mamagotcha | A few things I made

Some photos...

The cake I made this morning:

Here's the recipe, if anyone wants to give it a go themselves. I pulsed my food processor for quite a while and the almonds never got much smaller than a very coarse meal... I didn't want to start making almond butter out of them, so I gave up after a bit. But I think you'd probably have better (or rather, less chunky) results if you had a finer grind than I did. I used a 9" pan and probably should have left it in longer than an hour, although the skewer came out clean. The center is definitely moister than I'd like, though it's not runny or anything. Deeelicious!

A hat for Cordell:

This is a watch cap that my mom started for Cordell in January. She only got about 10 or 20 rows into the ribbing before she set it aside, and never picked it up again. I found it when I was going through her stuff after she died in June, and finished it up. It got harder toward the end... but one day I just sat down and thought about how she wanted Cordell to have a new hat made of this pretty yarn, and the last few rows flew off the needles. Hopefully I'll have a pic of Cord wearing it soon...

Ultra booties!

mh75 told me she'd already gotten these, so I'm not spoiling anything by letting you see 'em now. Made with Alchemy Synchronicity, a 50/50 mohair/silk blend. I love knitting with this yarn!

My lil' guy:

I'm not the only crafty beast around here! He's painting some Christmas ornaments, paying no attention whatsoever to the lines on them.

What have YOU been making?

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The booties are wonderful. Thank you! I love that they will be so bright and cheery for this winter.

Nice pic of Lincoln.

and really, you made linc, too.

that cake looks YUM.

Hee! That's exactly why I included him in the list! And nice to seeya back on LJ again!

OMG that cakes looks fabulous! Can't wait to see the booties on Ultra when it's born. And Linc is, of course, adorable.

I've been making celtic cable neckwarmers recently (one for my maternal aunt and one for each of my cousins). I love the pattern but I'm getting really sick of knitting it. Before that (or in the middle rather) I knit a lovely sqooshy hat for my dad out of bulky alpaca. I reversed the rib for the folded part so when it was folded it would match the rest of the hat. I knitted the Elizabeth Zimmermann baby sweater for my upcoming little one and just need to put on the buttons. I made a moebius cowl for myself out of Cat Bordhi's 2nd Treasury of Magical Knitting. Then I went on to make a kid's sling bag as a present for a friend's kid and then a moebius basket for Matthew. Now I just need to felt the last two but ran out of steam trying to hand felt them. I have a front loading washer now so I can't just throw felting items in the wash like I used to. Although I'm considering trying it anyway, maybe with some tennis shoes. I apparently have neither the arm strength nor the patience for hand felting. I'm hoping to start on a quartet of knitted Christmas stockings soon.

On a completely different note I made brunch for my dad's birthday last weekend. We had eggs benedict, hash browns, frittata, bacon, fruit and a lovely flourless chocolate torte. I was very happy with the eggs benedict recipe. I'll need to work on my egg poaching skills though. ;)

Oooh, yum. I'd be nervous about doing more than three or four poached eggs at a time... you're a brave woman. Sounds like it was a great meal!

And you've been a knittin' fiend, woman. Are you on Ravelry? Anywhere we can see these?

I did all my felting in a front loader, with a couple of towels. Worked great.

Heidi has really blossomed as a knitter. She is doing complex patterns, and they come out beautifully. As you can tell, her productivity is also pretty high. You'll have to check it out next time you are here.

Thanks! I feel like I knit so slowly. I think the people I compare myself to are just a lot faster than me. Or they have more free time or something.

I found a method for poaching a bunch of eggs at once in the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. Break 8 eggs into 4 teacups. Boil water (with a little vinegar and salt) in a deep pan. Reduce to simmer. Holding handles of teacups gently tilt eggs into simmering water (that was where I had trouble - I only had straight-sided coffee cups and they went into the water a little too aggressively), cover and remove from heat. Cook for a few minutes. I will try it again sometime. I do like poached eggs!

I have been a knitting fiend. Megan says I'm obssessed. ;) Aren't we friended on Ravelry? I'm prlgrl. I only have pics up of the neckwarmer that I did for me. And only pre and during blocking of those. I will put more up soon, I promise!

Good to know about the front loader. I will certainly be trying that.

Ah, yes, I think ATK and Cooks Illustrated are affiliated... that's where I got a similar poaching description. I use the little cooking ramekins... we don't even own a teacup! You inspired me to poach my eggs this morning, in fact.

You're right, we ARE friended on Ravelry. I'm a dope! I should have looked first. And yes, please do post more pics! I love seeing what other folks are up to!

ATK and Cooks Illustrated are both Christopher Kimball things, so yes, they're more than affiliated. In fact, Cooks magazine now says something about "America's Test Kitchen" on the covers now. (Er, or did, the last time I saw one. We let our subscription go awhile ago but I still see it in the supermarket.)

I like Cooks a lot. Christopher Kimball gets right up my nose, however. The day I remembered to NOT read the editorial in the magazine was a happy day for me.

Hmm, what am I making/have I made?

Today, I'm just rolling into balls the yarn I've been hand-dyeing, so I can start the cardigan today or tomorrow. The yarn came out pretty - sort of sunset colors, muted rose with some purple and some orange - but the three balls are enough different that I'm going to have to knit the sweater with alternating yarns, whatta pain. Just ordered some big buttons for it off eBay.

I'm also combining six or seven ends of worsted to make myself a quickie watchcap, which I'll finish up tonight. My ears are cold ;)

Did a good batch of bread this week - started with the Joy of Cooking sourdough recipe and riffed on it a bit, adding some wheat germ for flavor and some powdered buttermilk for tenderness. It was nice enough that I've written down the amendments in the cookbook for future use.

I'm assembling two Morgan caps -- http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall08/PATTmorgan.html -- as Christmas gifts, and in the middle of blocking another pair of Malabrigo slippers -- http://www.cocoknits.com/knit/garments/accessories/loafers.html -- also for Christmas.

Fruitcakes are macerating in the garage and need to have more brandy added pronto. Just ordered materials to make this bracelet -- http://www.cocoknits.com/knit/garments/accessories/wirecuff.html . If it comes out well I might make another one; there's someone else on my list that would like it.

Can you tell that this is the handmade-Christmas-gifts season??

I love that cap and those slippers! How are the caps turning out? Do they really look like the knitty pictures?

Wow, love those hats! And I think walking around in a bunch of felted Malabrigio sounds delightful.

You been busy, lady!

Trouble.

Lol. ;)

Love you. Mean it.

i'm not allowed to put anything that i've made recently in the public eye. But its not beautiful anyway. Soon, hopefully.

This can be interpreted so many different ways. ;)

Hat, scarf, hat, scarf, hat, scarf, scarf, scarf. And I've dyed some yarn. And the jello-salad for our thanksgiving-dinner-a-day-late, yesterday.

It's time to get back to the knitting......

A few things I made

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