Frija's Hearth: July 2006

Convertible, Socks, Slings and Bread

Saturday was cold and rainy, so I finally got some bread baked. Good thing, I'm getting sooooo sick of storebought bread (I do think that the local spelt buns and Silver Hills breads are very yummy, but home-baked is always tastier and, of course, cheaper). I managed to make 2 loaves of bread, a dozen buns and a dozen . . . um, make that one humungous "toddler bun" LOL. Katja was "helping", so I cut a loaf's worth of dough into 12 sections so she could make "buns". Apparently a 2.5 yo's idea of a dozen buns is one big smooshed together mass of dough. But we baked it up anyway, and it was "da-wishhhhh-us" . . . she was so proud :)

I also managed to get 4 (that's right, FOUR!!!) ring slings made. I'm not selling them any more but I have one overdue as a baby gift and want to have the others on hand for future gifts. Plus, I might decide to start selling again, so if I can build up an inventory, that would be great. But four in one day is a new record . . . Katja was such a high needs infant and young toddler (although, believe it or not I didn't realize she was high needs at the time) that there's no way in the world I could have done that when she was younger. Now she's becoming more and more independent, and Niesha's such a laid-back easygoing baby that my ability to get things done has skyrocketed! Also, I'm starting to eat better again, so my energy is returning.

The socks are going well. I'm over 2" in already on both socks and I am absolutely loving the double fisherman's rib look.

The wrap is also coming along nicely. It's 15.5" long already unblocked! Katja's been letting me knit while I tell her stories to put her to sleep at night :) I usually stay a bit after she's asleep to get just a couple more rows done ;)

Socks update

So I frogged the 4 rows, then realized that there was really no need for me to be so literal with the pattern. BUT THEN . . . I looked at Pomatomus again and realized . . . it doesn't use K1P1 ribbing, it uses a k1tbl,p1 rib . . . arghhh. So I decided not to do it. I still want to at some point, but I'm not frogging my remaining 10 rows. So then I had to decide on a stitch pattern. DH really wants a pretty plain sock, preferably ribbed, but I really really didn't feel like K2P2 ribbing. I like the look of Fisherman's Rib (and the less monotonous nature of it), but wanted a wider rib, so I made up a cross between the Fisherman's Rib and K2P2 Ribbing.

This is my pattern for the socks:
Row 1: K2tbl,P2 across
Row 2: K2, P2tbl across

So far I've only got 4 rows of the pattern done, but I like the way it's looking.

MDC KAL Socks

I've decided to do Pomatomas from Knitty for the MDC sock knit-along. Basically because it looks like fun and the socks I already have started have 72 sts cast on. I won't be starting over, but I will have to pull out 4 rows of stitching, so that will take me some time (I currently have 14 rows of K1P1 ribbing on my needles). I'm using Paton's Kroy because it's what I have.

Crafty Endeavors

I've just started knitting convertible from the Spring '06 Knitty . It's a belated thank-you gift to my midwife, Ros, for Niesha's birth. Quite late, actually, as Niesha's going to be 6 months on Wednesday. Where does the time go?! In the time since her birth, Jeff has changed jobs and we've moved to a different city (my hometown). It's crazy . . . I almost feel like I've missed some of her babyhood! But then, with a toddler in the mix, especially one as intense as Katja, I don't suppose one ever experiences those moments of absolutely being lost in baby's eyes for hours in quite the same way after the first child.
Anyway, I got some beautiful yarn, it's Handmaiden Lady Godiva (50%silk, 50%wool). I'm not quite sure what the colorway is because I didn't get the tag after I had the lady at my LYS wind it into a ball for me . . . I think it's Origin. At any rate, I had gotten through 6 repeats of the pattern (or 3 buttonholes or 60 rows) when I realized I wasn't going to have enough yarn to make it as long as I wanted because it was very wide on size 7's with 103 sts (I have a habit of not checking guage unless an item is more tailored . . . usually it's fine, but sometimes it really backfires on me). So I frogged the whole thing and cast on 77 sts on size 9's instead. I'm only on about row 10 or so now.
I'm also planning out birthday gifts for my nieces and nephew . . . birthdays are in November, December, February and March. With my two girls both in January it makes for a busy five months! Until now, I've always ended up buying gifts, but no more. Frankly, I really love crafting, especially for kids, and I'm sure that if I give myself enough time, I'll be able to do it. I'm thinking to sew outfits for the girls (I have a HUGE stash of fabric, and I really need to start using it LOL), and probably knit a hat and scarf for my nephew - he's going to be 16 in March, so that really makes it hard to find/make gifts for him, but at least I have a bit more time for his.(originally posted to HerthElde, July 22)

Crackers at 11PM

So I finally baked the first batch of graham crackers that I intended to do last Friday. I soaked the flour in yogurt Thursday night, then refrigerated it over the weekend (once I figured out they just weren't going to get done Friday). Then today it was starting to cool off ever so slightly so I figured I might as well mix up the rest of the dough in the food processor. So I mixed it all up then stuck it back in the fridge to make it easier to roll out. Then at around 7:30, when supper cleanup was done, I rolled and cut the dough. But then the kids started to get very tired, so I covered it with a towel and transferred it to cookie sheets after they were sleeping.
Here's the recipe:

Graham Crackers
3.5 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup yogurt
1/2 cup sucanat
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Soak flour in yogurt at least 6 hours. Then add rest of ingredients (using a food processor). Roll to 1/8" thick, cut into 2" squares, and prick crackers with a fork. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes.