In The Middle Of It

I have been working on a large yarn order, which will keep me busy for a little while longer. That is the reason why my etsy store has not been updated lately. I should be able to fit in a small custom order here and there, so please let me know, if there is something  you would like.

I have also managed to knit not one but two Pumpkin Hats. I started the first hat in the car while waiting for my daughter’s dance lesson to end. I had packed everything I needed, except a measuring tape. I knit the hat anyway and it turned out too small. I decided not to frog it, because I am determined to find a baby/toddler who needs a Pumpkin hat!

I have made a second one, which is on its way to my niece and I hope, it will fit her!

The pattern is my own and I used a cotton/acrylic blend from my stash. My niece might be allergic to wool, so I could not use my hand dyed yarn.

For the decreases I used k2tog mirrored with ssk (first hat) and skp (second hat). The cotton/acrylic blend does not like either ssk nor skp. Neither look as smooth as the k2togs. I have read somewhere (I think, it was on Grumperina’s blog), the best pairing of a k2tog is a p2tog on the back of the fabric, but when a hat is knit in the round, you are out of luck.

In the end I can only hope, that my niece does not mind…. 

Spreading The Love – A Recipe

This is the recipe for my Grandma’s Lattwerk. It will yield about 4 pints.

The night before mix 5 pounds of pitted Italian plums with 1 pound of sugar. Add 1 cinnamon stick and 1 or 2 star anise in a little muslin bag. Let sit overnight.

In the morning stir the plums, bring them slowly to a simmer and do not stir. (My Grandma always claimed, that the preserve would burn, if you stir it. Do you want to risk it?)

Once it simmers I turn the stove on low and let it bubble gently for 6 to 8 hours.

Now the tricky part: According to Grandma the preserve is done, when there is a skin on the surface. Honestly I am not sure what she meant by that. You will find the preserve reduced to about half. There will be many “flat” plums on the surface and the liquid will be thickened.

Take a leap of faith, stir the preserve and fish out the spices. Ladle into jars and process for 10 minutes.

The Many Faces of Homesickness

When I left Germany in 1999 and moved into the middle of the Silicone Valley in California I was immensely homesick. Never in my life had I felt so alone before. My  phone bill was at one point larger than my grocery bill, because I had not understood, that one needed to call the phone company to get a better rate.

Things have changed a lot since then and I feel very much at home now here, where I always meet people I know, when I leave the house. One thing though will never change and it was quite unexpected, when I left Germany: I yearn for German food. Luckily there are many Germans here, which results in quite a few stores, bakeries and Delis that cater to these cravings. But still…

I had no idea how much food is tied to emotions and memories. It should not have been so surprising, considering that every get-together is usually centred around food.

I still remember when my husband cooked white asparagus with sauce Hollandaise for all our guests on my birthday. I remember the awe inspiring large number of cakes that everybody had brought to celebrate my Grandparents 50th wedding anniversary.

My mistake was, that I thought, I could replace that special white Bratwurst with Sushi, or Pretzels with Bagels. But no…

One of the many things, that are so special to me is a Plum Preserve, that my Grandma made every year. She calls it “Lattwerk” a term that I have not heard outside her family. It has very little sugar, some spices and needs to cook for 6 to 8 hours and must never be stirred during that time. Every year I would ask my Grandma for a few glasses of it. One year I noticed, that she had not been able to close some of the jars properly and I knew then, she was getting old.

I have made it every year since and it is such a cozy feeling when the smells waft through the house. And guess what, it is my daughter P.’s favourite!

Busy

I am still here, but I am very busy. I have quite a few custom orders, plus I am doing the single Mom thing this week and I am not very good at it. The Tooth Fairy did not come last night, but I really hope, she will make up for it tonight.

Besides dyeing yarn and trying to be a good Mom, I have made Plum Preserve and Bread and Butter pickles. I have also knitted a few rows on the Endless Wrap and started the cables on P.’s sweater. Unfortunately cabling with cotton yarn hurts my hands.

I have  started a new sock with a lot of colourwork and I hope, I can show it to you one day. Right now there is only about 1 inch of pattern and I doubt, that even with a big imagination you can guess, what it is supposed to be (maybe it will never be apparent).

