22 January, 2011

Vertical Stripes

...Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl, Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl, Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl....

Hijacking my own blog for knitting-related purposes. Crocheters, needle-felters and non-crafters, move along. Nothing to see here.


Vertical Texture Stripes Cloth


Materials:

Size 5, 6, or 7 knitting needle
1 ball cotton yarn
crochet hook or tapestry needle for weaving in ends.

Cast on 33 stitches.

Hint for new-ish knitters: if you have been wondering what to do with those pretty dangly things that people call "stitch markers", this is a good piece for that! You will place a stitch marker (the abbreviation for that instruction: "PM") after each different section. You will have 5 sections: the right hand border, the right garter stripe, the center seed stitch stripe, the left garter stripe, and the left hand border. For this, you'll use 4 stitch markers. Place one after your right hand border, one after the right garter stripe, one after the center seed stripe, and one between the left garter stripe and the left border. Your knitting will be all fancified with jewelry. The stitch markers help you remember to switch stitch patterns instead of continuing in whatever stitch you're knitting.

Seed stitch bottom border:
Row 1: * knit 1, purl 1 *, repeat to last stitch, K 1.
Row 2: Repeat Row 1
Rows 3 – 10: Repeat Row 1
{Work in Seed Stitch for 10 rows total.}

Pattern:
Row 11: (K1, P1 * 3x) K1 {right hand border} [7 stitches], Place Marker ; K 6 {right garter stripe} [6 st], PM; (P1, K1) 3x, P1; {center seed stitch stripe} [7 st], PM ; K 6 {left garter stripe} [6 st], PM; (K1, P1 3x) K1 {left hand border} [7 st]

Row 12: Repeat Row 11

Rows 13- whatever: Repeat Row 11 until cloth is nearly square, or until you're sick of it, for a towel instead of a washcloth, or an afghan panel, or a scarf- really, it could be almost anything you want except an ashtray or an orangutan.

Seed stitch 10 rows for top border; cast off; weave in ends to finish.


Seed stitch: Knit one, purl one, knit one, purl one.
On reverse side, knit all purled stitches, and
purl all knit ones. This creates a dense bumpy fabric that lies flat and doesn't curl.

Garter stitch: Knit every stitch. On the other side, knit every stitch.


In other news.... there is no other news. It's January, in Baltimore, which equals flat-out misery, with February to endure yet. I'm lucky to still be alive.

(Gene Chandler, Duke of Earl)

19 January, 2011

Recent Haiku

...though I respect that a lot/ I'd be fired if that were my job/ after killing Jason off and countless screaming Argonauts....


Whole couch here, but cat
keeps scootching to lie upon
my cashmere sweater.
(Jan. 19)

Feral clowder in
backyard. Tender heart child is
Feeding Goddess. Mrow!
(Jan. 17)

distill my life in-
to two pages; will I fit?
vicious resume.
(Jan. 8)

Toothpaste cap beneath
our Christmas tree- wonder,
but then: Pounce! the cat.
(Dec. 28)

Solstice eclipse of
the moon, wow! Clear, cold; the dogs
have called it a night.
(Dec. 21)

Tires hum, ponder
weather, traffic, bowling ball
on the highway. What?
(Dec. 14)

(They Might Be Giants; Birdhouse In Your Soul)

04 January, 2011

Egg Pie?

...Has anybody seen a dog dyed dark green/ about two inches tall, with a strawberry blonde fall/ sunglasses and a bonnet
and designer jeans with appliques on it?....

Okay, it isn't writing. It's just a recipe. Shaddap. Nobody's reading the blog anymore anyway, except my mom. Hi, Mom!

Anyway. I made a lovely quiche that surprised me by being delicious.

I used:
store-bought crust, pre-baked 10 or 12 minutes (didn’t pay close attention); Belmont brand- may be an ‘off’ brand
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup half and half
1/4 cup whole milk
3 large eggs
parsley, salt, pepper- about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon each
sprinkle of fresh-ground nutmeg
3 slices of already-cooked crisp bacon, crumbled small
1 1/2 cup grated Swiss cheese.

After baking the crust, let it cool while shredding the cheese and combining liquid ingredients with spices. Whisk egg and cream together well, so that there are no streaks of eggwhite visible. Toss cheese and bacon crumbles together, dump evenly into piecrust. Pour egg mixture into crust and gently stir cheese with fork to distribute ingredients evenly, if needed.

Bake at 375F for 35-40 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before cutting.

This is borrowed heavily from Joy of Cooking. We only let the quiche cool 5 minutes (we were hungry!) and the slices stood up, but had ragged edges.

The End. Yum.

(The B-52's; Quiche Lorraine)