Amy’s hat and mittens

Looooooooove the mittens! (Even though one thumb starts a row earlier than the other one.)

The hat, not so much. I love the ribbed cable cast on, and the corrugated ribbing, and the overall shape — covers the ears without falling into the eyes. But I think the shaping would be better done with diagonal lines of decreases and increases, so that the stripes would be more concentric and less stacked. This one I shaped with short rows in the back. Do I care enough to do it over? I don’t know yet…

Made with KnitPicks Swish in Wisteria, Dublin, and Lawn — Amy’s choices.

———

I have found the pattern I want to try. Ordinarily I would enjoy the challenge of designing exactly what I want, but this one is potentially exactly what I want, or can be tweaked. I love Ravelry for showing what people do with patterns — some of the examples of this pattern are way too pointy in front and on top, but some are just right.

Curtains and pillow covers

A friend hired me to sew some things for her little boy’s room. She went with me to choose the fabric.

Mint stripe flannel curtains. The blackout lining fabric is dry clean only, so I hemmed the linings and buttoned them to the curtains.

Mint minkee (generic) pillow covers, using zippers recycled from bedding bags. These were surprisingly much easier and faster than the curtains. Partly because they are smaller, and partly because there was less figuring to do, and largely because there weren’t forty button holes and forty buttons.

Butterfly

Inspired by various bento box blogs and my friend Audrey. Amy loved it.

Rice and milk

In a bowl, combine leftover rice, whole milk, a pat of butter, cinnamon, and some maple syrup, and warm it up. Mmm.

Protected: Ballerina

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

Pumpkinina

Not bad for only a steak knife!

Protected: Ballerina

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

Adventures in saffron, #2

Last night I improvised a pork curry couscous.

Couscous

1 c dry couscous
1 c water
1-2 t butter or olive oil
1-2 t curry powder
1 c frozen veggies — I used peas and carrots

Put all ingredients, except couscous, in a covered saucepan. Bring to a boil. Add couscous, cover, and remove from heat. It will be ready in five minutes.

Pork curry

3 boneless pork chops, sliced into thin strips
1 T olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1-2 T curry powder
1/2 – 1 t rosemary
2-3 T yogurt
2-3 T milk
Pinch of saffron steeped in a little boiling water
1/3 -1/2 c beef or chicken broth

Cook the spices in the olive oil in a skillet to release the flavors. Add the strips of pork and cook through. Add other ingredients, including the prepared couscous, and heat through.

It was very tasty.

Some recent sewing

Here are pictures of some sewing I recently did for a friend’s little girl.

Added a chin strap to this witch’s hat:

Hemmed these jeans:

These pants had been hemmed last year and needed to be let down again. The original hem was serged, and was starting to fray in places. I don’t have a serger, so I replaced that hem with a lettice edge.

Next week I go to the fabric store with another friend to choose fabric for the curtains she wants me to make, complete with room-darkening lining, and two other friends want some jeans hemmed — one wants me to try the fancy folding way where the original hem is preserved.

Some recent food

Corn pudding in squash:

I left out the aniseed (didn’t have any), and the cheese.

Apple cake. Used Busy Day Cake recipe from New Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, with half the sugar. Tossed apple slices with some more sugar and cinnamon, then layered batter and slices for this cake. It took longer to bake, I guess because of the moisture content of the apples.

The start of some tomato soup. Sauteed garlic in a little butter or oil, then added the quartered tomatoes from the garden. After it’s all cooked down nicely, I put it through a fine mesh strainer to remove the peels and seeds.