I had this moment the other morning, when,using the time in the shower  to think about my plans for the day, I suddenly realized, that I had no idea, if I had washed my hair or not! Maybe that is why the Buddhists teach you to “stay in the moment” . You might get more done in the end! 

Update On My Sock-In-Progress Holder

I have noticed, that there is a large interest in my Sock-In-Progress holder. Sadly I do not have any in stock right now. I have been very busy dyeing yarn lately.

However there are two options:

• You can contact me and let me know, what you would like ( colour and size) and I will get to it within a couple of days or
• I can add you to my mailing list and I will notify you as soon as I have some in stock ( Just write “Sock-In-Progress Holder in the subject line)

My e-mail address is sunnyside(dot)ellen(at)yahoo(dot)com

Thank you! 

How Many?

 How many mindless blue knitting project does one need? This one apparently needs two! I have started the Denim Family Tunic by Debbie Bliss from Weekend Knitting for my oldest daughter.

I have been quite curious about denim yarns especially since reading so much about it at Mason-Dixon Knitting. I ordered mine (Den-m-nit)  from elann.

I won’t change much in the pattern, except that I want it not quite so over sized. ( Debbie Bliss’ sweaters for children are often very wide.) Usually I pick a pattern, chose a different yarn and change so much, that my children can’t see the similarities in the end. This time I wanted for P. to get a sweater that looks more or less like the one in the picture. ( This strategy should help prevent disappointment on both sides.)

So this is where my little problem comes in. The pattern consists of endless rows of moss stitch plus a few cables. Can you say boring? I have been tempted to “spice things up”, but you know my limitations.

I am almost at the cable part in the back and have already started to worry  if I have enough yarn…. 

Birthday Party Turns Tragic

knews - A Junior Ranger themed Birthday party for a 7 year old girl started out with everybody having a great time, when suddenly something went terribly wrong. The party ended abruptly when a Mother of 3 had to be carried out on a stretcher. Witnesses could hear her repeating the following words over and over:”But I have made him with my own hands!” while recognizing nobody.

The birthday girl explained, what had happened:”My Mom had knitted me this owl called Otto. I showed it to my friends when some boys grabbed it and started throwing it around like a football. My Mom just lost it then.” “I only wanted to have some fun!”explained a blond boy with big blue eyes.

The husband commented, that the party preparations and all that knitting well into the wee hours must have put his wife over the edge. A fellow knitter had this to say:”If somebody mishandled my knitting like that, there is no telling, what I might do!”

The medical experts are hopeful, that a few days of rest will put this mother back on her feet.     

The Endless Wrap

It was a last minute decision, when I grabbed the yarn, pattern and needles for this project to take with me on my vacation. The yarn is the Briggs & Little Anniversary Twist and I got 2 skeins of it it for almost free, when I bought the yarn for the red vest. It is a bit scratchy and I did not want to make anything next-to-skin with it. Then I remembered the Twisty Turns wrap by Nora Gaughan.

It was in the car when I really read the instructions for the first time. Honestly, I could not believe my eyes. The pattern basically tells you to make a 2,60m ( over 8 feet) long ribbed scarf. When you are done knitting, you twist the ends around each other and seam the two scarves together lengthwise. ( I am still in denial about this part.)

I knew right away that I did not have enough yarn, but I started anyway. Now I am halfway done and I must say, that I can see the benefits to a mindless pattern like this. You can knit this, even if you are half asleep. It has become so long now, that I have rolled it up and put a large stitch holder/safety pin in it to make it easier to work with.

But wait, there are more good news: I did get  more skeins of the yarn at my LYS and I read on ravelry that I might be OK, knitting a somewhat shorter scarf. In the end it will depend on how stretchy my yarn is. I will probably drape it around my dressmaker’s doll and take an educated guess as to when I can stop.

At this point I hope, I will someday be able to wear something, that looks somewhat intriguing and keep me warm. 

 I might end up being surly disappointed, though. First of all I am not built like the model wearing it and maybe even worse, my yarn is a sturdy wool and not a soft, drapey alpaca/wool blend.

Well, maybe I love knitting just for the fun of it and not for getting something wearable in the end…