Fiber Fool

Keeping in mind that the people on our holiday shopping list are bookish, enjoy gardening, appreciate classics in many senses (books, movies, good writing instruments etc.) my list probably isn’t a “suit all” sort of list. It is also skewed with a few places I wouldn’t mind people shop at for me ;-)

This year we won’t be visiting too many of these. Gifts for Drew’s side are optional and to be handmade if given. In past years I really worried about the pressure of doing that, but I’ve been more or less done for a few months now! I have a few other things I wouldn’t mind doing, but it will be a case of “wanting” rather than needing which makes the whole thing a lot more enjoyable. It has actually been much less stressful than shopping.

1. Lee Valley - they have a great selection of gardening accouterments but also power tools and such for woodworking. A pretty good bet for many of the men on our list.

2. Signals - their selection is quite varied, from totally frivolous home decor items to classic movies on DVD and often some amusing tees frequently stilted a bit toward more academic humor. It is somehow (or was anyway if memory serves) tied to PBS so it is also supporting some television programing we enjoy like Masterpiece Mystery!

3. Adorama - is a photography equipment store. They have their own line of some things like camera and accessory bags which can save you money. They also sell through Amazon and prices and shipping don’t always match across the two so it is a good idea to price check at both places.

4. B & H - another photography (& much more electronics related to photo & video) pick. Prices are usually on par with Adorama and they are both out of NY so shipping times will be similar, but it is good to check prices.

5. Levenger - when we first discovered them they were mostly a writing instrument place with a great selection if fountain pens (& rollerballs and pencils) in all price ranges with a bit if supporting gift items that would be appreciated by those who enjoy a good pen. The selection had kind of flipped and they carry more gifts for book lovers and lots of various cases for tech gadgets and messenger bags and purses made mostly of leather.

6. Etsy - of course for really unique gifts of all kinds how can you not check out Etsy? I doubt any of you though are unaware of the treasures that abound there. You can view some of my favorite items and shops that have caught my eye recently and in the past.

7. For yarn and fiber related gifts I love The Loopy Ewe! They ship quickly, package beautifully and it is an occasion to open one their shipments.

8. Wind & Weather is another great stop for men who enjoy toys and gardening. They have a wide variety of weather centers in all price ranges from just indoor/outdoor thermometers to a whole weather center with temp, humidity, tipping bucket rain gauge and anemometer that can be hooked to a computer which can log the readings at regular intervals and even report them to a web site like Weather Underground. They also carry a variety of functional and non-functional lawn art, including sun dials, bird feeders and wind chimes.

9. Williams Sonoma is a pretty good bet for any cooks on the list. They have cookbooks and sauces and spice sets in addition to cooking gadgets and kitchen/dining linens. I’m drawing a blank on other sites for cooks other than cooking.com. Surly I’m missing something in that category.

10. For supporting small business with the convenience of shopping from the comfort of home I really can’t beat Quince & Co! American wool, spun in America. Great colors! Fair price! I haven’t tried any of their yarns besides Chickadee yet, but if they are anything like Chickadee I’m in love. I think I could possibly knit with only their yarn and be a happy camper. In fact, I’ve been wanting to get two skeins of Lark to make another Bordeaux but I can’t choose the color, LOL! Perhaps something to go with my soon to arrive new “beet root” colored coat (discovered my two main ones are really ready for the trash heap - worn threadbear lining, missing buttons, stains etc. but both are over 8 years old so I suppose it was time. Any suggestions for recycling wool pea coats into a new life?)

The first installment of Nourishing Knits is now live on Ravelry! All 27 pages of it so far. I’m already hard at work on the next installment and perhaps even more excited by that one :-)

I thought you might like a little peek inside…

Each recipe and pattern pair has a full page spread with full page images so you are sure to be able to see detail.

Here is the Cranberry Gingerbread Cobbler with the Cornucopia Cowl.

