Scooter and I are moving! This is the last post you'll read here at Knit Pickins. Check out our new digs at Bungalow 312!
7 hours ago
18 July, 2009
The End...
Scooter and I are moving! This is the last post you'll read here at Knit Pickins. Check out our new digs at Bungalow 312!
06 July, 2009
Lazy: A Cat Lady Post
Someone here at Bungalow 312 is very lazy today.
What do you want me to do, Mom? You know I don't have opposable thumbs, or else I would TOTALLY be helping you right now.
We have houseguests coming in a few days, so no lazing around on my part. Today's job: finish sorting the clothes closet and clean my bedroom and the bathroom.
Totally doable if I would just stop taking pictures of Scooter.
What do you want me to do, Mom? You know I don't have opposable thumbs, or else I would TOTALLY be helping you right now.
We have houseguests coming in a few days, so no lazing around on my part. Today's job: finish sorting the clothes closet and clean my bedroom and the bathroom.
Totally doable if I would just stop taking pictures of Scooter.
03 July, 2009
Food, Yarn, Cat
The putting up is continuing quite nicely. As I like to say it, I am squirreling away food at a pretty good pace.
The totals to date:
1 cup garlic scape pesto
1 cup traditional basil pesto
1 cup pea greens pesto
6 cups strawberry freezer jam (1 given away)
3 quarts strawberries
7 cups rhubarb
1/2 pound asparagus spears
1 pound asparagus pieces, for use in quiches, soups, and pastas
3 pints refrigerator asparagus pickles (1 given away)
This was my first ever foray into canning. The canning equipment I ordered has not yet arrived, so I was limited to a small batch of refrigerator pickles. Sterilizing the jars without proper canning equipment was interesting. The problem? How to get the sterilized jars out of the boiling water without a jar lifter, without burning oneself. To make the pickled asparagus, I used this recipe from a fantastic blog, Food in Jars.
On the agenda for today... greens. I have a whole drawer full of them... spinach, collards, kale, swiss chard. Wash, wilt, and bag.
On the knitting front... I finished another square of the Barn-Raising Quilt.
Really pretty colorway of Pagewood Farm. I think the base yarn is Chugiak and the colorway is Fruit Freeze. I bought this yarn as mill ends some time ago, so now I'm not sure. I never ended up getting my squares to the shop in time for them to be donated to the Doctors Without Borders quilt, so they are going to a different good cause.
For the past few months I've been posting about having too many WIPs. For all you knitting muggles, those are "Works in Progress." Well, lucky me, because to train for the next round of the Ravelympics (which will occur during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics), I have entered WIPS Wrestlemania 2009. The idea is to use the month of July to put the smackdown on all your WIPs so you can start with a clean slate on August 1. I won't have quite a clean slate, because of the ongoing Miles of Miters blanket. Still, it'll feel good to not have anything else on my plate come August 1. Want to join me in smacking some WIPs into shape? Check out this group on Ravelry.
And finally on the yarn front, I have an embarrassing confession. I unknowingingly did some stash excavation this week while cleaning out a closet. Look what I found:
Seven skeins of it, bought back when I was a beginning and much dumber knitter. Back when I didn't know that acrylic is made of petroleum and that cheap acrylic squeaks when you knit with it. Which I found out when I knit this. Hmmm. What to do? It's a pretty colorway. Seems boring in the photo, but it's much more heathered than the photo shows. I think I may actually try to knit this shawl. If it squeaks on me, though, it's going straight to charity.
Last but not least, Scooter hasn't been around these parts for a while, and he wanted to make an appearance.
From inside the project storage cube.
Hi, Mom. I know you're gonna yell at me in just a second, but I don't care.
The totals to date:
1 cup garlic scape pesto
1 cup traditional basil pesto
1 cup pea greens pesto
6 cups strawberry freezer jam (1 given away)
3 quarts strawberries
7 cups rhubarb
1/2 pound asparagus spears
1 pound asparagus pieces, for use in quiches, soups, and pastas
3 pints refrigerator asparagus pickles (1 given away)
This was my first ever foray into canning. The canning equipment I ordered has not yet arrived, so I was limited to a small batch of refrigerator pickles. Sterilizing the jars without proper canning equipment was interesting. The problem? How to get the sterilized jars out of the boiling water without a jar lifter, without burning oneself. To make the pickled asparagus, I used this recipe from a fantastic blog, Food in Jars.
On the agenda for today... greens. I have a whole drawer full of them... spinach, collards, kale, swiss chard. Wash, wilt, and bag.
On the knitting front... I finished another square of the Barn-Raising Quilt.
Really pretty colorway of Pagewood Farm. I think the base yarn is Chugiak and the colorway is Fruit Freeze. I bought this yarn as mill ends some time ago, so now I'm not sure. I never ended up getting my squares to the shop in time for them to be donated to the Doctors Without Borders quilt, so they are going to a different good cause.
