Sunday, March 25, 2012
There's More to Lemons
than lemonade.
Someone gifted us a couple of 1 lb bags of roasted no salt pistachios. And our lemon tree runneth over. We have been making lemonade like crazy. I made lemon bars a couple of weeks ago. But what to do with the pistachios? Found a recipe for Lemon Pistachio Biscotti and decided that was the thing to do. Never mind that I had never made biscotti before. Nor is there a drop of Italian blood running thru the old veins.
Spent an afternoon shelling the pistachios. The ones that hadn't cracked were a bit of a challenge! A regular nutcracker is a wee large for such a tiny nut. But--it got done.
Yesterday, I got all my ingredients and recipe ready. Zested my lemons, measured my ingredients and got started.
Baking biscotti is a 3 part process. First you make the little loaves, put them on cookie sheets and bake. Then you let them cool. Next you slice them on the diagonal. Back on the cookie sheets, back in the oven. After a few minutes, you turn them over and back in the oven they go for the last round.
In all my wisdom, I decided they needed to be dipped in chocolate, so I melted a couple of candy bars, added a little milk to thin it out and then dipped each cookie in the chocolate. Part in milk and part in dark chocolate. Yummy! Here they are drying on the cooling rack.
The flavor is to die for! But I think I needed to bake just a little longer as they are not as crisp as they should be. But, I'll eat them anyway!
Someone gifted us a couple of 1 lb bags of roasted no salt pistachios. And our lemon tree runneth over. We have been making lemonade like crazy. I made lemon bars a couple of weeks ago. But what to do with the pistachios? Found a recipe for Lemon Pistachio Biscotti and decided that was the thing to do. Never mind that I had never made biscotti before. Nor is there a drop of Italian blood running thru the old veins.
Yesterday, I got all my ingredients and recipe ready. Zested my lemons, measured my ingredients and got started.
Baking biscotti is a 3 part process. First you make the little loaves, put them on cookie sheets and bake. Then you let them cool. Next you slice them on the diagonal. Back on the cookie sheets, back in the oven. After a few minutes, you turn them over and back in the oven they go for the last round.
In all my wisdom, I decided they needed to be dipped in chocolate, so I melted a couple of candy bars, added a little milk to thin it out and then dipped each cookie in the chocolate. Part in milk and part in dark chocolate. Yummy! Here they are drying on the cooling rack.
The flavor is to die for! But I think I needed to bake just a little longer as they are not as crisp as they should be. But, I'll eat them anyway!
It's Spring
and things are starting to bloom in our yard. Here are few photos for your enjoyment (and mine!)
We Live in the City!
Friday, March 16, 2012
Two Steps forward-One Step back
Progress on the Nutcracker afghan is slooooow-I'm only on row 68 and I'm not happy with it. Think I'll frog back to about row 20 and start again. Most of the yarns are RH SS except for the dark grey which is Simply Soft. It is not working well with the other yarns. I'm pretty sure I don't have any grey in my stash, but I can use black so will go to the garage and see what's out there. Black is getting harder for me to work with, but there are no large areas of black so I should be able to use it instead of dark grey.
The other problem I'm having is the only yarn bobbins I could find are fairly small. I was sure I had some large bobbins, this isn't the first graphghan I've done. Must search the craft supplies in the garage for yarn bobbins also. And, if I can't find any larger bobbins, I may just have to try and make some out of cardboard! More than one way to skin a cat, as the old saying goes.
On the plus side, the weather has been cool and rainy, so great crocheting weather.
Since this ghan is strictly for me, and there are no small children around, I'm using fun fur for the hair and beard. I'm thinking of using real buttons instead of crocheting them into the pattern. We'll see how I feel about that when I get a little closer to where the buttons go.
The other problem I'm having is the only yarn bobbins I could find are fairly small. I was sure I had some large bobbins, this isn't the first graphghan I've done. Must search the craft supplies in the garage for yarn bobbins also. And, if I can't find any larger bobbins, I may just have to try and make some out of cardboard! More than one way to skin a cat, as the old saying goes.
On the plus side, the weather has been cool and rainy, so great crocheting weather.
