Motivation

Posted on by Dan

Recently, we both faced large projects in need of finishing — Virginia, a sweater pattern; me, a pound of roving. There were days when it seemed like neither of us would actually finish. But, even with projects that seem to drag the most, there’s always a possibility of finding that nugget of inspiration to push you through to the end (even if what motivates you is just getting it off the dining room table).

Virginia’s project, a pattern in Berocco #228 called “Nopareil,” was knit with some beautiful Blackstone Tweed.

Nonpareil

Sometimes projects take on a more generous amount of inertia, making forward progress more of a slush. From what I overheard, this also must have been aided by choices made by the designer, in terms of construction, details and a collar that would not end.

Nonpareil

Still, all in all a nice sweater.

Nonpareil

My own project was spinning up a pound of roving. If you have been a regular follower of ScratchCraft you may have noticed a drop in the number of spinning-related projects. I have started to kick things back in to gear, but got a little ahead of myself when deciding to tackle a 16 oz. blend of Pygora, Wool, Mohair and Silk.

Handspun Yarn

All told, I spun approximately 1050 yards of 2-ply yarn. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a lovely fiber making a lovely yarn. But, if you aren’t spinning regularly, 16 oz. can feel like it’s taking forever (must be some sort of fiber equivalent of ADHD). At any rate, it’s done, and I think Virginia already has a sweater idea brewing.

Handspun Yarn

My motivation to finish came with the arrival of my installment of fiber from Hello Yarn. This is “Scorch.” I knew that in order to dive into this luscious 4 oz. pile of goodness, I had to free up the spools.

Scorch

And, now I can — tonight, in fact.

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Weeks 9 & 10 in Review

Posted on by Dan

These last two weeks were a bit of a rollercoaster ride, starting with the adoption of a new family member, Juniper Tulip.

Week in Review - 9

Twenty-four hours later we had to bring her back to her foster family, both Virginia’s and my allergies were making it nearly impossible to give her the love and attention she deserved. Though heartbroken, we were glad to hear that she was promptly adopted by a large family on some acreage – giving her plenty to do, lots of love, children to herd (being part collie) and lots of room to run around. It’s amazing how quickly we bonded with her. She will always be our dog, even if we only had her for a day.

Week in Review - 10

But, it’s back to the two of us. And, nothing says things are getting back to normal like enjoying dinner while watching a good show on the tele.

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The Essentials

Posted on by Dan

I’m sitting here Sunday morning, hunkering down as the second snowpocalypse begins outside. I was up early, warming up the house with baking bread. Specifically, I was attempting to make buns, being once again discouraged by the mile-long list of ingredients in the store-bought varieties.

Buns

These appear to do the trick (we’ll be testing them out later today as they sandwich a black bean burger with sautéed onions and mushrooms), and they were super easy to make. I modified an existing recipe to work with the ingredients I had on hand. The recipe is as follows.

Combine and heat to about 120 degrees :

  • 1/2 cup Fage
  • 1/2 cup almond milk
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 3 Tbsp butter

Mix together in a separate bowl:

  • 1 Tbsp active dry yeast
  • 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 tsp salt

Then, add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, including 1 egg. Mix thoroughly, then slowly combine about 2 to 2 1/2 cups white flour and knead until dough is smooth and elastic (I used my KitchenAid stand mixer for about 2 minutes). Take dough and pull apart into 10 to 12 pieces, which you then roll into a ball then place, slightly flattened, on a baking sheet (or, in my case, a silpat covering a baking sheet). Let rise for 30 to 40 minutes and bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 15 minutes (or until golden brown).

One of the biggest satisfactions of making food from scratch is the total control over the ingredients. I’m not sure why sandwich buns need high fructose corn syrup, or any of the other “enhancements.” These may not have the shelf life, but chances are they will be long gone before they expire.

Still on the topic of essentials, I’m happy to say my spinning wheel has been getting some use (not quite the 15-minutes a day I had hoped to accomplish in the new year), enough to finally finish some lovely 3-ply yarn.

Handspun Corriedale

This is spun from some handdyed Corriedale that Virginia picked up for me from cloudlover (at last year’s Shepherd’s Harvest festival). I navajo-plied the yarn, yielding approximately 370 yards from a little less than 5 ounces of roving. I believe a pair of socks are being planned with the yarn.

And, speaking of socks, Virginia has been working on several pair (as usual), one of the most recent are these:

Handknit Socks

Knit following one of Charlene Schurch’s four-stitch reticulated patterns in her book Sensational Knitted Socks. These are made with two colors of Jawoll “Aktion.”

Well, I’m off to make some lunch, and to draw in some energy for the piles of snow that will need to be shoveled over the course of the next 24 hours.

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Of Roly-Polies and Pretzels

Posted on by Dan

Inspired by a recipe for a jam roly-poly, I attempted my own version of this jam-filled, biscuity goodness. The end result, though not resembling anything like a rolled up swirl of jam and dough, is still a perfect accompaniment to cup of earl gray.

Cherry Rumple (aka Failed Cherry Roly Poly)

Virginia dubbed it the “Cherry Rumple.” The biscuit dough was a bit on the soft side, which caused some flattening/spreading (or, “rumpling”) in the oven. The recipe (although, I will be tweaking it in the future to make it stiffer) is as follows:

  • 1 1/4 cups of flour (maybe make this 1 1/2 cups?)
  • 3 Tbsp ground golden flax seeds
  • 3 Tbsp cold butter (cut into small pieces)
  • 3 Tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder

Mix above ingredients together until well combined, then add:

  • 1/2 cup Fage + enough almond milk to make 2/3 cups liquid
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Stir until just combined. Then, roll out on to a piece of wax paper sprinkled with flour – makes about a 9 x 12-inch rectangle that is 1/4 inch thick. Spread about 1/2 cup of cherry jam over surface, leaving about 1/2 inch of edge jam-free. Roll up, using the longer edge as starting point. Place on cookie sheet, seam side down. Bake for 30 minutes in 350 degree oven. After roll has cooled, slice and enjoy!

Pretzel Love
I always forget how fun it is to have pretzels in the house, but they never seem to make it in to the shopping cart when we get groceries. I picked some up this morning and made two very different snacks. The first requires no recipe, since you basically melt (gently) whatever favorite chocolate you have on hand in a double boiler, stir in some pretzels, remove and cool on wax paper.

Chocolate-Covered Pretzels

These will come in handy when I’m looking for something to get me through the rest of the afternoon at work. And, if that doesn’t do the trick, a small bowl with some navy bean hummus with sun-dried tomatoes will.

Navy Bean Hummus

In a small food processor, combine the following until very smooth:

  • 1 cup dried navy beans that have been cooked/boiled until very tender
  • 3 or 4 sun-dried tomato halves
  • 1 or 2 cloves of garlic
  • 3 Tbsp olive oil
  • juice from 1 large lemon
  • 2 Tbsp tahini
  • 1/2 tsp salt (more or less to taste)
  • a splash of water to make desired consistency

I freely admit it. I like to snack.

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