Fiber Fool

There are a few flavors I frequently associate with this time of year, even though I do frequently enjoy their flavors at other times too - DH’s Swedish rye, cranberries with warm spices and sweet potato. They are flavors I’ve been indulging in a fair amount lately. DH has been tweaking a Swedish Rye recipe to contain more whole grain so there have been several loaves baked in the last month or so. I’ve been really enjoying my cranberry sauce as a topping to greek yogurt, often as my 2 hours before bed snack in the evenings. For a no-fuss side to a chicken or turkey breast I’ll often bake up a sweet potato in our toaster oven. Imagine my surprise at my knitting group on Monday night to discover I could enjoy all three at once!

This week I had the privilege to host the weekly Monday night knitting with what has to be one of the most wonderful groups of knitters. The “clubhouse” aka Dee’s house was otherwise occupied this week so everyone converged at my house. Deb posted all about our great group of knitters on her blog yesterday and shared how they all took part in Nourishing Knits. I often use hosting as an excuse to try out even more new recipes on the group :-) This weekend I pickled cranberries, on Monday I made sweet potato hummus and I think DH finally nailed down his whole grain Swedish rye. Amanda discovered right away that the sweet potato hummus and the cranberries were really good together. I think the cranberries highlight the sweetness in the hummus and the richness of the hummus kind of tempered the vinegar’s tartness a tad. Having heard that, and knowing that the spices in the Swedish rye would be good with those in the cranberries I decided to slather a piece of rye with the hummus and then put the cranberries on top. Delish!

Maria of Knit & Play with Fire shared with me a pickled cranberry recipe from Serious Eats a few weeks ago and I couldn’t get the idea out of my head. With the book done and cranberries still in the stores I decided it was time to give it a go. I’m glad I did! It was also good with chevre (the soft spreadable goat cheese) on crackers of various types. I’m sure it would be great on a sandwich of leftover turkey too. If I ate pork I think heated it would make a nice sauce for a roast or chops. Sadly, pork doesn’t agree with me. Nor do I often cook a roast. That is just too much for one meat eater. DH isn’t big on pickled things so I don’t see us going through this too quickly, so I opted to can it in 4 oz jars. I definitely recommend giving the recipe a try if you like cranberries. It is a nice change from the regular sauce.

The sweet potato hummus recipe is courtesy of my sister and my dad. Amber had come across the recipe in the November issue of Women’s Health just before they came out to visit for Thanksgiving, but ended up leaving the issue at home. So, when dad and did the grocery shopping for the Thankgiving meal he said to just pick it up off the newsstand. We were so busy hiking, snowshoeing, snow tubing, riding horses, shopping and working out that we didn’t get the hummus made while they were here. But I made it Monday. It is a very interesting take on hummus and resulted in a pretty stiff spread, especially if it is fresh from the fridge. But I really liked the sweetness and the sage and am definitely wanting to go get some turkey to make the whole sandwich, perhaps with the addition of the a bit of pickled cranberry! Sounds delish!

DH’s rye bread is based off the Swedish rye or Limpa recipe in Scandinavian Feasts: Celebrating Traditions Throughout the Year by
Beatrice A. Ojakangas. It is scented with orange and studded with anise, fennel, and caraway seed. But, DH decided to start with all the whole grain he was going to use and the non-milk liquids and make a 4-6 hour sponge to get the whole grains good and hydrated. It is a remarkable light and airy loaf and oh so yummy!

Don’t miss out on Beverly of PoMo Golightly’s contest to win a copy of the Masala slipper pattern from Nourishing Knits!

Well, this Christmas is a little lower key so I’m not too stressed or worried about getting very much done. But there are things that both DH and I need to finish before Sunday morning. It’s a 100% homemade Christmas this year.