For the past few months I've been posting about having too many WIPs. For all you knitting muggles, those are "Works in Progress." Well, lucky me, because to train for the next round of the Ravelympics (which will occur during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics), I have entered WIPS Wrestlemania 2009. The idea is to use the month of July to put the smackdown on all your WIPs so you can start with a clean slate on August 1. I won't have quite a clean slate, because of the ongoing Miles of Miters blanket. Still, it'll feel good to not have anything else on my plate come August 1. Want to join me in smacking some WIPs into shape? Check out this group on Ravelry.And finally on the yarn front, I have an embarrassing confession. I unknowingingly did some stash excavation this week while cleaning out a closet. Look what I found:
Seven skeins of it, bought back when I was a beginning and much dumber knitter. Back when I didn't know that acrylic is made of petroleum and that cheap acrylic squeaks when you knit with it. Which I found out when I knit this. Hmmm. What to do? It's a pretty colorway. Seems boring in the photo, but it's much more heathered than the photo shows. I think I may actually try to knit this shawl. If it squeaks on me, though, it's going straight to charity.
Last but not least, Scooter hasn't been around these parts for a while, and he wanted to make an appearance.
From inside the project storage cube.
Hi, Mom. I know you're gonna yell at me in just a second, but I don't care.
25 June, 2009
Pesto Presto!
It certainly seems that this blog is more devoted to my CSA subscription and food than knitting, doesn't it? 'Tis the season! Besides, I never updated anyone on my New Year's declaration to get healthier.
The putting up of food has begun in earnest. Three cups of rhubarb were frozen several weeks ago, and some strawberries are soon to follow. I am determined to have a strawberry-rhubarb crisp in the middle of winter.
Last night I made three different types of pesto.
The first was made using garlic scapes and this recipe, the second using basil and Bobby Flay's recipe, and the third using pea greens and no recipe. I just winged that one. I used garlic scallions instead of regular garlic cloves, since I had that on hand from the CSA. And I used walnuts rather than pine nuts in all three batches.
The verdict? Nothing beats the traditional basil pesto. I cut my plants down to half their size in order to have the two or so cups needed to make one batch. In another month, hopefully I'll be able to make another batch. Basil is finally starting to appear at farmer's markets, so I can always supplement as well.
If you're interested in preserving food at home and are a Ravelry member, the Locavore group is having a put-up along. Check it out!
Next up? Strawberry freezer jam!
The putting up of food has begun in earnest. Three cups of rhubarb were frozen several weeks ago, and some strawberries are soon to follow. I am determined to have a strawberry-rhubarb crisp in the middle of winter.
Last night I made three different types of pesto.
The first was made using garlic scapes and this recipe, the second using basil and Bobby Flay's recipe, and the third using pea greens and no recipe. I just winged that one. I used garlic scallions instead of regular garlic cloves, since I had that on hand from the CSA. And I used walnuts rather than pine nuts in all three batches.
The verdict? Nothing beats the traditional basil pesto. I cut my plants down to half their size in order to have the two or so cups needed to make one batch. In another month, hopefully I'll be able to make another batch. Basil is finally starting to appear at farmer's markets, so I can always supplement as well.
If you're interested in preserving food at home and are a Ravelry member, the Locavore group is having a put-up along. Check it out!
Next up? Strawberry freezer jam!
23 June, 2009
CSA—Week Two
No photo this week; rather, a video all about Titus Farms:
Our share was bigger this week. We could pick six items from the offerings, so the list this week is shorter, but each item was sizable in quantity.
1. One quart strawberries
2. Kohlrabi
3. Radishes
4. Mixed lettuce leaves
5. Spinach
6. Pea greens
On the knitting front, the selbu mitten is almost finished... just have to close up the thumb and block it. Progress has also been made on the dragonfly socks. I refuse to start another project until these WIPs are knocked off!
Our share was bigger this week. We could pick six items from the offerings, so the list this week is shorter, but each item was sizable in quantity.
1. One quart strawberries
2. Kohlrabi
3. Radishes
4. Mixed lettuce leaves
5. Spinach
6. Pea greens
On the knitting front, the selbu mitten is almost finished... just have to close up the thumb and block it. Progress has also been made on the dragonfly socks. I refuse to start another project until these WIPs are knocked off!
16 June, 2009
CSA—Week One
I'm back!
For the past month, I have taken an unintentional hiatus from blogging and knitting. The end of the school year demanded hours of grading each night. Pair that with several busy weekends and a trip to Milwaukee, and you have no blogging, and virtually no knitting.
In other news, my friend Carol and I have joined the Titus Farms CSA. Our first pick-up was today.
THE LOOT:
Sage
Mint
Three ears popping corn
Cooking greens mix (in pitcher)
Bok choy
Garlic scallions
Spinach (in bucket)
One quart strawberries (not pictured)
The bok choy, cooking greens, and garlic scallions are all items I've never cooked with before. I am excited to try these vegetables!
For the past month, I have taken an unintentional hiatus from blogging and knitting. The end of the school year demanded hours of grading each night. Pair that with several busy weekends and a trip to Milwaukee, and you have no blogging, and virtually no knitting.
In other news, my friend Carol and I have joined the Titus Farms CSA. Our first pick-up was today.
THE LOOT:
Sage
Mint
Three ears popping corn
Cooking greens mix (in pitcher)
Bok choy
Garlic scallions
Spinach (in bucket)
One quart strawberries (not pictured)
The bok choy, cooking greens, and garlic scallions are all items I've never cooked with before. I am excited to try these vegetables!
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