Each recipe and pattern layout is based upon my most recent pattern layouts that I launched last November. But with a little twist to make it fun. If you uncheck the “scale pages to fit” when printing the yarns across the top are actual size, as is the ingredient at the corners!

Here is the Bow Wow Biscotti with much thanks to Brandon and the Guided by Love Socks.

And Slow Cooker Black Bean Chili (great for groups, even with multiple dietary restrictions) with Bordeaux.

All of the patterns so far include both charted and written instructions for any stitch patterns and usually there are a few smaller images included on the pattern pages.

At the back there are abbreviations and acknowledgments. The abbreviations section contains mostly those that experienced knitters are familiar with and use often. Less used abbreviations can be found with each pattern so that if you print out a single pattern the info you likely need to reference while knitting the project is all right there. That means chart legends are also a part of each pattern rather than at the back of the book.

If you want to see more, I’ve put thumbnails of all the spreads in a Flickr set in the order they appear in the book (for now).

I’ve designed the e-book to be much like a real book so I highly recommend using Acrobat Reader to view the PDF. Then from the View menu choose to View Pages>Two-up and make sure “Show Cover Page When Viewing Two-Up” is checked and then you can view the book as it was designed to be viewed.

I’m doing what I can to be greener and more economical, which includes saving on ink and paper. I expect some of you would wish to do the same. To print just the text pages, put “2-5, 8-11, 14-19, 22-27” in the print dialog box and you’ll skip printing the cover and the full page images. Of course you can print each pattern or recipe out individually too. I’ve also looked at it on my phone in GoodReader and iBook and it looks good. GoodReader is even able to reflow the text for you which might be handy if you cook from your phone.

You can add the book to your cart on Ravelry from the book’s page or if you are not on Ravelry - buy it now.

I’m going to back off on my computer hours per day a bit after this hard push of the last couple weeks. But I think I’ll try to have a new linkity for you on Wednesday or Thursday to make up for missing it today. Of course tomorrow is 10 on Tuesday and I think I can handle the theme this week :-)

I hope you all had a great holiday so far. I ended up cooking all day on Thanksgiving even though it was just DH and I. I decided to make my first pie crust from scratch since high school for our pumpkin pie so between the chilling at various points and roasting squash for the risotto it seemed I was in the kitchen all day, LOL! It was good though and my body appreciated the break from the computer. The abundance of squashy things had me in carbo coma so I took in a movie with DH. It was nice to spend some quality time with him, something neither of us has had much time for lately.

I want to thank everyone who played in the Nourishing Knits giveaway. There were 79 valid entries! I went to Random.org and generated a set of 5 numbers from 1 to 79 and got this…

Those numbers corresponded to the following Ravelry members:

• KiwiSooz
• etqoe1953
• etqoe1953
• jeanneftc
• sprite

Since etqoe1953 was so ambitious to win and favorited and queued all three patterns, her number came up twice. So I ran the single number generator from 1-79 and got this:

So iceboxofpaknits was the fifth winner.

I’ve issued all five of you a “gift” of Nourishing Knits via Ravelry. You should have received notice of the gift to the e-mail address tied to your Ravelry account.

The first three patterns are getting closer to release everyday and you’ll get notified of each update to Ravelry as it is made. If you didn’t win and want to be certain to get the first patterns right away, you can buy it now.

Now, my boss is a bit demanding and it’s time to get back to work on those first three patterns! ;-)

Given that 1) tomorrow is the big turkey day, 2) I have pictures for my cranberry sauce which I’m recycling and 3) I’m up to my ears in final tweaks of the first installment of the e-book I thought I’d share my cranberry sauce recipe. You know, on the off chance that you don’t already have your menu planned and groceries bought for the big day. I should note that the pics show a half batch. I went small since it will be just Drew and I.

This is so simple. You just dump the ingredients in, turn on the heat, cover and in a bit turn the heat off. It requires very little attention and nearly takes care of itself. If you accidentally overcook it, you’ll just a get a more homogeneous jam as the skins cook down and pectin in the cranberries gets released. In fact, if you prefer more of a “cranberry” jelly just cook it longer. Using apple juice in place of the orange juice will also help make a thicker jelly or jam consistency.

