I need the help of someone who couldn’t see the upper navigation bar links properly. If the category links along the top under the header were outside of the gray box before, can you please go the shop page and refresh again and tell me if they work now?
And please tell me your browser as well.
Thanks,
M
Thanks for all the great comments and thoughts on the my new store. I’ve had someone purchase and it all went smoothly, so now I know it works for someone other than myself 🙂
So on Friday night I finished the Spearfish Socks!
Pattern: Spearfish Socks by Kristi
Yarn: Louet Gems Pearl, 2 skeins in Charcoal (which is not so much charcoal as dark, grayed out blueish green)
Gauge: 9 spi
Modifications: I shortened the leg (I like my socks about a 7″ cuff and the pattern is 8 or 9 (can’t remember which). I cast on with the medium size (I have shapely calves) and found that it was going to be very loose on my leg, so I decreased a little bit on each side of the side panels to make it smaller. Then I just did the rest of the sock with whatever amount of stitches worked best, but keeping the panel in the sides of the foot. I also changed the toe so that it decreased a little more quickly at the end. I find that my toes don’t fit well in a sock toe that is shaped by only decreasing every other row.
Verdict: I like them, and my family member will like them too. These are going in the “long-range planning box” as Stephanie calls it. I really like the yarn, although it took some getting used to, and it could use being a little LESS overspun. But I would like to knit another pair of socks in it sometime.
So after I finished these, I cast on for a felted bag that my mother requested to donate to a silent auction. It’s probably about 75% done, but it was driving me crazy, so I cast on for something else! I started a pair of toe up socks for myself, the plan being to try these ones with the toe-up gusset heel and see how it works. If I like the way they feel, I may do all my plain socks like that.
M
In FO news… Knit/Wit finished her Adamas shawl.And Susan finished her Mountain Peaks Shawl, amidst some real nerve racking threats of yarn shortage!
Hello all,
I have some good news! My online store is up and running. I am now able to take Money Orders and Checks in payment for patterns (hopefully non-paypal Credit Cards early next year). There are still a few bugs to work out, so I’d like your help with that. Please tell me if anything looks funny, especially the upper category navigation bar. The links seem to be NOT in the bar for some people. Please go take a look and then if you see something funny, let me know the following either by comments or e-mail:
1. What web browser you are using.
2. What screen resolution
This would help me immensely! And how about this to sweeten the deal. If you give me feedback on the storefront, I’ll enter you in to a drawing for some sock yarn, don’t know which skein yet, but it’ll be good :) And really, how easy is that!
I’ll post a real post tomorrow, complete with FO’s (mine and others’)
Thanks,
M
So I apologize ahead of time for not taking a picture of the whole chicken (we just dug right in) and I also apologize for posting this before lunch, since it will most likely make you hungry.
You will need:
A whole Chicken
Onions
Baby Carrots
Garlic
Butter (REAL butter, not Margarine)
Salt (I like to use Kosher salt)
Spices like black pepper, sage, rosemary or thyme*
Preheat your oven to 450° F.
1. The first step in roasting a chicken is to pick out your chicken. You want to make sure that it’s enough chicken for who you’re feeding, and if you don’t have a large roasting pan, then it has to be able to fit into the dish you’re baking it in. If neither of these are a concern for you, then just grab one. If the chicken is frozen, make sure you have ample time to defrost it before you want to eat it.
2. Now you have to prepare the chicken. I like to stick mine in a colander in the sink to wash it. It keeps it all contained and I don’t really have to wash out my sink 🙂 Open the chicken’s package, and make sure that all the innards are out. (Chickens will sometimes have the livers, or neck or other innard parts tucked inside the cavity, you do not want those in your roast chicken, so take them out.
3. Put the chicken in the colander and wash it. Pull off any leftover feathery bits, and make sure to wash out the upper and lower cavities. Drain well.
4. While the chicken is draining, chop up some onions! For a 4 lb chicken, I usually find that one medium onion is fine. If you have a larger bird, you might want a large onion. Leave these onions in LARGE chunks (like 1″ squre large). You don’t want to dice them.
5. Also crush your garlic. You want almost whole cloves, but if you crush them, they will be sweeter, and the skins will come off very easily. I like to just mash them a bit with the flat of my big chef’s knife. It works very well.
6. Lift the breast skin. You do this by sliding your hand between the skin and the meat. As you go, break the connective tissue between the skin and meat so that the skin comes up easily. Cut some slices of butter and tuck them up under the breast skin. This will make the breasts moist and flavorful. If you are using fresh herbs (like sage or rosemary especially) tuck some of them up there too.
7. Begin to stuff the large cavity of the chicken. I toss a couple of garlic cloves, a bunch of baby carrots and about half the onion in there. If you like celery (neither C nor I do) you could actually put some in there, it would be good. The idea of stuffing the chicken with the veggies is that the moisture from the veggies keeps the chicken moist, and it really does work.
