Moody Kerchief - Color to Fit Your Mood

A new knitting project just started is the Moody Kerchief, available on Ravelry.  It is a fun one and quick to knit, with a zillion color combinations you can choose.  Only your imagination limits you.

Designer Kirstin Kapur's picture of her design:

Finished Measurements: 42” across top edge, 14” from top edge to base of curve 

Knit Picks says about this the wool/silk blend I chose to work with:

Gloss DK is a luxurious blend of soft Merino wool and lustrous silk. The fiber blend takes dye very well, resulting in glowing saturated colors. Gloss DK has a large spectrum of colors, which are ideal for combining in color work projects. It is next-to-skin soft, and good for wearing around your neck or on your wrists, since it’s not itchy. Its sheen and drape produce a very sleek fabric, which shows off the stockinette stitch.

That Gloss DK is soft, squishy, and easy to handle.  I like that it has silk in it, and the greys look lively, which seems like an oxymoron to the color grey.  Here are the color choices in my project that will look good with blacks, reds, and even peach colors:

(and this Ella Rae sock yarn held together with both the peach and red yarns)

The Knit Girllls (Lala, actually) talked about this design on her podcast in August, saying she had made several from this pattern, and that it was quick to knit and ingenious.  I concur!  And I already know I'll be making another scarf from this same pattern.

Finished:

Sharing Recipes (on a laptop?)

(okay, maybe it was a joke they shared)

Here is the best scone recipe I found from Amateur Gourmet:

Ingredients:

2/3 cup heavy (or whipping) cream
1 large egg
1/4 cup vanilla sugar, plus more for sprinkling on the scones
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces, chilled
1/2 cup dried cranberries (or dried currants)
Zest from 1 small orange
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (or, if your oven runs hot, 350 degrees F.)
2. Place the cream, egg, and 1/4 cup vanilla sugar in a medium-size bowl and whisk until fluffy and well blended.
3. Place the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a food processor and pulse to combine.Add the chilled butter, then pulse again until fairly well blended. Then add the cream mixture and pulse until the dough just holds together.
4. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface.  Sprinkle the cranberries and orange zest over the dough and knead for 30 seconds, making sure the cranberries are well distributed throughout the dough. Pat the dough into a round about 1/2 inch thick
5. Cut out the scones using a floured 2-inch round cookie cutter. Gather up the extra dough, pat it out again, and continue cutting out the scones. You should have 16 to 20.
6. Place the scones on an ungreased baking sheet. Brush the tops with the melted butter and sprinkle them with vanilla sugar. Bake in the oven until golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes. 

YUM!

A Little Brag, A Big Confession

The Wilhelmina Shawl from the book What Would Madam Defarge Knit? (Creations Inspired by Classic Characters) is finished.   Your can read more when it was  posted back here.  So I am bragging that it is finished, and turned out pretty well.  See what you think:

The sun was not out this morning when I snapped the pictures, so the pretty greens look more muted in the picture than what your eye would see.  But you get the idea.


Over 500 6 mm glass beads were knitted into the border of the shawl in the last two rows.  It really did not take that long using the YouTube video from Random Knits:


But I will confess that I did not follow Chrissy Gardiner's exact instructions on the lace charts because I did not understand it.  The improvisations are ok, but her scarf looks prettier if knitted according to her pattern.  And I added those beads, because it was easier than knitting nupps.  So that is my story and I'm sticking to it.

(Knit pattern is from the first edition hardcover of What Would Madam Defarge Knit has been sold out, but you can order the digital download here.) Details on Ravelry are here.

Beauty, Older Women, Courage, Quotes

An arresting photo of a woman in her late years:

A quilt of unknown origin, size unknown

this from just a portion of a poem well worth the entire read found here called The Invitation:

I want to know if you can see beauty, even when it is not pretty, every day,
And if you can source your own life from its presence.

(A Study -Limbo ID:374 from 2006 Lilly Oncology On Canvas 2006 competition)

The picture above was an award winner in the referenced art competition.  She is a symbol of a woman carrying a burden, but knowing she will survive the battle with courage and victory, no matter the outcome of her health issue. This particular art piece of the introspective woman who has lost her hair from chemotherapy reminds me of  a reference given to me by my husband when we were discussing our daughter's recent photo.

Julie's smile below shows her inner beauty of personal strength and almost continual attitude of optimism.  She, too, is undergoing chemotherapy and has lost her hair.
 

These preceding photos all tie together with this quote from Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land ( referring to Rodin's sculpture of  "Fallen Caryatid Carrying Her Stone")

... she's a symbol for every woman who ever shouldered a load too heavy. But not alone women - this symbol means every man and woman who ever sweated out life in uncomplaining fortitude until they crumpled under their loads. It's courage... and victory.

Victory in defeat, there is none higher. She didn't give up... she's still trying to lift that stone after it has crushed her... she's all the unsung heroes who couldn't make it but never quit. 

Rodin's plaster of Fallen Caryatid referenced here 1881-1882

1920, Rosa by Walter Grammatte

And finally, one of my favorites:

(from a picture in my study that is over 30 years old with the poem below by Nadin Stair)

If I Had My Life to Live Over

I'd dare to make more mistakes next time.
I'd relax, I would limber up.
I would be sillier than I have been this trip.
I would take fewer things seriously.
I would take more chances.
I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers.
I would eat more ice cream and less beans. 