1. Labels/packaging for some of the gifts.
2. Replenish my lavender and chamomile essential oils.
3. Use #3 to finishing a few of the gifts.
4. Possibly test out a few more recipes.
5. This isn’t a have to, but an article in the latest Cook’s Illustrated has me wanting to try making chocolate truffles again.
6. Maybe, bake the lemon Swedish cookies I made a few years back. Truthfully, so many of us are watching what we eat I may not bother. Pepperkakor is certainly sufficient and that is made and in the freezer.
7. Work out! I’ve had a slow start to working out this week. I need to end the week strong so I feel like I can indulge a little over the weekend. I’m oh, so close to my year-end weight goal, but it has frustratingly sat 1.5 pounds out of reach since Thanksgiving. I think that is my new normal weight cycle though as that is how November worked, then in the last week I dropped almost 6 pounds in 2 days.
8. Watch a few more holiday movies that we haven’t gotten to yet - the old Bishop’s Wife, Hebrew Hammer and I’m pretty certain there are a few others.
9. While I’ve all but given up on having a Christmas sweater, I need to continue to move forward on it. I’ve got 2 pattern repeats down on the lower body.
10. Relax and enjoy my family and friends!

How about you?

It is finally starting to feel more like the holiday season. I don’t know if it was the batch of saffronsbullar I made up last week that flipped a switch or our increase in holiday movie watching. Whatever the cause, I’m glad the holiday spirit has hit! Due to this new holiday spirit much of my linkity will be gifting related.

Crafty:

• 12 Ways to Wrap with Kraft Paper
• Wrap Small Items with Dictionary Pages
• Woven Paper Ball Garland - probably light enough for Norfolk tree!
• DIY Natural/Herbal Gifts

Yummy:

• Double Cranberry Bread
• Apple Cider Syrup
• 8 Latke Variations
• Black Sticky Gingerbread - OMG, I have to try this given my love of gingerbread!
• Chow’s DIY [Edible] Holiday Gifts Advent Calendar
• Whip Up’s List of Edible Gifts to Give

Contests:

• Jane Austen Knits Giveaway closes Thursday, 12/22/11 at 11:59 pm MST
• Mountain Rose Herbs is giving away everything you need to make lip balms closes Monday 12/19/11 at 11:59 PST

Book Tour:

• Kathryn’s Brain 12/16
• Janet Russell at Twisted Knitter 12/17
• Deborah Robson at The Independent Stitch 12/20
• Beverly Williams at PoMo Golightly 12/21
• Mrs. Pao 12/23

This week I need to make granola, can some cranberry jam and maybe pear butter if I can find the time. That is after hosting my knitting group tonight who are going to once again be guinea pigs on a couple new recipes :-) Other than that, I think we’re ready for the holiday. How about you? What’s on your to-do list for this week?

There are two three things that make today special. It is the birthday of two wonderful women, one historical and one contemporary. It is also the kick off the Nourishing Knits blog tour! The first stop on the tour is at one of the members of my Monday night knitting group - Kathryn aka Alpacamundo. Coming up, Nourishing Knits will also be found at Twisted Knitter, Mrs. Pao, The Independent Stitch, and PoMo Golightly!

As I mentioned on Wednesday, I had the privilege of having three designs published in Interweave Press’ first special issue of Jane Austen Knits (Ravelry).

The smallest of the patterns, but probably the most challenging to write was the Pemberly Slippers. The model size was not my size so I’m kind of itching to knit myself a pair soon. I’m looking forward to it even more since I wore through my last knit slippers. Knitting new ones are more fun than darning old ones :-) I just don’t know what color I want… Hmm….

I’m not certain which sweater was more knitting. This one, the Elinor Tunic, was a larger gauge but larger surface area. I was inspired by the empire waisted dresses of the time, but shortened them to a tunic that can be worn over a long skirt for a classic look or worn over leggings or skinny jeans for a more modern flare.

Barton Cottage Shrug I think was my favorite to knit. There was something magical about carrying an entire sweater project around in a sock knitting project bag :-) All the stockinette stitch meant it was a great choice to work on while traveling too. It is another one I really, really want to knit in my size. This one fit my mom quite nicely, but I have a much more prominent chest than she so I’m not certain if this sample would ever fit me, even at my target goal weight.

I was especially honored when the editor of Jane Austen Knits, Amy Clark Moore, asked if she could borrow my sample shrug to wear to a birthday tea in Jane Austen’s honor. I was flattered and only asked that she share a couple pics.

Amy posted today at Spinning Daily about attending the tea. If you were not aware that there was a Jane Austen Knits group on Ravelry, check it out.

Now, onto the important bits - the birthdays! Today is Jane Austen’s birthday, but it is also my friend and editor, Amanda’s birthday! Both seem like a great reason to have a giveaway, don’t you think?

