Just for fun

Here's a look at some more of my finished projects from around the holidays.

These are potholders sized for kids that I made using my usual potholder pattern, but less of it and double crochets instead of singles. I made them with some TLC Essentials I had kicking around in the stash, color "Oasis". These were for the kids of the Whoscarf friends. Ravelry page here.



A friend of my husband's got married this year, and as favors at their wedding reception they gave out bottles of wine. I used the cork from the bottle to make a Korknisse, which we named Corky, for their Christmas tree.

English pattern here. Ravelry page here.



This was a quick, scrappy project that I think came out looking great. It's another free pattern called Weaved Hotpad, available as a Ravelry download. Ravelry page here.



I made a few Spiral Scrubbies as gifts as well. This one was my favorite, though. They work up very quickly and I could keep the yarn and crochet hook right in my purse while running around in the month of December. Doctor's office, grocery store, post office .... wherever I was, there was almost guaranteed to be a scrubbie with me too. Ravelry page here.



I also made a couple of these cool Garterlac Dishcloths. Ravelry page here. If you've never tried entrelac knitting, this was a fun, easy, and best of all small introduction!



I highly recommend the entrelac cast-on if you are going to try this. I thought a loose long tail cast-on would be okay, but the edge just wouldn't stretch quite far enough. The entrelac cast-on is a little fiddly only because you use a crochet hook and a knitting needle. I think it's totally worth it!

Sweet Slippers

Back in December I dug up some complementary stash yarn and whipped these up in a couple days. Doubled worsted-weight yarn on size 9 needles knits up quick and cushy!



These are from the pattern Aunt Maggie's Slippers, which is available for free. It's written for a few sizes and, once you get the hang of it, is easily adjustable. The finished slippers are nice and stretchy. I made mine with one strand each of variegated and solid acrylic yarn. The pattern only has two short seams to sew once you're done with the body of the slipper.



Spike couldn't resist them. Whenever he spotted them before they were wrapped, he would announce "Shoes!!" and put them on even though they were enormous on his toddler feet. Once they were wrapped, they were unwrapped and rewrapped numerous times before they were unwrapped a final time by my sister, who actually got to keep them.

I know I'll keep these in mind when I need a quick gift. My only reservation is that they are a little slick on the bottom on our wood floors, so that will definitely go into consideration of who gets their own pair.

Ravelry project page

Chili Cook-Off: Week 1

Some online friends are having a virtual chili cook-off in which we all make the same chili dish during a particular week and at the end of January we can declare a winner. There are four recipes for four weeks, and we're in week 1. I'll post the recipe, my modifications, approximate cost and what we thought of each chili. So, here goes!

Week 1 Recipe:

Caribbean Turkey and Sweet Potato Chili

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 1/4 lb ground turkey
1 tsp bottled minced garlic
1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (15 oz) whole sweet potatoes rinsed, drained and diced
1 can (14.5 oz) petite diced tomatoes
1 can (14.5 oz) chicken broth/stock
1 cup mango nectar (Kerns or Goya brand)
1 packet MILD chili seasoning mix (McCormick)
1/2 tsp ground allspice
chopped fresh cilantro (optional, I never use this)

Heat oil in skillet. Add turkey and garlic, stir until brown. Add broth, beans, potatoes, tomatoes, seasoning packet, nectar, and allspice. Bring to boil, reduce heat, simmer for 10 minutes. Serve into bowls, top with fresh cilantro, if desired. Makes 4 servings.

Modifications: I used fresh garlic, two cups of black beans prepared from dry beans, and two small fresh sweet potatos

Cost:
ground turkey = $2.81
black beans = $0.50
sweet potato = $1.00 @ $0.88/lb
petite diced tomatoes = $0.79
(organic) chicken broth = $1.00
mango nectar = $1.49
McCormick Mild Chili Seasoning = $1.49

Olive oil, garlic, and allspice are on hand.

Total = $9.08
4 Servings
$2.27 per serving

Verdict:
We LOVED it. I let it simmer a little longer than indicated in the recipe, maybe 20 minutes. I don't even like tomatoes and I ate them. I ate everything in my bowl and went back for more. It's got a slightly sweet flavor, but certainly not overbearingly so. My husband suggested adding a mild curry paste next time; I think it would be great with a smokier flavor like from chipotle peppers. It was very good as I made it too.

In the future, I will skip the spice packet and season it myself. I don't have any complaints, but I'll never remember to buy the packet and I have all the spices around already. The mango nectar comes in a 12oz can and the recipe only calls for 1 cup, so I will probably freeze the extra 4 oz of mango nectar to combine with the leftovers from the next time I make this for a 3rd round of chili out of two cans.

Yum. What a surprise!

It's done.

Eleven inches wide.



Eleven feet long.





One hundred and sixteen ends carefully hidden with an embroidery needle.



Over the 265 days of knitting, I kept a spreadsheet with how many rows were knit on each day. Yes, I really did!







I made this for a friend to give her husband for their wedding anniversary. She says he loves it!

Details here and here.

Light

A couple weeks ago I entered a contest over at The Periwinkle Sheep blog. I didn't win, but I was a runner-up and the prize turned out to be a skein of Karin's hand dyed yarn. I picked it up on a lovely day for a trip to the yarn store and marveled at the colors. Karin probably doesn't know that orange is one of my favorite colors (yes, I know that is weird!) or that I've been keeping an eye on her yarns for a while, waiting for one of them to speak to me (um, metaphorically anyway). This colorway, a special edition, was utterly, completely perfect in every way, except for one thing:



I find it impossible to photograph well.

I've tried natural light. I've tried various configurations of the flash on the camera and the extra flash I have.



The opportunity to photograph yarn in my house is generally short lived, between the shorter days, the energetic two-year-old, the newly mobile six-month-old, the cats, the cats' hair, the vacuuming, the toys, the teething... but what I really need is another brilliant sunny day and to figure out how to capture the glow. I'm still looking for just the right pattern. It has to be good.

Thank you, Karin! In case you can't tell, I love it! :)

Whoscarf, revisited

I finished the knitting on the Whoscarf on November 10. All I have to do is hide the ends, do a little light blocking, and add the fringe.



All those color changes leave two ends to hide, plus the cast on and bind off, plus there were some occasions when I needed to change balls of yarn of the same color... and this means that I have quite a bit of time to spend with my darning needle.



I've kind of hit a stride, though, and it's going quite well. I'm almost done, which means I have to start thinking about just how to photograph it and just how much insurance to get on the package when I mail it.

Notes of late

If you stop by and scroll down on this page, you'll see in the column on the right a little section with my current works in progress (WIPs) that changes pretty frequently as I work on things. A couple projects flew through so quickly lately that I forgot to even mention them here, so I'm going to give a quick rundown of the parade of finished objects.

A couple of crocheted potholders:



A chapstick holder made from these detailed directions:




A washable cotton Swiffer cover from this pattern:




Some crochet socks for Zee out of a sport weight superwash electric orange yarn that matches NOTHING but itself:




An Irish Hiking Hat for my friend Jenn:




Crochet holiday wreaths made on milk jug rings:




The Wave Hat for Spike:



This was my second colorwork hat out of Suri Merino and I really enjoy working with the yarn and the snuggly finished products!