Finished: Noro Stripey Socks.

It’s already November! The days and the weeks are just rushing by. I feel like I can take a deep breath each Saturday, then the madness of the next week starts up again and it all goes by in a big whoosh.

Amidst all this whooshing and rushing around, I did finish my socks.

Pattern: Ann Budd’s toe-up sock recipe in Interweave Knits, Summer 07

Yarn: Noro Kureyon sock, colorway 150, 100% wool

Needles: size 0 bamboo circulars

Notes and Mods: This is a basic stockinette sock, but I wound the Noro into 2 equal-ish balls, then alternated between them every 4 rows. I wish the stripes had been more distinct, which I think would have happened with a brighter colorway, but I do like how muddy and muted the colors in these socks are. Nice, wintery socks.

I also Magic-looped these, instead of using double points.

This pair of socks was so soothing to knit and made such good TV knitting that I may have to cast on for another pair immediately. I’ve been in love with these Livia socks for awhile. Hmm. Potential next project?

 

Recipe: French bread.

A friend of mine asked for the recipe I use to bake bread, and I said I would blog it ASAP, yep, right away, no problemo. And that was, like, two months ago! Eek. Sorry Jenny!

So…here’s how I make bread! hehe. I have a KitchenAid mixer, and I was never able to make bread successfully in my pre-mixer days. Frankly, I sucked at it. I ended up smearing sticky dough everywhere and my bread was always dense and awful. Then I got my robin’s egg blue Kitchen Aid as a wedding gift (sigh…reason #2 to get married, behind loving your spouse) and never looked back. Bread is, in fact, super easy! This is the recipe I use when I want a plain ol’ loaf of bread to have with a meal.

French Bread

I adapted this from a Cooking Light recipe so that it can be made with a mixer.

• 1 package dry yeast (2 & 1/4 teaspoons)
• 1 cup warm water (100 to 110 degrees F)
• 2 cups bread flour (you can use AP flour in a pinch, but bread makes a loaf that’s crusty-er and holds together better, in my opinion)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 egg

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water, and let stand 5 minutes. (You’ll start to see foamy stuff – that’s what you want).

2. Place flour and salt in the mixer, and mix a couple times until blended. Using the dough hook, slowly add the yeast and water mixture to the flour, and process until dough forms a ball. I usually process on speed 1 or 2 for this. After it makes a ball, process 2-3 more minutes.

3. Place dough in a large bowl coated with oil, so it doesn’t stick. Roll the dough ball around to coat in oil, and then cover the bowl with a flour sack-type towel (not a terry cloth one! Not that I speak from experience here.) Let the dough rise in a warm spot for 45 minutes or so. I turn my oven on low for a minute, then turn it off and let the dough rise in there.You can also pick a warm room or on top of the fridge or somewhere like that.

4. Punch dough down, and shape into a 9×8 inch rectangle on a clean countertop or on a heavy cutting board that’s been sprinkled with a little flour. Roll up dough, starting at the long end, and push out any air pockets. Pinch seam to seal. Cover dough, and let rise again in a warm spot for 30 minutes.

5. Preheat oven to 450. Uncover dough, and make 3 diagonal cuts across the top with a sharp knife. Mix together water and egg white, and brush the egg mixture on top of the loaf.

7. Bake at 450 for 20 minutes, or until loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Enjoy the delicious, delicious taste of success (and carbs).

New Project: Noro stripey socks.

Oooo, it’s been a while. All the mundane, usual excuses apply: work has been really intense, I just feel totally wiped out by the time I get home, and changing into comfy pants is about all I can manage some days. Teaching is the kind of job you have to pour yourself into to be really good at it, and that’s okay. It doesn’t leave a whole lot of me leftover though.

ANYWAY. Enough with the whinging. I’ve been slowly working my way through a new project. Socks!

These are toe-up socks, the basic recipe, out of Noro Kureyon sock. I wound the skein into 2 equal-sized balls, and have been knitting them in alternating 4-row stripes. The colorway is pretty subdued for Kureyon, so there’s not as much contrast between the stripes as I would have liked. I’m still pretty pleased so far though.

I’m about done with sock one, and going to cast on immediately for sock two. Just in time for today’s chilly temperature of 73 degrees. Have I ever mentioned how much I love the weather here?

October photos.

These are some pictures I took on a dreary October afternoon in a local garden. (There is some sock knitting going on in Dayna-land, but no project photos due to said dreariness. I ‘m not photographing any knitting until I get some real sunlight).

And look, look! A hummingbird. My husband spotted it with his superhuman vision. The little thing was nice enough to hold still while I took its picture.

Finished! Spring Beret and little mitts.

Yay! It’s October.

October is my favorite of months because it’s my birthday month, the weather here in the Southeast US is to die for, and it contains one of the greatest holidays ever: Halloween, of course. I CAN’T WAIT.

Ahem. The leaves haven’t started changing here yet, the high today was a warm 80 degrees, and it looks to be in the 80s for the next week or so. But still! Fall is approaching! Kind of. Maybe. It was chilly this morning, I swear!

And so, I must stock up on hats and fingerless mitts.

Pattern: Spring Beret by Natalie Larson (Rav link)

Yarn: Berocco Ultra Alpaca, pea soup colorway

Needles: size 7 circulars

Notes and Mods: No mods! Easily memorized lace pattern. I made the less slouchy version.