8. With the breast side of the chicken down, sprinkle LIBERALLY with salt. Salting the skin will help the skin be crispy and tasty. Also put a bit of pepper on it, and some of your herbs. Put the chicken into your baking pan (I use a Corningware French White 2.5qt oval casserole which holds a 4.5 lb chicken PERFECTLY) with the breast up.
9. Salt and season the breast side of the chicken, and place remaining onions, more carrots and garlic all around the chicken. Stick some more butter slices around as well for good measure.
10. Place the covered dish with the chicken in the hot oven. Chickens should be cooked 20 min per pound, so for my 4.5 lb chicken, that was an hour and a half. This is certainly not fast food, but it’s so worth waiting for!
11. When the baking time is about half up (45 min for me), take the chicken out and flip it. This will put the breast meat down. All the juices then flow into the breast meat (which is naturally dryer) and help to keep it moist and tasty. At this point, take off the lid as well, and then put it back into the oven uncovered for the remainder of the time.
12. Once the full time is up, remove the chicken from the oven, remove to a cutting board or cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet (this will catch the juices so they don’t end up all over your kitchen floor) and carve it up!
I like to eat it with the carrots and onions that were cooked with it (they’re really flavorful and soft), and this time C pan fried some potatoes, so we ate it all together. Nothing is quite so lovely as a roast chicken, and it makes your house smell so good! It’s not for people who are watching their fat intake unless as a special treat.
Enjoy!
M
*the old song was right! It’s a good way to remember which spices go well on a roasted chicken.
Things are simultaneously crazy and boring… how does THAT work?! I’ve got a bunch of things I’m trying to get around to, but i’m also very bored in general. So I’ve been knitting while I read HIPPA and Human Research Standards training presentations. As a result the Spearfish Socks I’m making from Gems Pearl in Charcoal are coming along very well.
I was convinced they would have to be for me (I’m the only one in my family who is willing to hand-wash socks) until I realized this morning that Gems Pearl is machine washable and dryable, so I’m modifying them a bit for a family member who may or may not read this blog, but who certainly needs socks :)Â But since all of my female family members have smaller feet than I do, it will make knitting them a bit faster.
I’m having some terrible trouble getting my patterns moved over to my online store, because the program really seems counter-intuitive, especially for downloadable goods. But my sister Sarah is helping me, so hopefully I can get it up before the end of the month, preferably even earlier. If anyone has any experience using ZenCart for downloadable goods, can you please e-mail me or comment or something?
Tomorrow, expect a Chicken Roasting Tutorial, as I will be roasting a chicken tonight 🙂
M
Fairy GodKnitter and Carrie have finished their Icarus shawls!
And Tina had a sad tragedy of running out of yarn, but managed to salvage it, and ‘finished’ her Mountain Peaks shawl. Go wish her a happy anniversary too 🙂
The shawls look great ladies!
I cast off on Friday, blocked it Friday night and took pictures this weekend. Voila! Fini!
Yarn: Renaissance Dyeing Crewel Wool in lots of colors.
Pattern: My own, soon to be available as a kit from Renaissance Dyeing, and possibly as a pdf… we’ll see.
Needles: US 4 (3.5mm) Addi Turbo 32″ circular.
Gauge: 5 spi after blocking.
Verdict: I LOVE it. I honestly didn’t think I would love it this much since I’m usually into texture and not color, and I generally dislike Garter Lace. But this turned out wonderfully.
As you know if you’ve been reading for a few months, I was asked by Andie, the owner and proprietress of Renaissance Dyeing to create a piece for her to sell in a kit at the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate, UK. I wanted to make something that even beginning knitters could do, but something with some sort of lace. So I did a simple eyelet pattern that evokes winding streams and river deltas.
The pattern takes advantage of the broad range of shades and tonality that Andie’s line of naturally dyed wools have, and the back (not pictured) is just as beautiful as the front, making this scarf truly reversible.
I’ve got the pattern all ready and formatted to be printed, so I just have to find a printer now.
Oh, and if you haven’t heard, go listen to my essay in the series of knitting-as-a-sense-of-place on Cast-On. It’s episode 32.
Look at Mari’s finished Simple Trekking Socks! They look GREAT and I’m glad you liked the pattern, Mari.
Hello my lovelies! Knitting continues, and pictures of it continue to be boring, so you get a picture of my cat! Hello cat!
This is his new favorite spot. Right on top of the couch, where the air conditioning blows on him, and he is suitably nearby for petting while we watch movies or read.
