Domesticated

Now that the holidays are over, I can post the pattern to the scarf I made for my family’s Secret Santa exchange. This pattern was inspired by The Yarn Harlot’s One Row Handspun Scarf but is worked on the bias.

Keeping a tree warm

The pattern is available as a PDF file and includes both written and charted instructions. If you make this and find any errors, please let me know.

Secret Scarf Pattern

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This soup’s base is a light roux that gets the recipe started off just like gravy.

• 1 onion, minced
• 16 oz mushrooms, rinsed and sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme leaves
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 cups vegetable stock

Heat olive oil in pan over medium heat and sauté onions with a pinch salt until the onions start to sweat. Add garlic and cook until onions are almost translucent.

Add mushrooms and another pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms release most of their water. The mushrooms will cook way down and the water will deglaze any bits of onion or garlic that have gotten stuck to the pan. Add thyme and bay leaf when there’s enough water from the mushrooms to cover the bottom of the pan.

Move the pan to another stove eye and begin the roux. Keep an eye on the mushroom mixture, though, and do not let it burn.

Melt 1/2 stick butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the flour slowly, stirring constantly. The mixture will become thick and pasty.

Once the flour has been completely incorporated, add the heavy cream slowly, about a 1/3 of a cup of time, stirring well after each addition. Do the same with the stock, stirring very well after each addition. Let the roux base come to a simmer, stirring constantly. I mean it – do not stop stirring, not even to update your blog recipe – the roux mixture will burn very quickly. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

The mushrooms should be cooked and only slightly watery at this point. Add them to the gravy base. Mix thoroughly and add water or stock to get the soup to a desired consistency. The amount of water will depend on the thickness of the roux before you added the mushroom mixture.

Taste for seasoning and adjust, if needed. This soup is wonderful with a large chunk of sourdough bread.

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2 c water
2 c sugar
2 c fresh squeezed lemon juice
4 c water

Squeeze the lemons and remove the seeds. Heat sugar and first 2 cups of water over medium heat until sugar is completely dissolved. Mix sugar mixture, lemon juice and the rest of the water and chill.

Yum.

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This pattern was designed to go with the Fetching fingerless gloves. I made the gloves for my little cousin Emalee for Christmas and wanted to make a scarf to finish up the yarn. Cables identical to Fetching twist toward the center of the scarf for the length of the scarf. Better pictures will be added as soon as I get decent ones.

cast on 15 stitches.
rows 1 and 2: knit across

Set up rows:
rows 1 and 3: slip 1 purlwise, k1, p1, k4, p1, k4, p1, k2
rows 2 and 4: slip 1 purlwise, k2, p4, k1, p4, k3

Pattern:
row 1: slip 1 purlwise, k1, p1, c4f, p1, c4b, p1, k2
rows 2, 4 and 6: slip 1 purlwise, k2, p4, k1, p4, k3
rows 3 and 5: slip 1 purlwise, k1, p1, k4, p1, k4, p1, k2

Work until scarf is as long as you want it end on row 6 of pattern row. Next two rows, knit across and then bind off.

c4f (c4b):
move next two stitches to a cable needle and hold in front (back), knit next two stitches on the left needle and then two stitches from the cable needle

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It’s been a long, long time since updates and I doubt anyone is still watching for one.

In the last 14 months, let’s see… I got a dog, Daisy, who’s as sweet as she can be, most of the time. Really, she’s been the main focus of my life lately. She’ll be a year old on Friday. We’re going to go see my parents, so there won’t be much opportunity for celebration, but she’ll be thrilled to see “Uncle” Bandit again. I wish I could get her to sit still with a birthday hat on so I could take a picture, but given the attempt with the Elf hat for the Christmas Cards, I doubt that will happen.

Lots of other crap has happened, some good and some bad, and it’s been quite the roller coaster the last 10 months or so, but I feel like I’m back on an even keel again.

I’m growing a garden. I have peas and onions planted right now. I’m planning an herb garden right outside my bedroom window.. yum. I want to landscape with berry bushes… blueberries in particular. I already have two quince bushes. The gooseberry is getting leaves, and damnit, I WILL get the fruit before the birds this year

Thanks to Doug (not my brother Doug), and his friend Chris, I’ve discovered a love of sour beers. I mean SOUR beers, the ones that leave a sweet-tart twinge in your jaw. Other beer is good, too, and I helped Doug brew a scottish wee heavy back in January that he bottled last weekend and I am SO excited to taste it.

I’ve been working on baking bread. I have a sourdough starter going that is REALLY sour now, but the bread that results is not great. I know it’s something in my process, but it will take a while to narrow that down. My bread tastes good, but after the first day or so, the texture is just bad.

I quit smoking. My 100 smoke-free days was last thursday (the 18th of March, 2010). I still have cravings, and I’ve gained about 20 lbs as a result, but those are manageable now. It’s spring, the temperature is getting warmer and Daisy needs walks. Now if I could just get up earlier and walk her in the morning, that would be perfect.

It’s 10:30… I should probably go to bed shortly. Daisy and I went to the Bark Park this evening and I think I’m more worn out than she is. Of course, that could be due to the beer I’ve been drinking, too.

Maybe I’ll start back with updating the blog. No promises. You can always find me on Facebook, though.

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I am *so* proud of myself.

I joined the gym last Tuesday, started working out last Wednesday. An hour on the elliptical trainer every day and weight training every other day. Not free weights – I love the machines that practically force you to do the exercise right.

I’ve been watching my calorie and fat intake – and making better choices for meals. I am not starving myself and I’m eating pretty much what I want – I’m just choosing lower fat, healthier versions for meals and snacks.