Pattern: 75 Yard Malabrigo Fingerless Mitts

Yarn: Berocco Ultra Alpaca, pea soup colorway

Needles: Ummm, I think size 6?

Notes and Mods: I made these from the teeny bit of yarn I had left over from the beret. It must have been right around 75 yards. They’re still pretty substantial little mitts, though. Quick. Very easy.

Next up in the knitting queue is a pair of socks….mmm, wool socks. Again, it will be 80 degrees outside for the foreseeable future but it’s always good to be prepared, right?

Finished! Ishbel shawl.

I’m really churning out the finished objects these days!

Pattern: Ishbel lace shawl from Whimsical Little Knits by Ysolda Teague

Yarn: Malabrigo sock yarn (aka, my favorite yarn ever, spun and dyed by the gods themselves) in Turner colorway.

Needles: size 5 circs

Notes and Mods: I knit the small stockinette portion, and the large lace portion. That used up about 90% of the skein of Malabrigo. No other mods!

Pre-blocking (for my non-knitting friends, blocking is when you soak a knitted object in water, then pin it out to dry. It makes the shape all nice and even. For lace things, it turns them from a lumpy, wrinkly blob into, well, lace!):

Ta da! Post-blocking:

I am truly loving Whimsical Little Knits; the patterns all well-written, and the finished projects are beautiful. Highly, highly recommended.

Finished! Icing Swirl Hat

Pattern: Icing Swirl Hat by Ysolda Teague

Yarn: Valley Yarns Berkshire Bulky in Stone Blue, 1 skein (85% wool, 15% alpaca)

Needles: size 10 circulars

Notes and Mods: Super fun little pattern, super cute little hat. I am really picky about hats and if they lay funny, I hate them for life. I love how this one has just the right amount of slouch, but still holds its shape.

If you look very closely, you might spot my cat in this next photo. Ha. She always, always manages to sneak in right before the shutter goes off.

What a doof.

Finished: baby blanket!

I finally finished the baby blanket I posted about way back in July. Yeah. The baby is now three weeks old. But! It’s not even cold, yet, so he can’t use it right now anyway.So, it’s fine, right? Right.

There is no way to take an artistic shot of an acrylic camo baby blanket. Believe me, I tried.

I also, way back in August, got a new book of patterns: Whimsical Little Knits by Ysolda Teague. Now she releasing patterns from the second Whimsical Little Knits collection, which has some REALLY cute patterns, and I will definitely order that one. Look at it here!

The WLK 1 pattern book came with such adorable packaging, and the first page has a “This book belongs to _____ “book plate. Cute! (I need to learn some more synonyms for “cute”) Not to mention my very American excitement at getting any package that says “Air Mail” and/or has writing in other languages.

I’ve almost finished my first project from the book, a lace shawl that I thought I was going to finish during our 6 day vacation at the beach. Har har. I did finish it in about a week, once I got home. It just needs blocking, now.

Blocked and finished photos coming soon. The Mirabella cardigan I posted about last time is also done, just needs buttons and blocking (notice a theme here?). Must finish things.

New-ish Project: Mirabella Cardigan

Most of this sweater was knit in September…2008. Eep! I started it during a beach weekend late last summer, and then stashed it in my closet during the mad rush of school starting.

It’s the Mirabella  Cardigan from Interweave Knits Spring ‘08 (rav link) , knit in Malabrigo Organic cotton. The lovely, semi-solid blue is called Turquesa. When I bought it last year, I thought it was a limited edition yarn, but it looks like it’s part of their regular catalog now. It doesn’t have the softest hand, but the color is just gorgeous. (It’s actually closer in color to the photo above…the photo below was with my old, non-white-balanced camera).

I’m thinking it will be finished pretty soon. I’ve already seamed the shoulders and sleeves. Update soon!

Hatteras vacation.

A mere 2 weeks late, here are some vacation photos. We stayed for a week in Hatteras, the southernmost village in the Outer Banks before you have to take the ferry to Ocracoke. I loved it there. The beaches were beautiful, we had fresh seafood everyday, and we had absolutely no schedule, agenda, or plans. It was lovely.

{ The view from our condo }

{ U.S. Weather Bureau Station in Hatteras Village }

{ U.S. Weather Bureau Storm Warning Tower in downtown Manteo. The tower is still used today: the flags at the top are changed, according to the day's weather. It was obviously cloudy that day! }

Since we didn’t really do much other than play on the beach, cook and eat local seafood , and sip on tropical drinks, I don’t have too many touristy recommendations for those that happen to be in the  area. We did spend an awesome afternoon in the Dancing Turtle coffee shop in Hatteras, drinking the most delicious iced dark chocolate mochas I’ve ever had, lounging in their armchairs, and reading their fun selection of books. The aforementioned seafood was all bought at Risky Business seafood, right on the docks, from a very nice lady who can recommend recipes if you need them.

{ Cape Hatteras Light }

{ Hatteras Village docks. }

{ Seafood! Local N.C. shrimp. }

I would recommend checking out Manteo for at least an afternoon, if you’re in the Outer Banks. After a morning at the NC Aquarium (they have otters!!) we had lunch at the Full Moon Cafe downtown, and I recall an especially yummy cheesy dip appetizer and a locally brewed stout from the Outer Banks Brewing Station.

{ Bonfires on the beach at night. }

Oh my goodness….I love the beach.  I wish I was still there! We spent a day in Ocracoke, which is an experience unto itself, and deserves it own post. I’ll talk about that day soon.