It’s been a crazy sort of day at my real job. Some office politics came to a head and excrement intercepted with the trajectory of fans – totally NOT my fault, but it is interesting to get such a…. vivid… education in this new job, and a coworker’s son was hit by a car – he’s ok, but she had to go to the hospital – and the loveliness (that should be read dripping with sarcasm) of menstruation has come again. Bah, says I. It wouldn’t be such a bad thing (the bleeding, not the car accident… that’s ALWAYS a bad thing), except that it leaves me hungry all the time, while not feeling like I can really eat, and then if I DO eat more than a handful of something, my insides go CRAZY and treat the food like it’s some sort of parasite. MUST GET IT OUT NOW! But it’s ok. I’ve been snacking all morning, so I’m doing ok at this point.
Don’t forget that the pattern sale ends tomorrow (Friday, August 4th)! I will not be extending it.
Now that I have relaxed a bit, I’m finally making some progress. The remaining yarn for the Renaissance Wool scarf came in the mail, and I’m in the home stretch! And as you can see, the Spearfish Sock is moving along slowly, but surely. It’s nice to be knitting things that make sense again.
And I’ve got a few thoughts percolating on the Hidcote shawl, but they’re not quite solidified yet, and I don’t want to obsess about them to the point where they disappear like whisps of smoke.
The heatwave here has broken, and we had a downright CHILLY night last night. I was hanging out with some of my neighbors on their porch, and I had to go get a sweater! I’m sure the torrential rain we experienced yesterday was related to the break in the heat. I got caught out in the deluge yesterday and was soaking wet just running from the covered bus station to the bus! Working with wet pants is not very fun, but it’s totally worth getting absolutely drenched and pelted with rain drops so big they sting your skin. I LOVE the rain! Today it’s clear skies and upper 80’s! Woot!
I got a note in yesterday’s mail that I had a package to be picked up, so I’m gonna go do that today after work. I don’t know what it would be, as everything I’ve ordered has come and although there are a couple things that are to be coming, they shouldn’t be here yet, so I’m not sure what it is. The sender’s name is listed as “05478”. Hmm… *ETA* It’s from Norma! I forgot that she was sending me some yarn for dulaan projects, but that’s her zip code.
M
*points to the first person who can tell me what that quote is from.
Mama!
This is my Mom! Her name is Claudia. She is the often overworked and under-rested mother of 7 children, and for most of her working life she’s been a Teacher.
Mom taught me to read, and write, something that I can NEVER thank her enough for. Reading has opened worlds to me that I would never have been able to tap were it not for literacy.
During my teen years we didn’t get along very well, but I was a moody, strong willed, stubborn child (stop laughing, I HAVE changed!) and I think that had more to do with it than any real disagreements. Through it all she managed not to kill me and only wanted to kick me out of the house once, so it can’t be that bad, right?
Thanks for your patience Mama!
M
*p.s. This picture was taken when I was 6 months old. You should all note the elf ears. I still have them.
And Monica finished, not one, but TWO pairs of Blessing Socks! They look GREAT! I hope your relatives like them!
I had a good weekend, having spent Saturday trying to relax, rejuvinate and get back all that I’ve lost in the last few months of hectic, but it didn’t come flooding back until Sunday. Sunday was C’s birthday, and I spent the morning (while he was sleeping) obsessively frustrated with the Hidcote shawl* and stressing over how I was going to make it work — I still haven’t figured that out, but it’s in time out and at least now that I have myself a bit more centered I’m ok with that.
So C’s birthday and I didn’t remember until he said as much while we were out getting milk in the afternoon. I felt absolutely horrible. You see, birthdays have never been very big for him, and they were always HUGE affairs for me.  I felt so bad about forgetting that I determined to make it a really good birthday. I found a good recipe for his favorite cake and we had pizza and we snuggled on the couch and watched a whole lot of X-files episodes that we had checked out from the library. I even told our neighbor/friends so they could come over and say hi too. We all shared cake and had a good time.
All in all, I seem to have saved the crappy birthday vibe that the day started with, but it brought to the forefront that I’ve been spending too much time lately inside my own skull. Too much time worrying about what direction I’m going to take this MimKnits business, what I’m going to knit, what self-imposed deadlines I can push forward, etc… I’ve been neglecting my core. I have been running around like a crazy person, trying to not have any wasted moments, and in the shuffle I’ve lost the zen vibe that I need to do a good job of things. So yesterday as I was baking Cinnamon Cake and thinking about the birthdays in the 3 years that we’ve been married, and the 4 years before that that we have been together, I recommitted myself to the changes that being with C has wrought, that I need to slow down, think deeply about things, and not attach so much emotional depth to inconsequential things.
I feel blessed by the rain that is falling outside and pattering on the skylight of my office. It seems to be confirming that one can start over at any time, and that it doesn’t make you any less of a being for having had a relapse or 5.
So in light of that (and the uncertain nature of the future of the Hidcote shawl), I have started a pair of Kristi‘s Spearfish socks 🙂
M
*by the by, someone actually found my blog googling for it, which just seems strange as they would have had to have BEEN at my blog in the first place to know it existed.