Anyway…..

In a week, I’ve lost 6.8 lbs. and a total of 2.75 inches. (1.25 from my waist and 1 from my hips!)

I am so darn proud of myself, I can’t stand it!

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-0.0 lbs
-7.2 lbs total

I was HUNGRY after the workout last night. Carl picked up Jason’s Deli and I ate an entire Deli Club Sandwich and the potato chips that came with it. I pretty much ate enough to replace all the calories I had burned. I’ve got to start making healthier choices.

So back to the gym today. An hour on the elliptical trainer then I started on my weight training. I worked on my arms today, I’ll do my legs tomorrow, then my back on Tuesday and my abs on Thursday.

According to The Daily Plate I have a net caloric intake (after food and exercise) of 27 calories today. Much better

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I was exhausted today, but I went to the gym anyway. It took me 45 minutes to really get into the groove on the elliptical, but I did the whole hour on the machine.

-1.6 lbs
-7.2 lbs total (woo!!)

60 minutes, 4.2 miles on the elliptical trainer.

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I haven’t ridden the bike since November. I decided I was going to get back to it and get some exercise. So this week, I joined the gym. I’m focusing on cardio for two more days, then I am going to start adding in some weight training. One friend and encourager has been asking me why I haven’t posted my workout diary – well, it’s because I haven’t done anything. He said I should get back on it, so here it is.

Since the last time I posted:
-2 lbs
-5.6 lbs total

(see… during the holidays, I gained about 5 lbs…. Just by cutting out all the junk, I lost that already, so now it’s time to push it and lose even more.)

I worked out on the Elliptical trainer at the gym today and yesterday. Yesterday I only had time to do 45 minutes, today I did 65 minutes. It was something like 4.8 miles today and 3.4 miles yesterday.

Now I am tired and I am going to bed early.

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I enjoy doing handmade stuff for the holidays. As Carl will tell you, I usually get myself in way over my head and end up staying up all night long the week before Christmas just to finish everything. I do it every year.

The past couple of years, we’ve joined a Christmas card list on an online community we’re both a part of. This year, the list is up to 60 people so far. Combined with all our co-workers, friends and family, our Christmas card list this year is probably going to end up being close to 200 people.

Of course, I want to do something handmade for all these people, right?

Last year, we made lots of quilted postcards. They turned out being really cute, but they were quite time consuming. Carl did help by doing some of the embroidery – which was very appreciated.

This year, we’re doing something REALLY easy. Fabric snowflake cutouts fused onto cardstock. It’s so simple and no two cards will be exactly the same.

You will need:

• Fabric
• Heavy Duty Fusible Web
• Iron
• Rotary Cutter
• Sharp scissors
• Pre-folded cards or blank cardstock

Step 1 – Determine quantity of fabric and fusible web
Determine how big you want your snowflakes to be. I cut 4″ squares, and I wouldn’t recommend going much smaller than that. Our cards are going to be 5.5″ x 8.5″. I got 80 4″ squares out of 1 yard of fabric. You will need 3 yards of fusible web for each full yard of fabric.

Step 2 – Press your fabric
Press your fabric to get out most of the major wrinkles and creases. Don’t spend too much time on it – just give it a good once-over.

Step 3 – Press fusible web to the fabric
Cut your fusible web in lengths to match the length of fabric. I cut 1-yard pieces of the fusible web and aligned it with the selvedge of the fabric. Make sure your iron is on the highest setting (Cotton or Wool setting) with NO STEAM. Carefully press the fusible web to the wrong side of the fabric. I used 2 1/2 one-yard pieces of fusible web for one one-yard cut of fabric. The half piece of fusible web was cut lengthwise.

DO NOT REMOVE THE PAPER BACKING FROM THE FUSIBLE WEB YET.

Step 4 – Cut your squares

Cut your fabric into strips as wide as your finished squares will be. It might be helpful to fold the fabric before cutting these strips. Be cautioned that the paper backing of the fusible web is slippery – you will need to be very careful not to let it slip while you’re cutting.

Next, cut your squares from the strips. I was able to cut 3 strips at a time without everything slipping too much. I wouldn’t advise doing more.

Keep cutting until you have enough squares to make all your holiday cards.

Step 5 – Fold and snip – This is the fun part!
If you were going to make a paper snowflake, you would make 4 folds that would give you a 12-faceted snowflake. With the thickness of the fabric, fusible web and paper backing, this ends up being very difficult to work with. Instead, we’re going to make 3 folds and end up with a 6-faceted snowflake.

There are two ways to start the folds of the fabric:

Next, you want to fold in half again, but just to make a crease to find the center.

Now, this is the trickest part of the whole process. I hope you can see well enough in the pictures to get the idea. You want to fold the right side up and over to the left…

then fold the left side in the same manner.

Cut off the top points so that you end up with a triangle.

Now you are ready to cut away your snowflake design. Even with only 3 folds, it’s still pretty thick so be careful and don’t cut a finger off.

Don’t cut away too much fabric on the side folds – you don’t want your snowflake to fall apart.

This is the step where you can sit down in front of the TV with a whole stack of squares and just make a bunch of snowflakes. It really does go quite fast, especially if you can manage to enlist your husband’s help.

Step 6 – Admire your work!
Open up your snowflake and smile.

If you have any stray threads or not-quite-accurate corners, this is the time to trim them up.

Step 7 – Fuse to your card
Heat your iron to it’s highest setting, peel off the paper backing of the snowflake, position it on your card and press into place.

That’s all there is to it! Write your message, and send them on their way!

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