Showing posts with label Latvian Braid. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Latvian Braid. Show all posts

Monday, February 10, 2025

Plodding Along

Well, I got through the charts for this week's clue for the Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery Knit Along, and the next clue doesn't come until Wednesday. We're in outer space, and the aliens have emerged from their flying saucers.


The next step was the Latvian braid. I've done this before, but it has been a while. I did watch the video demo before I started on it, though.



I've gone back to the Sunday Morning Wrap. It's coming along nicely, a little at a time.



I made two batches of granola this week. There's a story. The granola takes a hour in the oven at 300ºF, but you have to stir it every 20 minutes. I set the timer for 20, stirred it, set the timer for 20, stirred it, and then was interrupted after I put it in the oven again, and I forgot to set the timer. When I realized it had been more than 20 minutes, I went to get it out, and it was overdone. Not burned, but overdone. We decided it was edible, but not the best. Charlie suggested making another batch and then mixing them together, so I did. The second batch was just barely done. It tasted fine, and now we have a LOT of granola!



On Sunday, I made some cookies, but I used the convection/microwave oven, which is smaller. Since I was using my small baking sheet, which fits nicely but can't turn on the turntable, I had to rotate the pan 90º halfway though. Between the granola and the cookies, we're going through a lot of olive oil, honey and oats.




I need to get busy making the binding for the T-shirt quilt, because it should be done soon. 


We got some snow during the past few days. And then we got more. The next day, rinse and repeat.


It gave us a good opportunity to get out in the woods and let the pups have a run.


They really love to run loose in the woods, so we did it again the next day.


We've taken this route every day through Sunday. When we get out of the woods and close to the trail, the pups get leashed up. The snow is starting to disappear in some spots, so we may not be able to walk in the woods too much longer, because it will be getting muddy.


Here's our route. It's only about half a mile, but sloshing through the snow is a workout.




Meanwhile, when we're not walking, Dusty is training Sandy in the security detail...um...details. He's showing Sandy how you watch for someone to come walking by on the sidewalk, and then you bark like crazy. Another intruder you need to watch for is cats. Those sneaky things walk right up on the lawn. So do the deer, and then you really have to start screaming, because sometime Mum likes to get her phone and take photos of them. 



Soren's been getting a workout playing basketball. Alexa got this great photo.



Johan came in second at a wrestling tournament.



I have a lot of difficulty responding to comments to my blog posts because of technical issues beyond my control (my lack of understanding of how things work). Message me on Facebook, Ravelry or Spoutible if you need information.


If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for More Classic Tales Retold or Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart". Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of any of our books, including Emil, Mariah, Classic Tales Retold, Our Favorite Verses or More Classic Tales Retold, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Still working on the Sunday Morning Wrap and the Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery Knit Along.

What's on my iPhone: Still listening to How We learn To Be Brave by Mariann Edgar Budde, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, DC on the AudiobooksNow app.

What's on my sewing machine: Binding for the T-shirt quilt and clothes for Olivia.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: In this week's story Jolena wonders how she can figure out what's the right thing to do in What It Means To Be Good. She goes to Veronika for help.


What's my tip of the week: You don't need sugar and butter to make cookies. This is Jolena's recipe for Good Cookies.



Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes. 


The stories in More Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Welcoming a Stranger, The Rescue, Unmasked, Fuzzy Town––A Play and Sky Blue.

Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook. Poems included are Valentine's Day, Keeping Pets, Back to School, Victor the Vulture, The Week Before Christmas, Insomnia and Veronika's Vocabulary Verses.

The stories in Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

The stories in Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The stories in Mariah are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less, because the publisher gets a cut. 

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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Monday, March 1, 2021

Another Mystery Knit-along in the History Books

The Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery Knit-along is off the needles, and blocked.



The brioche was easier, once I got used to it. The bind-off is Latvian Braid, which was another new thing to learn. Here's a video showing how it's done.



Worked in the round is fairly easy, but this is a very long, flat edge treatment. What happens is, the two balls/colors of working yarn gradually get twisted around each other. You just do the best you can to keep it from tangling. I moved the yarn supply to the other end of the dining room table while I worked, and eventually to a chair. I moved the twist down the yarn every once in a while, and eventually I put a jar of olives between the two colors to keep the twist away from where I was working. As the next row is worked, the yarn untwists. There's more to it than that, but this is what's important in deciding to use this technique. I used the stretchy bind-off recommended in the pattern.



When it was dry, I got this photo in the mirror, so it's backwards, of course. I won't be wearing it to the shops, because the Rose City Yarn Crawl is completely online this year. 



We've had the usual walks with the dogs and cooking, including my favorite quiche recipe (see below), which, for some reason decided to act like a soufflé this time. It collapsed into its shell after I took it out of the oven.



I finally decided I was tired of working out the gauge/tension needed to convert the larger Happy Kidz knitting patterns to Little Kidz (like Pippa), so I worked out this chart:



I cast on a sweater for Pippa. This is another pattern designed for the larger Happy Kidz. I used the formula above and selected 2.5mm needles and fingering weight yarn, Palette in "Lipstick."




Theoretically, you can use the same yarn as called for in the original pattern, but when you tighten up the stitches, you could end up with a knitted fabric that's really stiff. I really like the thinner fingering weight better for dolls anyway.




Just the sleeves to go and sew on the buttons. Then she needs something on the bottom half, pants or a skirt.

What's on my needles:
 The Crocus sweater for Pippa.

What's on my sewing machine: Still waiting....

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. A little more progress this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Pippa learns about vaccinations in "Getting Shots." 




What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still The Black Madonna by Stella Reilly and Love Is the Way by Bishop Michael Curry. The first is a very long novel. The second has been taken up by the Adult Forum at my church, and we're discussing it on Sunday mornings.

What's in my wine glass: FleurDuCap 2008 Pinotage, which we bought in Temple, Texas, when we were there for our daughter's wedding in 2010. I thought it was still really good, in spite of being submitted to temperature changes and a move from Utah to Oregon.

What's my tip of the week: My recipe for quiche reduces the need for eggs and increases the plant-based protein by using silken tofu.

Tofu Quiche

Ingredients

• 2 sliced green onions (optional)
• 4 strips of faux bacon, cooked (optional)
• 1 single pie crust (homemade or frozen premade)
• 1 C grated Swiss or other cheese
• 1 box silken tofu
• 3 eggs
• 1 C milk
• 1 T flour or psyllium husks
• ⅛  t pepper
• ½  t salt
• ½ t nutmeg (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 325°
Line pie crust with green onion, cheese and faux bacon. Mix remaining ingredients in blender. 
Pour into pie crust and bake for 60 minutes or until a toothpick or knife inserted into center comes out clean.  

Where's my book: Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook is available from Amazon worldwide. Also available from BookBaby and other booksellers. Royalties go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment at St. Jude. The three stories in the book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with few changes. The stories (and links to them) are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.