I would perhaps have more actual troubles,
but I'd have fewer imaginary ones. 

You see, I'm one of those people who live
sensibly and sanely hour after hour,
day after day.

Oh, I've had my moments,
And if I had it to do over again,
I'd have more of them.
In fact, I'd try to have nothing else.
Just moments, one after another,
instead of living so many years ahead of each day. 

I've been one of those people who never goes anywhere
without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a raincoat
and a parachute. 

If I had to do it again, I would travel lighter than I have.

If I had my life to live over,
I would start barefoot earlier in the spring
and stay that way later in the fall.
I would go to more dances.
I would ride more merry-go-rounds. 

I would pick more daisies.
Nadine Stair, 85 years old

Our Flowers in August

and finally, from pinterest:

Drying Herbs & Freezing Pesto

We have herbs.  Do we have herbs.  Abundant herbs!  Never one to waste anything, my husband has been nudging me to dry those aromatic sprigs from heaven.  He even sent me this information from Michael Ruhlman on drying herbs that said, in part:

The herb garden has gone wild from the heat and rain showers. It’s bursting with more herbs than I can handle or possibly use.  It’s like an herb party with too many rowdy guest showing up.  So now is exactly the time to start cutting them back and letting them dry for winter cooking.  This will both begin the supply of dried herbs and also encourage more growth during the next weeks of summer.  Herbs are roughly divided into two categories, “hard” and “soft.”  The soft herbs are herbs with soft stems, such as parsley and tarragon. The soft herbs are best used fresh; they’re fine dried, but they lose their magic, all the beguiling qualities that make them so powerful.

Looking at my "soft" herbs, I seized the day and picked tarragon and parsley to dry, simply washing off the leaves and spreading them on tea towels laid on the counter for drying.  Ruhlman says to spread them out in bowls for drying, so that must work too.

Candied herbs?  Look at Shuna Lydon's post a few years back about how to infuse herbs into sugar.  She has a way with words:

Custards could be infused but they must drape the tongue briefly and evaporate, smooth and silky. Like a well cut skirt: scissors glide through the grain of the fabric, not against it. An aroma is an elusive sensory experience. We embrace those we have known and loved forever and are comforted because they still smell the same as we remember.

And now for the basil and Making Pesto to Freeze:

from Food Network:

Pesto to Freeze

2 cups packed fresh basil leaves

2 cloves garlic

1/4 cup pine nuts

2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1/2 cup freshly grated Pecorino cheese

• Combine the basil, garlic, and pine nuts in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add 1/2 cup of the oil and process until fully incorporated and smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
• If using immediately, add all the remaining oil and pulse until smooth. Transfer the pesto to a large serving bowl and mix in the cheese.
• If freezing, transfer to an air-tight container and drizzle remaining oil over the top. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw and stir in cheese.

I followed the directions, doubling the amounts:

Several years ago I made this recipe.  It is great for gift giving in mid winter, and it lasts in the freezer much longer than three months; don't hesitate to make several batches for those cold weather doldrums when you want to carbohydrate load.   This pesto recipe is delicious with pasta and chicken.

PS: I decreased the olive oil slightly, and added the pecorino cheese into the processor while blending.  Then remember to sprinkle heavily with more Parmesan or mozzeralla cheese as a finishing entree topper.

Green Gates and The Green Man

In 2008, writing about honeysuckle and hummingbirds this was a picture of our back garden gate that leads to a larger garden area down wooden stairs.  This is what it looked like three years ago:

Unfortunately, we had some very cold winters that killed off the honeysuckle vines.  We took down the archway, cut back the dead branches, and were left with just the gate that looks bare and in desperate need of a face lift.

So I went looking for garden gates that were green in color, hoping to find something I liked and would inspire me to repaint the wooden gate.  Here are some pretty gates that I found while doing an internet search:

from madeitonmonday

 

from pinterest 

(from dreamstime)

Using oil paint from a tube, paint thinner and a linseed oil mixture with instructions here, this is our newly refurbished stained gate:

This is the gate yesterday prior prior to staining:

What a difference a little paint makes!

This is a Green Man, cast in iron, similar to one that I just ordered to attach to the fence:

The Green Man

...is that spirit, energy, presence, inherent in every cell of the vegetative realm, and transmitted to the animal/human realms through the foods we eat, the flowers we smell, the trees we hug. He is Pan.

Kilkenny Cowl

Several months ago, Paula the Podcaster at Knitting Pipeline,  mentioned that she was knitting a different sort of cowl.  The name of the cowl sounded Irish (the Kilkenny Cowl) and I thought it might be one I would enjoy making and wearing while in Ireland this fall.  And then on her podcast yesterday, she again mentioned finishing it for her future daughter in law, and showed the pretty cowl on her website.  So I, too, will share this pattern and the end results.

In early July, I shopped online at Quince & Company and ordered the pattern and the yarn to knit this cowl.

(The pictures of the Kilkenny and the pretty girl are from the Quince website)

Yes, you too can order the Kilkenny pattern and yarns here.

The "chickadee" yarn in the color nasturtium, in 100% made-in-America wool was purchased and knit over a few weeks, resulting in my rendition of the Kilkenny Cowl:

Remember those beaded glass bracelets I made to go with it?

Thanks, Paula, for the suggestion of a fun knit project with cables and lace making that was not too difficult.

(More Kilkenny Cowl knitting information can be found here on my Ravelry page.)