I knit on both the Barton Cottage Shrug and the Pemberly Slippers while I was in Minnesota this past May and grandma ooo’d and ahhh’d over them. I knew I’d want to send her a copy to peruse even though she hasn’t knit in many years. But then I heard they had sold out of the first print run and was worried I wouldn’t be able to get an extra copy. So, when Amanda was in a local store with some in stock she picked me up a copy. Then I got my package from Interweave and they sent me a copy per pattern! So, I now have two more copies of Jane Austen Knits than I need so it is time to give them away!

Since I’ve had my nose to the grindstone working on Nourishing Knits I haven’t read my own copy of JAK yet. So, to enter the giveaway, post in the comments which pattern you would cast on first (or have already cast on) to get one entry. Be sure to leave a valid e-mail address so I can contact you if you’ve won.

If you’d like more entries, you can post once per day to Twitter, just be sure to include “@fiberfool” in your tweet so I’m certain to see it and link to this post. You can also “like” the Designedly, Kristi group on Facebook for another entry, just leave a separate comment saying you have liked the page. You have until next Thursday, 12/21/2011 at midnight MST to enter. As a bonus, I’m giving away a copy of Nourishing Knits when the likes reach 150, 200, 250 and so on to a random follower there.

I’ll assign a number to each comment, and then each Twitter post in the order they are received and will use Random.org to choose two numbers. I’ll announce the two winners on Friday, 12/22/2011. Best of luck to you all!

To say that the last several months have been crazy is an understatement. Not only was I trying to wrap up Nourishing Knits, but I was frantically knitting THREE projects for Jane Austen Knits and one for PieceWork because, to be truthful, some guaranteed income was quite welcomed.

Now that Nourishing Knits is done I somehow had thought I’d have a bit of a break. This delusion lasted long enough for me to do what has become an annual thing and cast on a Christmas sweater. Why I decide I only need two weeks to knit a sweater I don’t know. Well, it was actually doable in the past, but on previous years those last two weeks leading up to Christmas were filled solely with knitting and cheesy Christmas movies on cable. This year, I’m putting in a full day of work reformatting the patterns for individual sale (they are now all available separately), updating some of the more popular older patterns to the newer format without the watermark and trying to line up promotion opportunities for Nourishing Knits.

This is what I’ve accomplished since casting on Saturday. I don’t think I stand much of a chance of wearing it for Christmas. Even though this sweater is 10″ smaller in circumference and at a bit larger gauge than past sweaters I have serious doubts. But, there is value in knitting a pattern by someone else so am I am excited to take some time to do so whether or not it results in a sweater to wear for Christmas. I always learn something new, in this case it will be my first bottom-up raglan. Working a creative job can be a bit taxing at times too and pausing to knit a design by someone else gives one time to refill the well, something that I really like to do at the end of the year so I can kick off the next year with excitement and energy. What do you do to prep yourself for the start of a new year?

If any of you are thinking the yarn looks familiar - you are indeed correct!! This is the same yarn I used for last year’s “not Christmas” sweater, Aralia. Let us hope it is not cursed! It is going to grow up to be Aidez this time. Going through the gallery of projects it appears that it looks good both with zero to even a bit of negative ease and on through lots of ease which is just what I need to knit now. While I’m still wearing my Wisteria with 10″ of ease, it will look even more ridiculous next year, so I think this year is its last season for wearing.

The yarn is Cascade’s Eco+ yarn in a gorgeous red! I am making some changes. I’m between the 40″ and 44″ size right now and still shrinking so I’m doing a 40″ back and 44″ fronts. Given my bustiness I’m certain the extra coverage in front will be appreciated throughout my sizes. I am also making the popular change to knit it seamlessly which makes for a kind of crazy chart, but I really like being able to just keep following the chart and not having to think about which chart I need to go to with each stitch marker I encounter. There has been some discussion on the sleeves being too narrow, but my measurements look pretty good for the 40″ sleeves if my gauge in the round doesn’t tighten up significantly so I’m thinking I will do the sleeves up to the join on needles one size larger to eek out just a tiny bit more ease. I figure there is some wiggle room to just block them more severely here early this winter and less so as I continue to lose weight.

Okay, I fessed up to the holiday madness I inflict on myself, do you do the same in any way?

Also, I’ll be back on Friday to celebrate Jane Austen’s birthday with a giveaway and to kick off the Nourishing Knits blog book tour, so be sure to stop back by. You don’t want to miss out!