Cranberry Orange Sauce

yields 3-4 cups
Ingredients

• 2 - 12 oz bags of cranberries, frozen works if fresh are not available but may result is slightly less chunky sauce
• 2 oranges, zest and juice
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 inch / 2.5 cm hunk of ginger, optional

Directions
Place all the ingredients into a 2 qt sauce pan and stir. Cover place over medium heat. Let the sauce cook until most of the cranberries have burst, about 10-20 minutes depending upon your stovetop. Turn off the heat and let cool slightly. It will thicken as it cools. It can be made ahead and refrigerated too.

If you opt for the ginger you’ll get a more subtle, underlying warmth if you place it in whole and remove before serving. If you want a bit more forward and spicy hint of ginger, grate it on a microplane.

There are a multitude of adaptations you can make. Like I mentioned above, apple juice will thicken the sauce and also sweeten it a bit more than the orange. For an even tarter sauce you can use other citrus juices like lemon, lime or even grapefruit for a unique twist. Carole commented on Monday’s post about a recipe that calls for pomegranate juice which I bet is great. You could use brown sugar for a bit richer sweetness or local honey would be interesting. Balsamic vinegar could be interesting too.

Before cranberries are out of season again I think I’m going to have a try a few chutney recipes. Do you have any favorite cranberry chutney recipes?

1. Good times with friends and family are of course at the top of the list. Sharing stories and maybe a game or two or putting together a puzzle or watching a movie. I don’t care too much what we do. Just the getting together is nice.

2. Turkey! It is something I don’t often eat, other than ground in burgers or taco meat or as sliced deli meat, but I love a well roasted turkey and really look forward to having it.

3. Root vegetables! They may be startchy and full of carbs, but I love my root vegetables - rutabega, parsnips, potatoes, yams, onions, even beets. Especially when roasted in a light coating of olive oil, salt and perhaps some fresh herbs!

4. Squashes of all variety. It’s no secret I love pumpkin, but the other squashes all come in at a close second. We have a few new to us varieties this year thanks to the CSA. Anyone cooked with a Blue Banana Squash before? What is it best for?

5. Pie! I love that pie often plays such a traditional roll in Thanksgiving. Only problem is choosing which to have. I usually cave and go for a sliver of each :-)

6. Cranberries! It’s that love of tart fruit again (remember me and rhubarb). I could really eat them year around. So I do my best to make myself sick of them by the time New Years hits.

7. Pulling out the Swedish stars for our windows and lighting them to light the dark, long nights of winter!

8. Checking my 1.2 days worth of Christmas music in iTunes so it is included in my music rotation once again. Why yes, I do have a problem - I have 20 versions of Silent Night! Why do you ask? LOL!

9. I love putting up the rest of the Christmas decorations too. Having all the greenery and extra decor just makes the indoors seem warmer and cozier.

10. Dusting off all the holiday movies, including Hebrew Hammer (hey, we’re an equal opportunity holiday household here and enjoy attending a friends Hanukkah party too), White Christmas, Love Actually, The Holiday, Christmas in Connecticut (the old one, thank you) and many more.

This one was a bit bittersweet to write. This year neither of us really had the time to make the three hour drive to DH’s family gathering, nor did we have advance enough notice to arrange for kenneling for Emma and Brandon. Not to mention that making sure DH has enough vegetarian food for a meal when traveling that distance can be problematic. So this year, it will just be like any other day. The holiday may be the excuse I need to finally make enough time to make the Squash Risotto from The Poor Girl Gourmet’s cookbook again and perhaps I’ll venture to the grocery today and see about getting a small turkey breast for myself. Would it be overkill to make squash risotto and have pumpkin pie for dessert?

I hope you all here in the US get to enjoy everything on your lists and have a wonderful Thanksgiving on Thursday!