still River Mill people were so friendly and nice though that they took down my email address and emailed me the pattern for free!! I will definitely be ordering some Yakaboo to make these mitts.

The last purchase (that I can tell you about) was from The Spinning Room Yarn Shop. Kathy and I always end up buying things from this stall, and this year was no exception. We were in this stall for so long that Cordelia and Terri thought that we got lost. (As it turns out this was were Kathy purchased a hat pattern last year that was frustrating her because it had one little mistake and she was able to talk to the designer and get that cleared up!). Everything in their stall came with a basket or bag. When we saw Noro Silk Garden Sock Yarn that came with a basket and a pattern for less than buying just the yarn online with shipping... neither Kathy or I could resist. I also purchased a really cute little cloth bag with an apple pattern. I took it to my office to contain my computer cords that I need to drag around with me. I figured a cute little bag would brighten my day. (I'll try to remember to get a picture and show y'all).

Rhinebeck was successful and has gotten me super excited about knitting again!

Second up in my finishing, so as to be able to knit new things, was Kirra.

Last time you'll remember that I was about 36 rows from finishing. Well, I plugged away at it and had some good uninterrupted knitting time on Friday, and so while watching 5 back to back episodes of Nip/Tuck on Netflix (I am obsessed with this show!!), I powered through the last 6 rows and bound off.

Perfect length.

Kirra will make her public debut sometime this week at school. I really like how it turned out. But I really have very little desire to knit with this yarn again. The knitting was fine, it was the weaving in of ends that was a major pain in the butt. I had to resort to knotting. I know!! Horrors!!! But the damn little ends won't hide away otherwise.

So of course I have three extra skeins of the yarn. Don't know what I'm going to do with it. The yarn has no warmth to it or structure, so a scarf or hat aren't options. Into the yarn closet it goes.

Rhinebeck inspired in me a desire to get knitting again, but the real knitting bug didn't bite until a few days ago when I suddenly had a desire to knit 20 different things at once. And this isn't a process knitting bug... this is definitely a product knitting bug. But because knitting time is limited, I need to be strategic and not start a thousand projects... otherwise, the next thing I know, it will be May and I'll have completed nothing and the knitting bug will vanish for the summer.

First up, I decided that I needed to finish Lanesplitter. When I had last left off with it, I had finished the body, sewn it together, was pleased with the length and fit, but needed to pick up and knit a waistband. Lanesplitter sat and sat and sat.

I picked it up and picked up the stitches (didn't really count them). Knit several rows of k2, p2. Knit a row of yarn overs and p2tog, knit more rows of k2, p2, and bound off. It took about 2 hours. Then I crocheted a quick little drawstring in about 30 minutes (I'm really slow at crocheting).

The finished product was worn to school on Tuesday:

It sat for 2 months because I didn't want to put about 3 more hours into finishing it. One student even complimented me on it. (I didn't tell her that I made it... shame on me!)

I will admit that I was a bit paranoid in wearing it for the first time all day at school. I actually took a pair of jeans with me to change into in an emergency. My biggest fears were that there would be a sudden hole or I would realize that it was entirely see through or that it was lose its shape look terrible. None of those things happened. I did wear a pair of tights underneath as well as a black slip. I would not have felt comfortable without the tights and slip.

It was wonderfully warm to wear and will be great throughout the winter. One side does have a bit of a butt stretch to it, but I think a quick blocking will take it back to normal. I think that ultimately attaching a slip to the inside would be good, but if it took me a couple of months to just knit a waistband, sewing in a slip might take years!