Since this ghan is strictly for me, and there are no small children around, I'm using fun fur for the hair and beard. I'm thinking of using real buttons instead of crocheting them into the pattern. We'll see how I feel about that when I get a little closer to where the buttons go.
Friday, March 09, 2012
Nutcracker Afghan
Finally, after a couple of years, I started my Nutcracker graphghan. It is still cool enough to work on a large afghan, but I'm guessing this cool weather isn't going to last much longer.
Weather is the main reason it has taken so long to get to this project. There is always something to crochet: a gift, charity project, the occasional commission. So, every time I have thought I would start this ghan, the weather got too hot for me to work on it.
I got it from Chella's Crochet on Ebay a while back. I looked at her site today and didn't see the Nutcracker, (copyright was 2008) but she sure has a lot of great graphs. If you buy 2 patterns, you get a 3rd one free. Can't beat that kind of deal! In fact, while I was looking around, I saw 2 others that I had bought at the same time. I guess I need to get those in project bags and put in my bin for future works.
I can't show you a picture of the afghan, but it is 150 stitches by 200 rows. I'm currently on row 52. Still have a ways to go. Right now, I'm only carrying 3 skeins of yarn, so last night I was really ticking those rows off. Until--my hands, both of them, decided to cramp big time. Had to put it down for the rest of the evening.
That was probably from shelling pistachios open earlier.
Weather is the main reason it has taken so long to get to this project. There is always something to crochet: a gift, charity project, the occasional commission. So, every time I have thought I would start this ghan, the weather got too hot for me to work on it.
I got it from Chella's Crochet on Ebay a while back. I looked at her site today and didn't see the Nutcracker, (copyright was 2008) but she sure has a lot of great graphs. If you buy 2 patterns, you get a 3rd one free. Can't beat that kind of deal! In fact, while I was looking around, I saw 2 others that I had bought at the same time. I guess I need to get those in project bags and put in my bin for future works.
I can't show you a picture of the afghan, but it is 150 stitches by 200 rows. I'm currently on row 52. Still have a ways to go. Right now, I'm only carrying 3 skeins of yarn, so last night I was really ticking those rows off. Until--my hands, both of them, decided to cramp big time. Had to put it down for the rest of the evening.
That was probably from shelling pistachios open earlier.
Tuesday, March 06, 2012
Crochet Projects to Go
It seems one of the biggest problems fiber artists have is getting and staying organized. I have, over the years, probably spent as much time organizing yarn, hooks, books, patterns, as I have actually crocheting.
We all have stacks of patterns and tubs of yarn that will become WIPs at some point in the future. But then, you use part of the yarn for something or other and when you are ready to start the project, there is not enough of the yarn to do it. So, either off to the store to buy more, if you can get it, or laid aside for another time.
OR--the pattern is just out of reach, can't be found no matter where you look. Not in the saved files on the computer, can't find it in the 3 ring binders of patterns saved over the years, not even in the piles of patterns waiting to be put in binders Where is that thing?
I have finally come up with a method that works for me!
When I get a pattern that I really want to do, I go through my stash and pull out the yarn. I then put them together in a zip bag of some sort. The bag goes in a big tub. When I need a project, I go to the tub, pull out what I want to do and it is all right there! Pattern, and yarn.
I use this method even if I don't have everything I need. I can then add the rest of the yarn when I pick it up.
We all have stacks of patterns and tubs of yarn that will become WIPs at some point in the future. But then, you use part of the yarn for something or other and when you are ready to start the project, there is not enough of the yarn to do it. So, either off to the store to buy more, if you can get it, or laid aside for another time.
OR--the pattern is just out of reach, can't be found no matter where you look. Not in the saved files on the computer, can't find it in the 3 ring binders of patterns saved over the years, not even in the piles of patterns waiting to be put in binders Where is that thing?
I have finally come up with a method that works for me!
When I get a pattern that I really want to do, I go through my stash and pull out the yarn. I then put them together in a zip bag of some sort. The bag goes in a big tub. When I need a project, I go to the tub, pull out what I want to do and it is all right there! Pattern, and yarn.
I use this method even if I don't have everything I need. I can then add the rest of the yarn when I pick it up.
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